title: The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children.
abstract: In an age of increasing technology, the possibility that typing on a keyboard will replace handwriting raises questions about the future usefulness of handwriting skills. Here we present evidence that brain activation during letter perception is influenced in different, important ways by previoushandwritingof letters versus previoustyping or tracingof those same letters. Preliterate, five-year old children printed, typed, or traced letters and shapes, then were shown images of these stimuli while undergoing functional MRI scanning. A previously documented "reading circuit" was recruited during letter perception only after handwriting-not after typing or tracing experience. These findings demonstrate that handwriting is important for the early recruitment in letter processing of brain regions known to underlie successful reading. Handwriting therefore may facilitate reading acquisition in young children.
authors.affiliation: Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47401, United States.
authors.forename: Karin H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: James
authors.affiliation: Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47401, United States ; Columbia University, United States.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
keywords: Brain; Children; Development; Reading; Writing; fMRI