Writing Cursive Letters Requires Coordinated Movement

Writing cursive letters requires coordinated movement, control, and attentional resources, according to a recent study. The findings, published in the journal Human Movement Science, revealed that cursive writing movements, compared to print, are more demanding and require greater attention.

A great deal of stability and coordination is required to produce written letters. In addition, one’s ability to do so correctly and efficiently determines the associated attentional cost. In this study, researchers examined the relationship between attentional cost and stability to produce a coordinated pattern such as handwriting.

Researchers observed participants’ ability to produce simple graphic shapes (circles, a line, or an ellipse). In both writing and drawing, motor skills are needed to manipulate the pen or pencil. Additionally, drawing shapes is considered one of the first steps toward writing letters because lines and basic geometric shapes are used to write letters.

A small group of participants performed the graphic tasks on a digitalized tablet using an electronic pen. Participants were instructed to reproduce the displayed shape while synchronizing the pen’s tip with the blink of a red vertical line. This visual metronome was used for pacing purposes during the graphic tasks.

Researchers found that whatever shape participants were drawing (circle, a line, or an ellipse), the act of moving the pen in an appropriate fashion was determined by the stability of the produced coordination pattern. If stability decreased, attentional requirements increased. However, if stability of the pen increased, less attention was needed when manipulating the pen, because participants had better coordinated movements.

These findings suggest that whether writing in print or cursive, both forms of writing require the stability of our limbs, our hands, and our muscles. If there is a lack of coordinated movement then the attentional cost rises; therefore, our brain must use more resources to produce the intended shapes and patterns when writing.

Proficiency in handwriting is essential for academic success because it requires children to multitask. If children have to exert most of their energy and attentional resources to the act of writing, especially cursive letters, this makes it very difficult (if not impossible) to focus on spelling and sentence formation.

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