title: Neuroimaging correlates of handwriting quality as children learn to read and write.
abstract: Reading and writing are related but separable processes that are crucial skills to possess in modern society. The neurobiological basis of reading acquisition and development, which critically depends on phonological processing, and to a lesser degree, beginning writing as it relates to letter perception, are increasingly being understood. Yet direct relationships between writing and reading development, in particular, with phonological processing is not well understood. The main goal of the current preliminary study was to examine individual differences in neurofunctional and neuroanatomical patterns associated with handwriting in beginning writers/readers. In 46 5-6 year-old beginning readers/writers, ratings of handwriting quality, were rank-ordered from best to worst and correlated with brain activation patterns during a phonological task using functional MRI, and with regional gray matter volume from structural T1 MRI. Results showed that better handwriting was associated negatively with activation and positively with gray matter volume in an overlapping region of the pars triangularis of right inferior frontal gyrus. This region, in particular in the left hemisphere in adults and more bilaterally in young children, is known to be important for decoding, phonological processing, and subvocal rehearsal. We interpret the dissociation in the directionality of the association in functional activation and morphometric properties in the right inferior frontal gyrus in terms of neural efficiency, and suggest future studies that interrogate the relationship between the neural mechanisms underlying reading and writing development.
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gimenez
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF San Francisco, CA, USA ; Department of Psychology, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, Palo Alto University Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Nicolle
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bugescu
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Social Work, Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Black
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Roeland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hancock
authors.affiliation: Haskins Laboratories, Yale University New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pugh
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF San Francisco, CA, USA ; Division of Behavioral Sciences, National Defense Medical College Research Institute Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagamine
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF San Francisco, CA, USA ; Department of Psychology, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, Palo Alto University Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kutner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mazaika
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hendren
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: McCandliss
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF San Francisco, CA, USA ; Haskins Laboratories, Yale University New Haven, CT, USA ; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, CA, USA ; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hoeft
keywords: functional MRI; inferior frontal gyrus pars triangularis; phonological processing; reading; voxel-based morphometry; writing