Children's first handwriting productions show a rhythmic structure.
Elena Pagliarini, Lisa Scocchia, Mirta Vernice, Marina Zoppello, Umberto Balottin, Sana Bouamama, Maria Teresa Guasti, Natale Stucchi
Author Information
Elena Pagliarini: Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC), Departament de Tecnologies de la Informació i les Comunicacions (DTIC), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, c\ Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27, Barcelona, 08005, Spain. elena.pagliarini2@gmail.com. ORCID
Lisa Scocchia: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126, Milan, Italy.
Mirta Vernice: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126, Milan, Italy.
Marina Zoppello: Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Via Mondino, 2, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
Umberto Balottin: Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Via Mondino, 2, 27100, Pavia, Italy. ORCID
Sana Bouamama: Centre for Visual Cognition, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Building 44R 4049. University Road, SO17 1BJ, Southampton, UK.
Maria Teresa Guasti: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126, Milan, Italy.
Natale Stucchi: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126, Milan, Italy.
Although much research has been concerned with the development of kinematic aspects of handwriting, little is known about the development along with age of two principles that govern its rhythmic organization: Homothety and Isochrony. Homothety states that the ratio between the durations of the single motor events composing a motor act remains invariant and independent from the total duration of the movement. Isochrony refers to the proportional relationship between the speed of movement execution and the length of its trajectory. The current study shows that children comply with both principles since their first grade of primary school. The precocious adherence to these principles suggests that an internal representation of the rhythm of handwriting is available before the age in which handwriting is performed automatically. Overall, these findings suggest that despite being a cultural acquisition, handwriting appears to be shaped by more general constraints on the timing planning of the movements.
References
Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Feb 7;272(1560):267-75
[PMID: 15705551]
