title: Cognitive facilitation associated with Chinese brush handwriting: the case of symmetric and asymmetric Chinese characters.
abstract: Chinese calligraphic handwriting involves a process of visual spatial structuring of the characters as well as the motor control of the brush to follow specific character configurations through a projection of the cognitive images of the character. Previous research has shown that Chinese calligraphic handwriting facilitates perceptual and cognitive abilities. Reading Chinese characters with geometric features also facilitates cognitive processing. This study investigated Chinese calligraphic handwriting effect on cognitive facilitation measured by responses to asymmetric and asymmetric Chinese characters. 11 participants performed Chinese calligraphic handwriting for 30 min. and had their reaction time and error rate taken before and after the writing session. The reaction time to asymmetric characters was significantly shortened after Chinese calligraphic handwriting. These results confirm the general Chinese calligraphic handwriting effect on cognitive facilitation, but the asymmetric characters seem to result in greater such effects than the symmetric characters.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Resource Management, National Central University, Chungli, Taiwan. henrykao@cc.ncu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Henry S R
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: Gao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ding-Guo
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Danmin
authors.forename: Liu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xufeng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003071:Cognition; D003469:Culture; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008037:Linguistics / Q000295:instrumentation; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time