title: The effect of real-time auditory feedback on learning new characters.
abstract: The present study investigated the effect of handwriting sonification on graphomotor learning. Thirty-two adults, distributed in two groups, learned four new characters with their non-dominant hand. The experimental design included a pre-test, a training session, and two post-tests, one just after the training sessions and another 24h later. Two characters were learned with and two without real-time auditory feedback (FB). The first group first learned the two non-sonified characters and then the two sonified characters whereas the reverse order was adopted for the second group. Results revealed that auditory FB improved the speed and fluency of handwriting movements but reduced, in the short-term only, the spatial accuracy of the trace. Transforming kinematic variables into sounds allows the writer to perceive his/her movement in addition to the written trace and this might facilitate handwriting learning. However, there were no differential effects of auditory FB, neither long-term nor short-term for the subjects who first learned the characters with auditory FB. We hypothesize that the positive effect on the handwriting kinematics was transferred to characters learned without FB. This transfer effect of the auditory FB is discussed in light of the Theory of Event Coding.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, UMR 7291, CNRS - Aix-Marseille Université, France; Brain and Language Research Institute, CNRS - Aix-Marseille Université, France. Electronic address: jeremy.danna@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Jérémy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Danna
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, UMR 7291, CNRS - Aix-Marseille Université, France.
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fontaine
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, UMR 7291, CNRS - Aix-Marseille Université, France.
authors.forename: Vietminh
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Paz-Villagrán
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, CNRS, UPR 7051, Aix-Marseille Université, Centrale Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gondre
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, CNRS, UPR 7051, Aix-Marseille Université, Centrale Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thoret
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, CNRS, UPR 7051, Aix-Marseille Université, Centrale Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Mitsuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aramaki
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, CNRS, UPR 7051, Aix-Marseille Université, Centrale Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kronland-Martinet
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, CNRS, UPR 7051, Aix-Marseille Université, Centrale Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Sølvi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ystad
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, UMR 7291, CNRS - Aix-Marseille Université, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Velay
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056228:Feedback, Sensory; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Handwriting; Motor learning; Movement; Sonification