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  1. Functional MRI of Handwriting Tasks: A Study of Healthy Young Adults Interacting with a Novel Touch-Sensitive Tablet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karimpoor, Mahta; Churchill, Nathan W.; Tam, Fred; Fischer, Corinne E.; Schweizer, Tom A.; Graham, Simon J.

    2018-01-01

    Handwriting is a complex human activity that engages a blend of cognitive and visual motor skills. Current understanding of the neural correlates of handwriting has largely come from lesion studies of patients with impaired handwriting. Task-based fMRI studies would be useful to supplement this work. To address concerns over ecological validity, previously we developed a fMRI-compatible, computerized tablet system for writing and drawing including visual feedback of hand position and an augmented reality display. The purpose of the present work is to use the tablet system in proof-of-concept to characterize brain activity associated with clinically relevant handwriting tasks, originally developed to characterize handwriting impairments in Alzheimer’s disease patients. As a prelude to undertaking fMRI studies of patients, imaging was performed of twelve young healthy subjects who copied sentences, phone numbers, and grocery lists using the fMRI-compatible tablet. Activation maps for all handwriting tasks consisted of a distributed network of regions in reasonable agreement with previous studies of handwriting performance. In addition, differences in brain activity were observed between the test subcomponents consistent with different demands of neural processing for successful task performance, as identified by investigating three quantitative behavioral metrics (writing speed, stylus contact force and stylus in air time). This study provides baseline behavioral and brain activity results for fMRI studies that adopt this handwriting test to characterize patients with brain impairments. PMID:29487511

  2. Functional MRI of Handwriting Tasks: A Study of Healthy Young Adults Interacting with a Novel Touch-Sensitive Tablet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karimpoor, Mahta; Churchill, Nathan W; Tam, Fred; Fischer, Corinne E; Schweizer, Tom A; Graham, Simon J

    2018-01-01

    Handwriting is a complex human activity that engages a blend of cognitive and visual motor skills. Current understanding of the neural correlates of handwriting has largely come from lesion studies of patients with impaired handwriting. Task-based fMRI studies would be useful to supplement this work. To address concerns over ecological validity, previously we developed a fMRI-compatible, computerized tablet system for writing and drawing including visual feedback of hand position and an augmented reality display. The purpose of the present work is to use the tablet system in proof-of-concept to characterize brain activity associated with clinically relevant handwriting tasks, originally developed to characterize handwriting impairments in Alzheimer's disease patients. As a prelude to undertaking fMRI studies of patients, imaging was performed of twelve young healthy subjects who copied sentences, phone numbers, and grocery lists using the fMRI-compatible tablet. Activation maps for all handwriting tasks consisted of a distributed network of regions in reasonable agreement with previous studies of handwriting performance. In addition, differences in brain activity were observed between the test subcomponents consistent with different demands of neural processing for successful task performance, as identified by investigating three quantitative behavioral metrics (writing speed, stylus contact force and stylus in air time). This study provides baseline behavioral and brain activity results for fMRI studies that adopt this handwriting test to characterize patients with brain impairments.

  3. Functional MRI of Handwriting Tasks: A Study of Healthy Young Adults Interacting with a Novel Touch-Sensitive Tablet

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahta Karimpoor

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Handwriting is a complex human activity that engages a blend of cognitive and visual motor skills. Current understanding of the neural correlates of handwriting has largely come from lesion studies of patients with impaired handwriting. Task-based fMRI studies would be useful to supplement this work. To address concerns over ecological validity, previously we developed a fMRI-compatible, computerized tablet system for writing and drawing including visual feedback of hand position and an augmented reality display. The purpose of the present work is to use the tablet system in proof-of-concept to characterize brain activity associated with clinically relevant handwriting tasks, originally developed to characterize handwriting impairments in Alzheimer’s disease patients. As a prelude to undertaking fMRI studies of patients, imaging was performed of twelve young healthy subjects who copied sentences, phone numbers, and grocery lists using the fMRI-compatible tablet. Activation maps for all handwriting tasks consisted of a distributed network of regions in reasonable agreement with previous studies of handwriting performance. In addition, differences in brain activity were observed between the test subcomponents consistent with different demands of neural processing for successful task performance, as identified by investigating three quantitative behavioral metrics (writing speed, stylus contact force and stylus in air time. This study provides baseline behavioral and brain activity results for fMRI studies that adopt this handwriting test to characterize patients with brain impairments.

  4. The effects of dual tasking on handwriting in patients with Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broeder, S; Nackaerts, E; Nieuwboer, A; Smits-Engelsman, B C M; Swinnen, S P; Heremans, E

    2014-03-28

    Previous studies have shown that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience extensive problems during dual tasking. Up to now, dual-task interference in PD has mainly been investigated in the context of gait research. However, the simultaneous performance of two different tasks is also a prerequisite to efficiently perform many other tasks in daily life, including upper limb tasks. To address this issue, this study investigated the effect of a secondary cognitive task on the performance of handwriting in patients with PD. Eighteen PD patients and 11 age-matched controls performed a writing task involving the production of repetitive loops under single- and dual-task conditions. The secondary task consisted of counting high and low tones during writing. The writing tests were performed with two amplitudes (0.6 and 1.0cm) using a writing tablet. Results showed that dual-task performance was affected in PD patients versus controls. Dual tasking reduced writing amplitude in PD patients, but not in healthy controls (p=0.046). Patients' writing size was mainly reduced during the small-amplitude condition (small amplitude p=0.017; large amplitude p=0.310). This suggests that the control of writing at small amplitudes requires more compensational brain-processing recourses in PD and is as such less automatic than writing at large amplitudes. In addition, there was a larger dual-task effect on the secondary task in PD patients than controls (p=0.025). The writing tests on the writing tablet proved highly correlated to daily life writing as measured by the 'Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties' test (SOS-test) and other manual dexterity tasks, particularly during dual-task conditions. Taken together, these results provide additional insights into the motor control of handwriting and the effects of dual tasking during upper limb movements in patients with PD. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Comprehension of handwriting development: Pen-grip kinetics in handwriting tasks and its relation to fine motor skills among school-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yu-Chen; Chao, Yen-Li; Wu, Shyi-Kuen; Lin, Ho-Hsio; Hsu, Chieh-Hsiang; Hsu, Hsiao-Man; Kuo, Li-Chieh

    2017-10-01

    Numerous tools have been developed to evaluate handwriting performances by analysing written products. However, few studies have directly investigated kinetic performances of digits when holding a pen. This study thus attempts to investigate pen-grip kinetics during writing tasks of school-age children and explore the relationship between the kinetic factors and fine motor skills. This study recruited 181 children aged from 5 to 12 years old and investigated the effects of age on handwriting kinetics and the relationship between these and fine motor skills. The forces applied from the digits and pen-tip were measured during writing tasks via a force acquisition pen, and the children's fine motor performances were also evaluated. The results indicate that peak force and average force might not be direct indicators of handwriting performance for normally developing children at this age. Younger children showed larger force variation and lower adjustment frequency during writing, which might indicate they had poorer force control than the older children. Force control when handling a pen is significantly correlated with fine motor performance, especially in relation to the manual dexterity. A novel system is proposed for analysing school-age children's force control while handwriting. We observed the development of force control in relation to pen grip among the children with different ages in this study. The findings suggested that manipulation skill may be crucial when children are establishing their handwriting capabilities. © 2017 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  6. Efficacy of a task-based training approach in the rehabilitation of three children with poor handwriting quality: a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baldi, Silvia; Nunzi, Michela; Brina, Carlo Di

    2015-02-01

    Evidence suggests that task-based training approaches can improve the performance of children with handwriting difficulties. The present case study tests the efficacy of the Handwriting Task Program (HTP). Three male children (9-10 yr. old) with poor handwriting skills and different developmental disorders participated in the HTP, twice per week, for 13 wk. Handwriting legibility was assessed through the Concise Evaluation Scale for Children's Handwriting, and fine motor performance and handwriting speed were evaluated at pre- and post-treatment with the Visual Motor Integration Test and the Battery for the assessment of writing skills of children from 7 to 13 yr. old. The results showed that motor efficiency and global handwriting quality improved in all the children, although some handwriting difficulties still persisted in one child with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Further study may confirm on a larger sample that a visual-spatially based training may improve the handwriting legibility of children with DCD.

  7. Effect of pencil grasp on the speed and legibility of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task in Grade 4 children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwellnus, Heidi; Carnahan, Heather; Kushki, Azadeh; Polatajko, Helene; Missiuna, Cheryl; Chau, Tom

    2012-06-01

    To investigate the impact of common pencil grasp patterns on the speed and legibility of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task, intended to induce muscle fatigue, in typically developing children and in those non-proficient in handwriting. A total of 120 Grade 4 students completed a standardised handwriting assessment before and after a 10-minute copy task. The students indicated the perceived difficulty of the handwriting task at baseline and after 10 minutes. The students also completed a self-report questionnaire regarding their handwriting proficiency upon completion. The majority of the students rated higher effort after the 10-minute copy task than at baseline (rank sum: P = 0.00001). The effort ratings were similar for the different grasp patterns (multiple linear regression: F = 0.37, P = 0.895). For both typically developing children and those with handwriting issues, the legibility of the writing samples decreased after the 10-minute copy task but the speed of writing increased. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: The quality of the handwriting decreased after the 10-minute copy task; however, there was no difference in the quality or speed scores among the different pencil grasps before and after the copy task. The dynamic tripod pencil grasp did not offer any advantage over the lateral tripod or the dynamic or lateral quadrupod pencil grasps in terms of quality of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task. These four pencil grasp patterns performed equivalently. Our findings question the practice of having students adopt the dynamic tripod pencil grasp. © 2012 The Authors Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2012 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  8. Use of a task-oriented self-instruction method to support children in primary school with poor handwriting quality and speed

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongmans, M.J.; Linthorst-Bakker, E.; Westenberg, Y.; Smits-Engelsman, B.C.M.

    2003-01-01

    Two studies were conducted to investigate the effect of a task-specific self-instruction intervention to improve handwriting ability of children with poor handwriting quality in schools for regular education (Study 1) and children with poor handwriting quality in schools for special education (Study

  9. Predicting Handwriting Difficulties through Spelling Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez, Cristina; Villarroel, Rebeca

    2017-01-01

    This study examined whether spelling tasks contribute to the prediction of the handwriting status of children with poor and good handwriting skills in a cross-sectional study with 276 Spanish children from Grades 1 and 3. The main hypothesis was that the spelling tasks would predict the handwriting status of the children, although this influence…

  10. Handwriting assessment of Franco-Quebec primary school-age students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Couture, Mélanie; Morin, Marie-France; Coallier, Mélissa; Lavigne, Audrey; Archambault, Patricia; Bolduc, Émilie; Chartier, Émilie; Liard, Karolane; Jasmin, Emmanuelle

    2016-12-01

    Reasons for referring school-age children to occupational therapy mainly relate to handwriting problems. However, there are no validated tools or reference values for assessing handwriting in francophone children in Canada. This study aimed to adapt and validate the writing tasks described in an English Canadian handwriting assessment protocol and to develop reference values for handwriting speed for francophone children. Three writing tasks from the Handwriting Assessment Protocol-2nd Edition (near-point and far-point copying and dictation) were adapted for Québec French children and administered to 141 Grade 1 ( n = 73) and Grade 2 ( n = 68) students. Reference values for handwriting speed were obtained for near point and far point copying tasks. This adapted protocol and these reference values for speed will improve occupational therapy handwriting assessments for the target population.

  11. Evaluation of handwriting kinematics and pressure for differential diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drotár, Peter; Mekyska, Jiří; Rektorová, Irena; Masarová, Lucia; Smékal, Zdeněk; Faundez-Zanuy, Marcos

    2016-02-01

    We present the PaHaW Parkinson's disease handwriting database, consisting of handwriting samples from Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and healthy controls. Our goal is to show that kinematic features and pressure features in handwriting can be used for the differential diagnosis of PD. The database contains records from 37 PD patients and 38 healthy controls performing eight different handwriting tasks. The tasks include drawing an Archimedean spiral, repetitively writing orthographically simple syllables and words, and writing of a sentence. In addition to the conventional kinematic features related to the dynamics of handwriting, we investigated new pressure features based on the pressure exerted on the writing surface. To discriminate between PD patients and healthy subjects, three different classifiers were compared: K-nearest neighbors (K-NN), ensemble AdaBoost classifier, and support vector machines (SVM). For predicting PD based on kinematic and pressure features of handwriting, the best performing model was SVM with classification accuracy of Pacc=81.3% (sensitivity Psen=87.4% and specificity of Pspe=80.9%). When evaluated separately, pressure features proved to be relevant for PD diagnosis, yielding Pacc=82.5% compared to Pacc=75.4% using kinematic features. Experimental results showed that an analysis of kinematic and pressure features during handwriting can help assess subtle characteristics of handwriting and discriminate between PD patients and healthy controls. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Effective Beginning Handwriting Instruction: Multi-modal, Consistent Format for 2 Years, and Linked to Spelling and Composing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Beverly; Abbott, Robert D; Berninger, Virginia W

    2017-02-01

    In Study 1, the treatment group ( N = 33 first graders, M = 6 years 10 months, 16 girls) received Slingerland multi-modal (auditory, visual, tactile, motor through hand, and motor through mouth) manuscript (unjoined) handwriting instruction embedded in systematic spelling, reading, and composing lessons; and the control group ( N =16 first graders, M = 7 years 1 month, 7 girls) received manuscript handwriting instruction not systematically related to the other literacy activities. ANOVA showed both groups improved on automatic alphabet writing from memory; but ANCOVA with the automatic alphabet writing task as covariate showed that the treatment group improved significantly more than control group from the second to ninth month of first grade on dictated spelling and recognition of word-specific spellings among phonological foils. In Study 2 new groups received either a second year of manuscript ( N = 29, M = 7 years 8 months, 16 girls) or introduction to cursive (joined) instruction in second grade ( N = 24, M = 8 years 0 months, 11 girls) embedded in the Slingerland literacy program. ANCOVA with automatic alphabet writing as covariate showed that those who received a second year of manuscript handwriting instruction improved more on sustained handwriting over 30, 60, and 90 seconds than those who had had only one year of manuscript instruction; both groups improved in spelling and composing from the second to ninth month of second grade. Results are discussed in reference to mastering one handwriting format before introducing another format at a higher grade level and always embedding handwriting instruction in writing and reading instruction aimed at all levels of language.

  13. Effective Beginning Handwriting Instruction: Multi-modal, Consistent Format for 2 Years, and Linked to Spelling and Composing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Beverly; Abbott, Robert D.; Berninger, Virginia W.

    2016-01-01

    In Study 1, the treatment group (N = 33 first graders, M = 6 years 10 months, 16 girls) received Slingerland multi-modal (auditory, visual, tactile, motor through hand, and motor through mouth) manuscript (unjoined) handwriting instruction embedded in systematic spelling, reading, and composing lessons; and the control group (N =16 first graders, M = 7 years 1 month, 7 girls) received manuscript handwriting instruction not systematically related to the other literacy activities. ANOVA showed both groups improved on automatic alphabet writing from memory; but ANCOVA with the automatic alphabet writing task as covariate showed that the treatment group improved significantly more than control group from the second to ninth month of first grade on dictated spelling and recognition of word-specific spellings among phonological foils. In Study 2 new groups received either a second year of manuscript (N = 29, M = 7 years 8 months, 16 girls) or introduction to cursive (joined) instruction in second grade (N = 24, M = 8 years 0 months, 11 girls) embedded in the Slingerland literacy program. ANCOVA with automatic alphabet writing as covariate showed that those who received a second year of manuscript handwriting instruction improved more on sustained handwriting over 30, 60, and 90 seconds than those who had had only one year of manuscript instruction; both groups improved in spelling and composing from the second to ninth month of second grade. Results are discussed in reference to mastering one handwriting format before introducing another format at a higher grade level and always embedding handwriting instruction in writing and reading instruction aimed at all levels of language. PMID:28190930

  14. Handwriting development, competency, and intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feder, Katya P; Majnemer, Annette

    2007-04-01

    Failure to attain handwriting competency during the school-age years often has far-reaching negative effects on both academic success and self-esteem. This complex occupational task has many underlying component skills that may interfere with handwriting performance. Fine motor control, bilateral and visual-motor integration, motor planning, in-hand manipulation, proprioception, visual perception, sustained attention, and sensory awareness of the fingers are some of the component skills identified. Poor handwriting may be related to intrinsic factors, which refer to the child's actual handwriting capabilities, or extrinsic factors which are related to environmental or biomechanical components, or both. It is important that handwriting performance be evaluated using a valid, reliable, standardized tool combined with informal classroom observation and teacher consultation. Studies of handwriting remediation suggest that intervention is effective. There is evidence to indicate that handwriting difficulties do not resolve without intervention and affect between 10 and 30% of school-aged children. Despite the widespread use of computers, legible handwriting remains an important life skill that deserves greater attention from educators and health practitioners.

  15. The Influence of Instructional Variables and Task Constraints on Handwriting Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitzpatrick, Paula; Vander Hart, Nanho; Cortesa, Cathryn

    2013-01-01

    Handwriting is used throughout the school day and is important to demonstrate knowledge. This research evaluated how handwriting instructional practices and intrinsic and extrinsic factors in actual classroom settings impacted learning handwriting over the course of the school year. Findings indicated that extrinsic factors (educational…

  16. Sequence for the Training of Eye-Hand Coordination Needed for the Organization of Handwriting Tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trester, Mary Fran

    1971-01-01

    Suggested is a sequence of 11 class activities, progressing from gross to fine motor skills, to assist the development of skills required to perform handwriting tasks successfully, for use particularly with children who lack fine motor control and eye-hand coordination. (KW)

  17. Interaction of attentional and motor control processes in handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, T L; Donnenwirth, E E

    1990-01-01

    The interaction between attentional capacity, motor control processes, and strategic adaptations to changing task demands was investigated in handwriting, a continuous (rather than discrete) skilled performance. Twenty-four subjects completed 12 two-minute handwriting samples under instructions stressing speeded handwriting, normal handwriting, or highly legible handwriting. For half of the writing samples, a concurrent auditory monitoring task was imposed. Subjects copied either familiar (English) or unfamiliar (Latin) passages. Writing speed, legibility ratings, errors in writing and in the secondary auditory task, and a derived measure of the average number of characters held in short-term memory during each sample ("planning unit size") were the dependent variables. The results indicated that the ability to adapt to instructions stressing speed or legibility was substantially constrained by the concurrent listening task and by text familiarity. Interactions between instructions, task concurrence, and text familiarity in the legibility ratings, combined with further analyses of planning unit size, indicated that information throughput from temporary storage mechanisms to motor processes mediated the loss of flexibility effect. Overall, the results suggest that strategic adaptations of a skilled performance to changing task circumstances are sensitive to concurrent attentional demands and that departures from "normal" or "modal" performance require attention.

  18. SKread predicts handwriting performance in patients with low vision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Downes, Ken; Walker, Laura L; Fletcher, Donald C

    2015-06-01

    To assess whether performance on the Smith-Kettlewell Reading (SKread) test is a reliable predictor of handwriting performance in patients with low vision. Cross-sectional study. Sixty-six patients at their initial low-vision rehabilitation evaluation. The patients completed all components of a routine low-vision appointment including logMAR acuity, performed the SKread test, and performed a handwriting task. Patients were timed while performing each task and their accuracy was recorded. The handwriting task was performed by having patients write 5 5-letter words into sets of boxes where each letter is separated by a box. The boxes were 15 × 15 mm, and accuracy was scored with 50 points possible from 25 letters: 1 point for each letter within the confines of a box and 1 point if the letter was legible. Correlation analysis was then performed. Median age of participants was 84 (range 54-97) years. Fifty-seven patients (86%) had age-related macular degeneration or some other maculopathy, whereas 9 patients (14%) had visual impairment from media opacity or neurologic impairment. Median Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study acuity was 20/133 (range 20/22 to 20/1000), and median logMAR acuity was 0.82 (range 0.04-1.70). SKread errors per block correlated with logMAR acuity (r = 0.6), and SKread time per block correlated with logMAR acuity (r = 0.51). SKread errors per block correlated with handwriting task time/accuracy ratio (r = 0.61). SKread time per block correlated with handwriting task time/accuracy ratio (r = 0.7). LogMAR acuity score correlated with handwriting task time/accuracy ratio (r = 0.42). All p values were handwriting performance in patients with low vision better than logMAR acuity. Copyright © 2015 Canadian Ophthalmological Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. On the development of a computer-based handwriting assessment tool to objectively quantify handwriting proficiency in children.

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    Falk, Tiago H; Tam, Cynthia; Schellnus, Heidi; Chau, Tom

    2011-12-01

    Standardized writing assessments such as the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA) can inform interventions for handwriting difficulties, which are prevalent among school-aged children. However, these tests usually involve the laborious task of subjectively rating the legibility of the written product, precluding their practical use in some clinical and educational settings. This study describes a portable computer-based handwriting assessment tool to objectively measure MHA quality scores and to detect handwriting difficulties in children. Several measures are proposed based on spatial, temporal, and grip force measurements obtained from a custom-built handwriting instrument. Thirty-five first and second grade students participated in the study, nine of whom exhibited handwriting difficulties. Students performed the MHA test and were subjectively scored based on speed and handwriting quality using five primitives: legibility, form, alignment, size, and space. Several spatial parameters are shown to correlate significantly (phandwriting legibility and speed, respectively. Using only size and space parameters, promising discrimination between proficient and non-proficient handwriting can be achieved. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Handwriting in children with ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langmaid, Rebecca A; Papadopoulos, Nicole; Johnson, Beth P; Phillips, James G; Rinehart, Nicole J

    2014-08-01

    Children with ADHD-combined type (ADHD-CT) display fine and gross motor problems, often expressed as handwriting difficulties. This study aimed to kinematically characterize the handwriting of children with ADHD using a cursive letter l's task. In all, 28 boys (7-12 years), 14 ADHD-CT and 14 typically developing (TD), without developmental coordination disorder (DCD) or comorbid autism, wrote a series of four cursive letter l's using a graphics tablet and stylus. Children with ADHD-CT had more inconsistent writing size than did TD controls. In addition, ADHD-CT symptom severity, specifically inattention, predicted poorer handwriting outcomes. In a sample of children with ADHD-CT who do not have DCD or autism, subtle handwriting differences were evident. It was concluded that handwriting might be impaired in children with ADHD in a manner dependent on symptom severity. This may reflect reports of underlying motor impairment in ADHD. © 2011 SAGE Publications.

  1. Perceptual reasoning predicts handwriting impairments in adolescents with autism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuentes, Christina T.; Mostofsky, Stewart H.; Bastian, Amy J.

    2010-01-01

    Background: We have previously shown that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have specific handwriting deficits consisting of poor form, and that these deficits are predicted by their motor abilities. It is not known whether the same handwriting impairments persist into adolescence and whether they remain linked to motor deficits. Methods: A case-control study of handwriting samples from adolescents with and without ASD was performed using the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. Samples were scored on an individual letter basis in 5 categories: legibility, form, alignment, size, and spacing. Subjects were also administered an intelligence test and the Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle (Motor) Signs (PANESS). Results: We found that adolescents with ASD, like children, show overall worse performance on a handwriting task than do age- and intelligence-matched controls. Also comparable to children, adolescents with ASD showed motor impairments relative to controls. However, adolescents with ASD differ from children in that Perceptual Reasoning Indices were significantly predictive of handwriting performance whereas measures of motor skills were not. Conclusions: Like children with ASD, adolescents with ASD have poor handwriting quality relative to controls. Despite still demonstrating motor impairments, in adolescents perceptual reasoning is the main predictor of handwriting performance, perhaps reflecting subjects' varied abilities to learn strategies to compensate for their motor impairments. GLOSSARY ASD = autism spectrum disorder; DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition; PANESS = Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle (Motor) Signs; PRI = Perceptual Reasoning Index; WASI = Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence; WISC = Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children IV. PMID:21079184

  2. Eye movements during the handwriting of words: Individually and within sentences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sita, Jodi C; Taylor, Katelyn A

    2015-10-01

    Handwriting, a complex motor process involves the coordination of both the upper limb and visual system. The gaze behavior that occurs during the handwriting process is an area that has been little studied. This study investigated the eye-movements of adults during writing and reading tasks. Eye and handwriting movements were recorded for six different words over three different tasks. The results compared reading and handwriting the same words, a between condition comparison and a comparison between the two handwriting tasks. Compared to reading, participants produced more fixations during handwriting tasks and the average fixation durations were longer. When reading fixations were found to be mostly around the center of word, whereas fixations when writing appear to be made for each letter in a written word and were located around the base of letters and flowed in a left to right direction. Between the two writing tasks more fixations were made when words were written individually compared to within sentences, yet fixation durations were no different. Correlation of the number of fixations made to kinematic variables revealed that horizontal size and road length held a strong correlation with the number of fixations made by participants. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Handwriting Instruction in Elementary Schools: Revisited!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asher, Asha; Estes, Joanne

    2016-01-01

    Handwriting is an essential literacy and communication skill developed through a variety of instructional methods in elementary school. This study explored the consistency in handwriting instruction across grade levels in a Midwest public school district 15 years after the school initially implemented a uniform handwriting program. Additionally,…

  4. Functional handwriting performance in school-age children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duval-White, Cherie J; Jirikowic, Tracy; Rios, Dianne; Deitz, Jean; Olson, Heather Carmichael

    2013-01-01

    Handwriting is a critical skill for school success. Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) often present with fine motor and visual-motor impairments that can affect handwriting performance, yet handwriting skills have not been systematically investigated in this clinical group. This study aimed to comprehensively describe handwriting skills in 20 school-age children with FASD. Children were tested with the Process Assessment of the Learner, 2nd Edition (PAL-II), and the Visuomotor Precision subtest of NEPSY, a developmental neuropsychological assessment. Participants performed below average on PAL-II measures of handwriting legibility and speed and on NEPSY visual-motor precision tasks. In contrast, PAL-II measures of sensorimotor skills were broadly within the average range. Results provide evidence of functional handwriting challenges for children with FASD and suggest diminished visual-motor skills and increased difficulty as task complexity increases. Future research is needed to further describe the prevalence and nature of handwriting challenges in this population. Copyright © 2013 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  5. Graphomotor skills in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD): Handwriting and learning a new letter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huau, Andréa; Velay, Jean-Luc; Jover, Marianne

    2015-08-01

    The aim of the present study was to analyze handwriting difficulties in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and investigate the hypothesis that a deficit in procedural learning could help to explain them. The experimental set-up was designed to compare the performances of children with DCD with those of a non-DCD group on tasks that rely on motor learning in different ways, namely handwriting and learning a new letter. Ten children with DCD and 10 non-DCD children, aged 8-10 years, were asked to perform handwriting tasks (letter/word/sentence; normal/fast), and a learning task (new letter) on a graphic tablet. The BHK concise assessment scale for children's handwriting was used to evaluate their handwriting quality. Results showed that both the handwriting and learning tasks differentiated between the groups. Furthermore, when speed or length constraints were added, handwriting was more impaired in children with DCD than in non-DCD children. Greater intra-individual variability was observed in the group of children with DCD, arguing in favor of a deficit in motor pattern stabilization. The results of this study could support both the hypothesis of a deficit in procedural learning and the hypothesis of neuromotor noise in DCD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Lexical orthography acquisition: Is handwriting better than spelling aloud?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosse, Marie-Line; Chaves, Nathalie; Valdois, Sylviane

    2014-01-01

    Lexical orthography acquisition is currently described as the building of links between the visual forms and the auditory forms of whole words. However, a growing body of data suggests that a motor component could further be involved in orthographic acquisition. A few studies support the idea that reading plus handwriting is a better lexical orthographic learning situation than reading alone. However, these studies did not explore which of the cognitive processes involved in handwriting enhanced lexical orthographic acquisition. Some findings suggest that the specific movements memorized when learning to write may participate in the establishment of orthographic representations in memory. The aim of the present study was to assess this hypothesis using handwriting and spelling aloud as two learning conditions. In two experiments, fifth graders were asked to read complex pseudo-words embedded in short sentences. Immediately after reading, participants had to recall the pseudo-words' spellings either by spelling them aloud or by handwriting them down. One week later, orthographic acquisition was tested using two post-tests: a pseudo-word production task (spelling by hand in Experiment 1 or spelling aloud in Experiment 2) and a pseudo-word recognition task. Results showed no significant difference in pseudo-word recognition between the two learning conditions. In the pseudo-word production task, orthography learning improved when the learning and post-test conditions were similar, thus showing a massive encoding-retrieval match effect in the two experiments. However, a mixed model analysis of the pseudo-word production results revealed a significant learning condition effect which remained after control of the encoding-retrieval match effect. This later finding suggests that orthography learning is more efficient when mediated by handwriting than by spelling aloud, whatever the post-test production task.

  7. Lexical orthographic acquisition: Is handwriting better than spelling aloud?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie-Line eBosse

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Lexical orthography acquisition is currently described as the building of links between the visual forms and the auditory forms of whole words. However, a growing body of data suggests that a motor component could further be involved in orthographic acquisition. A few studies support the idea that reading plus handwriting is a better lexical orthographic learning situation than reading alone. However, these studies did not explore which of the cognitive processes involved in handwriting enhanced lexical orthographic acquisition. Some findings suggest that the specific movements memorized when learning to write may participate in the establishment of orthographic representations in memory. The aim of the present study was to assess this hypothesis using handwriting and spelling aloud as two learning conditions. In two experiments, fifth graders were asked to read complex pseudo-words embedded in short sentences. Immediately after reading, participants had to recall the pseudo-words’ spellings either by spelling them aloud or by handwriting them down. One week later, orthographic acquisition was tested using two post-tests: a pseudo-word production task (spelling by hand in Experiment 1 or spelling aloud in Experiment 2 and a pseudo-word recognition task. Results showed no significant difference in pseudo-word recognition between the two learning conditions. In the pseudo-word production task, orthography learning improved when the learning and post-test conditions were similar, thus showing a massive encoding-retrieval match effect in the two experiments. However, a mixed model analysis of the pseudo-word production results revealed a significant learning condition effect which remained after control of the encoding-retrieval match effect. This later finding suggests that orthography learning is more efficient when mediated by handwriting than by spelling aloud, whatever the post-test production task.

  8. Age effects on sensory-processing abilities and their impact on handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engel-Yeger, Batya; Hus, Sari; Rosenblum, Sara

    2012-12-01

    Sensory-processing abilities are known to deteriorate in the elderly. As a result, daily activities such as handwriting may be impaired. Yet, knowledge about sensory-processing involvement in handwriting characteristics among older persons is limited. To examine how age influences sensory-processing abilities and the impact on handwriting as a daily performance. The study participants were 118 healthy, independently functioning adults divided into four age groups: 31-45, 46-60, 61-75 and 76+ years. All participants completed the Adolescent/ Adult Sensory Profile (AASP). Handwriting process was documented using the Computerized Handwriting Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET). Age significantly affects sensory processing and handwriting pressure as well as temporal and spatial measures. Both handwriting time and spatial organization of the written product were predicted by sensory seeking. When examining age contribution to the prediction of handwriting by sensory processing, sensory seeking showed a tendency for predicting handwriting pressure (p = .06), while sensory sensitivity significantly predicted handwriting velocity. Age appears to influence sensory-processing abilities and affect daily performance tasks, such as handwriting, for which sensitivity and seeking for sensations are essential. Awareness of clinicians to sensory-processing deficits among older adults and examining their impact on broader daily activities are essential to improve daily performance and quality of life.

  9. The influence of spelling ability on handwriting production: children with and without dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumner, Emma; Connelly, Vincent; Barnett, Anna L

    2014-09-01

    Current models of writing do not sufficiently address the complex relationship between the 2 transcription skills: spelling and handwriting. For children with dyslexia and beginning writers, it is conceivable that spelling ability will influence rate of handwriting production. Our aim in this study was to examine execution speed and temporal characteristics of handwriting when completing sentence-copying tasks that are free from composing demands and to determine the predictive value of spelling, pausing, and motor skill on handwriting production. Thirty-one children with dyslexia (Mage = 9 years 4 months) were compared with age-matched and spelling-ability matched children (Mage = 6 years 6 months). A digital writing tablet and Eye and Pen software were used to analyze handwriting. Children with dyslexia were able to execute handwriting at the same speed as the age-matched peers. However, they wrote less overall and paused more frequently while writing, especially within words. Combined spelling ability and within-word pausing accounted for over 76% of the variance in handwriting production of children with dyslexia, demonstrating that productivity relies on spelling capabilities. Motor skill did not significantly predict any additional variance in handwriting production. Reading ability predicted performance of the age-matched group, and pausing predicted performance for the spelling-ability group. The findings from the digital writing tablet highlight the interactive relationship between the transcription skills and how, if spelling is not fully automatized, it can constrain the rate of handwriting production. Practical implications are also addressed, emphasizing the need for more consideration to be given to what common handwriting tasks are assessing as a whole.

  10. An electromyographic analysis of two handwriting grasp patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Almeida, Pedro Henrique Tavares Queiroz; da Cruz, Daniel Marinho Cezar; Magna, Luis Alberto; Ferrigno, Iracema Serrat Vergotti

    2013-08-01

    Handwriting is a fundamental skill needed for the development of daily-life activities during lifetime and can be performed using different forms to hold the writing object. In this study, we monitored the sEMG activity of trapezius, biceps brachii, extensor carpi radialis brevis and flexor digitorum superficialis during a handwriting task with two groups of subjects using different grasp patterns. Twenty-four university students (thirteen males and eleven females; mean age of 22.04±2.8years) were included in this study. We randomly invited 12 subjects that used the Dynamic Tripod grasp and 12 subjects that used the Static Tripod grasp. The static tripod group showed statistically significant changes in the sEMG activity of trapezium and biceps brachii muscles during handwriting when compared to dynamic tripod group's subjects. No significant differences were found in extensor carpi radialis brevis and flexor digitorum superficialis activities among the two groups. The findings in this study suggest an increased activity of proximal muscles among subjects using a transitional grasp, indicating potential higher energy expenditure and muscular harm with the maintenance of this motor pattern in handwriting tasks, especially during the progression in academic life. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Understanding handwriting difficulties: A comparison of children with and without motor impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prunty, Mellissa; Barnett, Anna L

    The nature of handwriting difficulties have been explored in children with specific developmental disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of handwriting difficulties in children with dysgraphia, a less studied group who have significant handwriting difficulties in the absence of motor control or cognitive difficulties. The performance of a dysgraphia group aged 8-14 years was compared to a group with Developmental Coordination Disorder and to typically developing (TD) controls. Participants completed two handwriting tasks on a digitizing writing tablet. The amount and accuracy of the handwriting product was measured, plus various temporal and spatial features of the writing process. There were no significant differences in performance between the two groups with handwriting difficulties but both performed more poorly than the TD group. Individual differences in the type and severity of handwriting impairments suggest the need for a range of classroom assessments to tailor intervention appropriately.

  12. Handwriting performance of preterm children at school age: a literature review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julie Souza de Medeiros Rocha

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: At school age, handwriting is on of the most important tasks among the fine motor activities. Good handwriting performance contributes to the child´s school performance. As prematurity impacts on motor development, it may influence handwriting. Objective: To review the specific literature and investigate whether there are differences in handwriting performance at school age between children born preterm and full term. Method: A search was performed in the Capes electronic database, in English and Portuguese, comprising the time period between January 2000 and June 2012. Articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria; the sample, objectives, instruments utilized and outcomes were analyzed. Results: Six articles were included in the study. Data analysis indicates that children born prematurely present poorer handwriting performance and a handicap in the underlying handwriting mechanisms when compared with full term infants. Conclusion: Preterm children without obvious neurological impairment are at increased risk for problems in handwriting development at school age. The small number of recent studies on this topic indicates a need for further research, as well as the development of standardized resources for the motor and handwriting assessment of Brazilian children.

  13. Decision support framework for Parkinson's disease based on novel handwriting markers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drotár, Peter; Mekyska, Jiří; Rektorová, Irena; Masarová, Lucia; Smékal, Zdeněk; Faundez-Zanuy, Marcos

    2015-05-01

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which impairs motor skills, speech, and other functions such as behavior, mood, and cognitive processes. One of the most typical clinical hallmarks of PD is handwriting deterioration, usually the first manifestation of PD. The aim of this study is twofold: (a) to find a subset of handwriting features suitable for identifying subjects with PD and (b) to build a predictive model to efficiently diagnose PD. We collected handwriting samples from 37 medicated PD patients and 38 age- and sex-matched controls. The handwriting samples were collected during seven tasks such as writing a syllable, word, or sentence. Every sample was used to extract the handwriting measures. In addition to conventional kinematic and spatio-temporal handwriting measures, we also computed novel handwriting measures based on entropy, signal energy, and empirical mode decomposition of the handwriting signals. The selected features were fed to the support vector machine classifier with radial Gaussian kernel for automated diagnosis. The accuracy of the classification of PD was as high as 88.13%, with the highest values of sensitivity and specificity equal to 89.47% and 91.89%, respectively. Handwriting may be a valuable marker as a diagnostic and screening tool.

  14. Handwriting Movement Analyses for Monitoring Drug-Induced Motor Side Effects in Schizophrenia Patients Treated with Risperidone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caligiuri, Michael P.; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Dean, Charles E.; Niculescu, Alexander B.; Lohr, James

    2009-01-01

    Epidemiologic studies indicate that nearly 60% of schizophrenia (SZ) patients treated with conventional antipsychotic drugs develop extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) such as parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia. Although the prevalence of EPS has decreased due to the newer antipsychotics, EPS continue to limit the effectiveness of these medicines. Ongoing monitoring of EPS is likely to improve treatment outcome or compliance and reduce the frequency of re-hospitalization. A quantitative analysis of handwriting kinematics was used to evaluate effects of antipsychotic medication type and dose in schizophrenia patients. Twenty-seven schizophrenia patients treated with risperidone, six schizophrenia patients who received no antipsychotic medication and 46 healthy comparison participants were enrolled. Participants performed a 20-minute handwriting task consisting of loops of various sizes and a sentence. Data were captured and analyzed using MovAlyzeR software. Results indicated that risperidone-treated participants exhibited significantly more dysfluent handwriting movements than either healthy or untreated SZ participants. Risperidone-treated participants exhibited lower movement velocities during production of simple loops compared to unmedicated patients. Handwriting dysfluency during sentence writing increased with dose. A 3-factor model consisting of kinematic variables derived from sentence writing accounted for 83% (r = .91) of the variability in medication dose. In contrast, we found no association between observer-based EPS severity ratings and medication dose. These findings support the importance of handwriting-based measures to monitor EPS in medicated schizophrenia patients. PMID:19692133

  15. Exploring the Participation of Children with Down Syndrome in Handwriting without Tears

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patton, Sandra; Hutton, Eve

    2017-01-01

    Children with Down Syndrome typically experience difficulties with attention to task and lack motivation when learning to write. This article provides an evaluation of the HWT (Handwriting Without Tears) method applied as an intervention to promote handwriting among children with Down Syndrome attending mainstream school in the Republic of…

  16. Focus of attention and automaticity in handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacMahon, Clare; Charness, Neil

    2014-04-01

    This study investigated the nature of automaticity in everyday tasks by testing handwriting performance under single and dual-task conditions. Item familiarity and hand dominance were also manipulated to understand both cognitive and motor components of the task. In line with previous literature, performance was superior in an extraneous focus of attention condition compared to two different skill focus conditions. This effect was found only when writing with the dominant hand. In addition, performance was superior for high familiarity compared to low familiarity items. These findings indicate that motor and cognitive familiarity are related to the degree of automaticity of motor skills and can be manipulated to produce different performance outcomes. The findings also imply that the progression of skill acquisition from novel to novice to expert levels can be traced using different dual-task conditions. The separation of motor and cognitive familiarity is a new approach in the handwriting domain, and provides insight into the nature of attentional demands during performance. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. A Comparison of the Identifying Features of Imitated Handwriting and Elderly Handwriting

    OpenAIRE

    Jing Wang

    2017-01-01

    Imitated handwriting and elderly handwriting are two manifestation patterns of altered handwriting. Several similarities in features can be found in both, such as gentle movement and curved jitter. In practice, it is very easy to confuse the two patterns, leading to wrong decisions and difficulties in document examination. The key to solving these problems is to recognize the similarities and differences between imitated handwriting and elderly handwriting. This paper comprises four parts. Th...

  18. Validating the use of the evaluation tool of children's handwriting-manuscript to identify handwriting difficulties and detect change in school-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brossard-Racine, Marie; Mazer, Barbara; Julien, Marilyse; Majnemer, Annette

    2012-01-01

    In this study we sought to validate the discriminant ability of the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Manuscript in identifying children in Grades 2-3 with handwriting difficulties and to determine the percentage of change in handwriting scores that is consistently detected by occupational therapists. Thirty-four therapists judged and compared 35 pairs of handwriting samples. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to determine (1) the optimal cutoff values for word and letter legibility scores that identify children with handwriting difficulties who should be seen in rehabilitation and (2) the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in handwriting scores. Cutoff scores of 75.0% for total word legibility and 76.0% for total letter legibility were found to provide excellent levels of accuracy. A difference of 10.0%-12.5% for total word legibility and 6.0%-7.0% for total letter legibility were found as the MCID. Study findings enable therapists to quantitatively support clinical judgment when evaluating handwriting. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  19. Influence of Handwriting Skills during Spelling in Primary and lower Secondary Grades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virginie ePontart

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available We sought to identify, the impact of handwriting skills on the efficiency and temporal course of word spelling across Grades 2-9. Eighty-four students, drawn from primary and lower secondary schools, were asked to perform a dictation task to assess their word spelling. They also had to write out the letters of the alphabet, as well as their firstnames and surnames, from memory to assess their handwriting skills. Handwriting kinematics were recorded using a digitizing tablet and a computer running Eye and Pen software. Results revealed that graphomotor skills (as assessed by the name writing task influenced the success and temporal course of spelling, but only in primary grades, whereas the influence of orthographic knowledge (as assessed by the alphabet task could still be observed in the lower secondary grades, even if it ceased to influence the temporal course and only affected errors. We discuss what these findings tell us about changes in transcription processes over the course of child development.

  20. Influence of handwriting skills during spelling in primary and lower secondary grades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pontart, Virginie; Bidet-Ildei, Christel; Lambert, Eric; Morisset, Pauline; Flouret, Lisa; Alamargot, Denis

    2013-01-01

    We sought to identify, the impact of handwriting skills on the efficiency and temporal course of word spelling across Grades 2–9. Eighty-four students, drawn from primary and lower secondary schools, were asked to perform a dictation task to assess their word spelling. They also had to write out the letters of the alphabet, as well as their firstnames and surnames, from memory to assess their handwriting skills. Handwriting kinematics were recorded using a digitizing tablet and a computer running Eye and Pen software. Results revealed that graphomotor skills (as assessed by the name writing task) influenced the success and temporal course of spelling, but only in primary grades, whereas the influence of orthographic knowledge (as assessed by the alphabet task) could still be observed in the lower secondary grades, even if it ceased to influence the temporal course and only affected errors. We discuss what these findings tell us about changes in transcription processes over the course of child development. PMID:24204357

  1. Is Handwriting Performance Affected by the Writing Surface? Comparing Preschoolers', Second Graders', and Adults' Writing Performance on a Tablet vs. Paper.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerth, Sabrina; Klassert, Annegret; Dolk, Thomas; Fliesser, Michael; Fischer, Martin H; Nottbusch, Guido; Festman, Julia

    2016-01-01

    Due to their multifunctionality, tablets offer tremendous advantages for research on handwriting dynamics or for interactive use of learning apps in schools. Further, the widespread use of tablet computers has had a great impact on handwriting in the current generation. But, is it advisable to teach how to write and to assess handwriting in pre- and primary schoolchildren on tablets rather than on paper? Since handwriting is not automatized before the age of 10 years, children's handwriting movements require graphomotor and visual feedback as well as permanent control of movement execution during handwriting. Modifications in writing conditions, for instance the smoother writing surface of a tablet, might influence handwriting performance in general and in particular those of non-automatized beginning writers. In order to investigate how handwriting performance is affected by a difference in friction of the writing surface, we recruited three groups with varying levels of handwriting automaticity: 25 preschoolers, 27 second graders, and 25 adults. We administered three tasks measuring graphomotor abilities, visuomotor abilities, and handwriting performance (only second graders and adults). We evaluated two aspects of handwriting performance: the handwriting quality with a visual score and the handwriting dynamics using online handwriting measures [e.g., writing duration, writing velocity, strokes and number of inversions in velocity (NIV)]. In particular, NIVs which describe the number of velocity peaks during handwriting are directly related to the level of handwriting automaticity. In general, we found differences between writing on paper compared to the tablet. These differences were partly task-dependent. The comparison between tablet and paper revealed a faster writing velocity for all groups and all tasks on the tablet which indicates that all participants-even the experienced writers-were influenced by the lower friction of the tablet surface. Our results

  2. Is handwriting performance affected by the writing surface? Comparing preschoolers’, second graders’ and adults’ writing performance on a tablet versus paper

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sabrina Gerth

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Due to their multifunctionality, tablets offer tremendous advantages for research on handwriting dynamics or for interactive use of learning apps in schools. Further, the widespread use of tablet computers has had a great impact on handwriting in the current generation. But, is it advisable to teach how to write and to assess handwriting in pre- and primary schoolchildren on tablets rather than on paper? Since handwriting is not automatized before the age of ten years, children’s handwriting movements require graphomotor and visual feedback as well as permanent control of movement execution during handwriting. Modifications in writing conditions, for instance the smoother writing surface of a tablet, might influence handwriting performance in general, and in particular those of non-automatized beginning writers.In order to investigate how handwriting performance is affected by a difference in friction of the writing surface, we recruited three groups with varying levels of handwriting automaticity: 25 preschoolers, 27 second graders and 25 adults. We administered three tasks measuring graphomotor abilities, visuomotor abilities and handwriting performance (only second graders and adults. We evaluated two aspects of handwriting performance: the handwriting quality with a visual score and the handwriting dynamics using online handwriting measures (e.g. writing duration, writing velocity, strokes and number of inversions in velocity (NIV. In particular, NIVs which describe the number of velocity peaks during handwriting, are directly related to the level of handwriting automaticity.In general, we found differences between writing on paper compared to the tablet. These differences were partly task-dependent. The comparison between tablet and paper revealed a faster writing velocity for all groups and all tasks on the tablet which indicates that all participants – even the experienced writers – were influenced by the lower friction of the

  3. Is Handwriting Performance Affected by the Writing Surface? Comparing Preschoolers', Second Graders', and Adults' Writing Performance on a Tablet vs. Paper

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerth, Sabrina; Klassert, Annegret; Dolk, Thomas; Fliesser, Michael; Fischer, Martin H.; Nottbusch, Guido; Festman, Julia

    2016-01-01

    Due to their multifunctionality, tablets offer tremendous advantages for research on handwriting dynamics or for interactive use of learning apps in schools. Further, the widespread use of tablet computers has had a great impact on handwriting in the current generation. But, is it advisable to teach how to write and to assess handwriting in pre- and primary schoolchildren on tablets rather than on paper? Since handwriting is not automatized before the age of 10 years, children's handwriting movements require graphomotor and visual feedback as well as permanent control of movement execution during handwriting. Modifications in writing conditions, for instance the smoother writing surface of a tablet, might influence handwriting performance in general and in particular those of non-automatized beginning writers. In order to investigate how handwriting performance is affected by a difference in friction of the writing surface, we recruited three groups with varying levels of handwriting automaticity: 25 preschoolers, 27 second graders, and 25 adults. We administered three tasks measuring graphomotor abilities, visuomotor abilities, and handwriting performance (only second graders and adults). We evaluated two aspects of handwriting performance: the handwriting quality with a visual score and the handwriting dynamics using online handwriting measures [e.g., writing duration, writing velocity, strokes and number of inversions in velocity (NIV)]. In particular, NIVs which describe the number of velocity peaks during handwriting are directly related to the level of handwriting automaticity. In general, we found differences between writing on paper compared to the tablet. These differences were partly task-dependent. The comparison between tablet and paper revealed a faster writing velocity for all groups and all tasks on the tablet which indicates that all participants—even the experienced writers—were influenced by the lower friction of the tablet surface. Our

  4. Handwriting speed in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: are they really slower?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prunty, Mellissa M; Barnett, Anna L; Wilmut, Kate; Plumb, Mandy S

    2013-09-01

    Handwriting difficulties are often included in descriptions of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). They are cited as the most common reason for referral to health professionals following parent and teacher concerns about slow and untidy writing. The aim of this study was to compare handwriting performance in English children with and without DCD across a range of writing tasks, to gain a better understanding of the nature of 'slowness' so commonly reported. Twenty-eight 8-14 year-old children with a diagnosis of DCD participated in the study, with 28 typically developing age and gender matched controls. Participants completed the four handwriting tasks from the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) and wrote their own name; all on a digitising writing tablet. The number of words written, speed of pen movements and the time spent pausing during the tasks were calculated. The findings confirmed what many professionals report, that children with DCD produce less text than their peers. However, this was not due to slow movement execution, but rather a higher percentage of time spent pausing. Discussion centres on the understanding of the pausing phenomenon in children with DCD and areas for further research. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Effectiveness of a Handwriting Intervention With At-Risk Kindergarteners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zylstra, Sheryl Eckberg; Pfeiffer, Beth

    2016-01-01

    We examined the effectiveness of an occupational therapist-led handwriting intervention for special education and at-risk kindergarteners. We incorporated a two-group, pretest-posttest design. Both groups consisted of kindergarteners receiving individualized education program (IEP) or Response to Intervention (RtI) support. An occupational therapist provided biweekly group handwriting instruction using the Size Matters Handwriting Program to students in the intervention group (n = 23). The control group (n = 12) received the standard handwriting instruction. Students in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater gains in handwriting legibility than students in the control group. Students in the intervention group also demonstrated significantly greater gains in the prereading skills of uppercase letter recognition, lowercase letter recognition, and letter sound recognition. This study provides preliminary support for an occupational therapist-led handwriting intervention to improve writing legibility and letter recognition in kindergarteners receiving RtI and IEP supports. Copyright © 2016 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  6. Effect of pencil grasp on the speed and legibility of handwriting in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwellnus, Heidi; Carnahan, Heather; Kushki, Azadeh; Polatajko, Helene; Missiuna, Cheryl; Chau, Tom

    2012-01-01

    Pencil grasps other than the dynamic tripod may be functional for handwriting. This study examined the impact of grasp on handwriting speed and legibility. We videotaped 120 typically developing fourth-grade students while they performed a writing task. We categorized the grasps they used and evaluated their writing for speed and legibility using a handwriting assessment. Using linear regression analysis, we examined the relationship between grasp and handwriting. We documented six categories of pencil grasp: four mature grasp patterns, one immature grasp pattern, and one alternating grasp pattern. Multiple linear regression results revealed no significant effect for mature grasp on either legibility or speed. Pencil grasp patterns did not influence handwriting speed or legibility in this sample of typically developing children. This finding adds to the mounting body of evidence that alternative grasps may be acceptable for fast and legible handwriting. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  7. Missing value imputation: with application to handwriting data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zhen; Srihari, Sargur N.

    2015-01-01

    Missing values make pattern analysis difficult, particularly with limited available data. In longitudinal research, missing values accumulate, thereby aggravating the problem. Here we consider how to deal with temporal data with missing values in handwriting analysis. In the task of studying development of individuality of handwriting, we encountered the fact that feature values are missing for several individuals at several time instances. Six algorithms, i.e., random imputation, mean imputation, most likely independent value imputation, and three methods based on Bayesian network (static Bayesian network, parameter EM, and structural EM), are compared with children's handwriting data. We evaluate the accuracy and robustness of the algorithms under different ratios of missing data and missing values, and useful conclusions are given. Specifically, static Bayesian network is used for our data which contain around 5% missing data to provide adequate accuracy and low computational cost.

  8. Handwriting performance in the absence of visual control in writer's cramp patients: Initial observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Losch Florian

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The present study was aimed at investigating the writing parameters of writer's cramp patients and control subjects during handwriting of a test sentence in the absence of visual control. Methods Eight right-handed patients with writer's cramp and eight healthy volunteers as age-matched control subjects participated in the study. The experimental task consisted in writing a test sentence repeatedly for fifty times on a pressure-sensitive digital board. The subject did not have visual control on his handwriting. The writing performance was stored on a PC and analyzed off-line. Results During handwriting all patients developed a typical dystonic limb posture and reported an increase in muscular tension along the experimental session. The patients were significantly slower than the controls, with lower mean vertical pressure of the pen tip on the paper and they could not reach the endmost letter of the sentence in the given time window. No other handwriting parameter differences were found between the two groups. Conclusion Our findings indicate that during writing in the absence of visual feedback writer's cramp patients are slower and could not reach the endmost letter of the test sentence, but their level of automatization is not impaired and writer's cramp handwriting parameters are similar to those of the controls except for even lower vertical pressure of the pen tip on the paper, which is probably due to a changed strategy in such experimental conditions.

  9. The handwriting performance of children with NF1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilboa, Yafit; Josman, Naomi; Fattal-Valevski, Aviva; Toledano-Alhadef, Hagit; Rosenblum, Sara

    2010-01-01

    The objective of this study was to analyze the process and product of handwriting among children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) in comparison to those of Typically Developing (TD) children. Children with NF1 are at risk for some cognitive deficits, a wide range of deficits in perceptual skills and, motor and visual-motor integration skills which may interfere with handwriting competency, which is an essential ingredient for success at school. Participants were 30 NF1 children and 30 age and gender matched TD children, between the ages 8 and 16.08. The handwriting performance of children with NF1 was evaluated with the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), for copying text and free style writing tasks, using: (1) Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET) to assess mechanical aspects of the writing process. (2) The Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE) to examine product legibility. (3) The Six-Trait Writing Model to judge the quality of the written product. Significant differences between the NF1 children and the control group were found in the process and product measures. Significant correlations were found between the VMI, the ComPET, the HHE and the Six-Trait Writing Model variables for both groups. We suggest a possible relationship between executive dysfunction and poor performance in handwriting.

  10. Hand Strength, Handwriting, and Functional Skills in Children With Autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alaniz, Michele L; Galit, Eleanor; Necesito, Corina Isabel; Rosario, Emily R

    2015-01-01

    To establish hand strength development trends in children with autism and to investigate correlations between grip and pinch strength, components of handwriting, and functional activities in children with and without autism. Fifty-one children were divided into two groups: typically developing children and children on the autism spectrum. Each child completed testing for pinch and grip strength, handwriting legibility, pencil control, and independence in functional activities. The children with autism followed the same strength development trends as the typically developing children. Grip strength correlated with pencil control in both groups and with handwriting legibility in the typically developing children but not in the children with autism. Grip and pinch strength correlated with independence with functional activities in both groups. This study provides evidence that grip and pinch strength are important components in developing pencil control, handwriting legibility, and independence with functional fine motor tasks. Copyright © 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  11. The lognormal handwriter: learning, performing and declining.

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    Réjean ePlamondon

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The generation of handwriting is a complex neuromotor skill requiring the interaction of many cognitive processes. It aims at producing a message to be imprinted as an ink trace left on a writing medium. The generated trajectory of the pen tip is made up of strokes superimposed over time. The Kinematic Theory of rapid human movements and its family of lognormal models provide analytical representations of these strokes, often considered as the basic unit of handwriting. This paradigm has not only been experimentally confirmed in numerous predictive and physiologically significant tests but it has also been shown to be the ideal mathematical description for the impulse response of a neuromuscular system. This latter demonstration suggests that the lognormality of the velocity patterns can be interpreted as reflecting the behaviour of subjects who are in perfect control of their movements. To illustrate this interpretation, we present a short overview of the main concepts behind the Kinematic Theory and briefly describe how its models can be exploited, using various software tools, to investigate these ideal lognormal behaviors. We emphasize that the parameters extracted during various tasks can be used to analyze some underlying processes associated with their realization. To investigate the operational convergence hypothesis, we report on two original studies. First, we focus on the early steps of the motor learning process as seen as a converging behaviour toward the production of more precise lognormal patterns as young children practicing handwriting start to become more fluent writers. Second, we illustrate how aging affects handwriting by pointing out the increasing departure from the ideal lognormal behaviour as the control of the fine motricity begins to decline. Overall, the paper highlights this developmental process of merging toward a lognormal behaviour with learning, mastering this behaviour to succeed in performing a given task

  12. Reliability of the detailed assessment of speed of handwriting on Flemish children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simons, Johan; Probst, Michel

    2014-01-01

    This study evaluates the reliability of the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) in a Dutch-speaking sample of children. The sample included 650 boys and 513 girls (age range = 9-16 years). Handwriting speed measurements were obtained using the DASH. Interrater agreement, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency were calculated; gender and age effects were analyzed. Interrater agreement shows excellent reliability with intraclass correlation coefficients of at least 0.94. Test-retest correlations ranged from r = 0.65 to r = 0.81. The internal consistency measures, calculated with Cronbach's alpha, were between 0.88 and 0.94. Both gender and age have a significant effect on handwriting speed, with F (7.1144) = 17.43 (P handwriting speed of Dutch-speaking children. There is a tendency of girls to write faster than boys.

  13. FIR signature verification system characterizing dynamics of handwriting features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thumwarin, Pitak; Pernwong, Jitawat; Matsuura, Takenobu

    2013-12-01

    This paper proposes an online signature verification method based on the finite impulse response (FIR) system characterizing time-frequency characteristics of dynamic handwriting features. First, the barycenter determined from both the center point of signature and two adjacent pen-point positions in the signing process, instead of one pen-point position, is used to reduce the fluctuation of handwriting motion. In this paper, among the available dynamic handwriting features, motion pressure and area pressure are employed to investigate handwriting behavior. Thus, the stable dynamic handwriting features can be described by the relation of the time-frequency characteristics of the dynamic handwriting features. In this study, the aforesaid relation can be represented by the FIR system with the wavelet coefficients of the dynamic handwriting features as both input and output of the system. The impulse response of the FIR system is used as the individual feature for a particular signature. In short, the signature can be verified by evaluating the difference between the impulse responses of the FIR systems for a reference signature and the signature to be verified. The signature verification experiments in this paper were conducted using the SUBCORPUS MCYT-100 signature database consisting of 5,000 signatures from 100 signers. The proposed method yielded equal error rate (EER) of 3.21% on skilled forgeries.

  14. Recognition of Handwriting from Electromyography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linderman, Michael; Lebedev, Mikhail A.; Erlichman, Joseph S.

    2009-01-01

    Handwriting – one of the most important developments in human culture – is also a methodological tool in several scientific disciplines, most importantly handwriting recognition methods, graphology and medical diagnostics. Previous studies have relied largely on the analyses of handwritten traces or kinematic analysis of handwriting; whereas electromyographic (EMG) signals associated with handwriting have received little attention. Here we show for the first time, a method in which EMG signals generated by hand and forearm muscles during handwriting activity are reliably translated into both algorithm-generated handwriting traces and font characters using decoding algorithms. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of recreating handwriting solely from EMG signals – the finding that can be utilized in computer peripherals and myoelectric prosthetic devices. Moreover, this approach may provide a rapid and sensitive method for diagnosing a variety of neurogenerative diseases before other symptoms become clear. PMID:19707562

  15. Handwriting generates variable visual input to facilitate symbol learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Julia X.; James, Karin H.

    2015-01-01

    Recent research has demonstrated that handwriting practice facilitates letter categorization in young children. The present experiments investigated why handwriting practice facilitates visual categorization by comparing two hypotheses: That handwriting exerts its facilitative effect because of the visual-motor production of forms, resulting in a direct link between motor and perceptual systems, or because handwriting produces variable visual instances of a named category in the environment that then changes neural systems. We addressed these issues by measuring performance of 5 year-old children on a categorization task involving novel, Greek symbols across 6 different types of learning conditions: three involving visual-motor practice (copying typed symbols independently, tracing typed symbols, tracing handwritten symbols) and three involving visual-auditory practice (seeing and saying typed symbols of a single typed font, of variable typed fonts, and of handwritten examples). We could therefore compare visual-motor production with visual perception both of variable and similar forms. Comparisons across the six conditions (N=72) demonstrated that all conditions that involved studying highly variable instances of a symbol facilitated symbol categorization relative to conditions where similar instances of a symbol were learned, regardless of visual-motor production. Therefore, learning perceptually variable instances of a category enhanced performance, suggesting that handwriting facilitates symbol understanding by virtue of its environmental output: supporting the notion of developmental change though brain-body-environment interactions. PMID:26726913

  16. Teachers’ Perceptions of Needs and Supports for Handwriting Instruction in Kindergarten

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    Jill A. Nye

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: This study was designed to explore the perceived needs of kindergarten teachers as well as the supports they require in preparing children for success in the area of handwriting. Methods: A phenomenological research design was used and nine kindergarten teachers employed at four elementary schools in a school district in Illinois participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were completed to discuss the perceptions of teachers related to challenges they face and the supports they require in promoting the occupational task of handwriting among the children in their classrooms. Results: The results from this pilot study revealed that overall the teachers felt that the lack of a curriculum and formalized training impacted their teaching practices related to handwriting instruction. Conclusion: The teachers stated that gaps in their knowledge base relating to developmental progression, the ability to assist struggling students, an awareness of strategies to use, and the IEP process contributed to their challenges in teaching handwriting to kindergarten students.

  17. The effects of shift work and time of day on fine motor control during handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hölzle, Patricia; Hermsdörfer, Joachim; Vetter, Céline

    2014-01-01

    Handwriting is an elaborate and highly automatised skill relying on fine motor control. In laboratory conditions handwriting kinematics are modulated by the time of day. This study investigated handwriting kinematics in a rotational shift system and assessed whether similar time of day fluctuations at the work place can be observed. Handwriting performance was measured in two tasks of different levels of complexity in 34 shift workers across morning (6:00-14:00), evening (14:00-22:00) and night shifts (22:00-6:00). Participants were tested during all three shifts in 2-h intervals with mobile testing devices. We calculated average velocity, script size and writing frequency to quantify handwriting kinematics and fluency. Average velocity and script size were significantly affected by the shift work schedule with the worst performance during morning shifts and the best performance during evening shifts. Our data are of high economic relevance as fine motor skills are indispensable for accurate and effective production at the work place. Handwriting is one of the most complex fine motor skills in humans, which is frequently performed in daily life. In this study, we tested handwriting repeatedly at the work place in a rotational shift system. We found slower handwriting velocity and reduced script size during morning shifts.

  18. Handwriting generates variable visual output to facilitate symbol learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Julia X; James, Karin H

    2016-03-01

    Recent research has demonstrated that handwriting practice facilitates letter categorization in young children. The present experiments investigated why handwriting practice facilitates visual categorization by comparing 2 hypotheses: that handwriting exerts its facilitative effect because of the visual-motor production of forms, resulting in a direct link between motor and perceptual systems, or because handwriting produces variable visual instances of a named category in the environment that then changes neural systems. We addressed these issues by measuring performance of 5-year-old children on a categorization task involving novel, Greek symbols across 6 different types of learning conditions: 3 involving visual-motor practice (copying typed symbols independently, tracing typed symbols, tracing handwritten symbols) and 3 involving visual-auditory practice (seeing and saying typed symbols of a single typed font, of variable typed fonts, and of handwritten examples). We could therefore compare visual-motor production with visual perception both of variable and similar forms. Comparisons across the 6 conditions (N = 72) demonstrated that all conditions that involved studying highly variable instances of a symbol facilitated symbol categorization relative to conditions where similar instances of a symbol were learned, regardless of visual-motor production. Therefore, learning perceptually variable instances of a category enhanced performance, suggesting that handwriting facilitates symbol understanding by virtue of its environmental output: supporting the notion of developmental change though brain-body-environment interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Efficacy of an explicit handwriting program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaiser, Marie-Laure; Albaret, Jean-Michel; Doudin, Pierre-André

    2011-04-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an explicit handwriting program introduced during the first grade of elementary school. Grade 1 children (N=23) with an age range of 6.1 to 7.4 yr. (15 girls, 8 boys) were administered an additional handwriting program of two weekly sessions of 45 min. over six weeks. Another group of 19 Grade 1 children (11 girls, 8 boys) received only the regular handwriting program of one weekly session. The Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting was administered to measure the changes in quality and speed of handwriting. The children given the explicit program showed better quality and speed of handwriting than did the control group. Their handwriting was more regular, with fewer ambiguous letters and fewer incorrect relative heights.

  20. Teachers’ perspectives on handwriting and collaborative intervention for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder

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    Therese McNamee

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose - This study aims to investigate teacher perspectives on teaching handwriting to children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD and collaboration with occupational therapists. Design/methodology/approach - A descriptive design was applied. Purpose-designed surveys were distributed to teachers of children with ASD (aged 4-12 years in the Republic of Ireland. A response rate of 35 per cent (N = 75 was obtained, with 25 responses analysed using descriptive statistics of closed questions and content analysis of open-ended questions. Findings - Of 139 children with ASD, 80 (58 per cent were reported to have difficulties with handwriting. Teachers reported specific difficulties with pencil grasp, letter formation and task concept among the children with ASD. Fourteen (56 per cent, N = 25 respondents did not give handwriting as homework. Teachers valued occupational therapy advice, individualised programmes and ongoing consultation during implementation. Interest in occupational therapy education regarding handwriting was reported. Practical implications - Occupational therapy collaboration to address handwriting difficulties for children with ASD should include involvement in teacher education, coordination of teacher–parent collaboration and the need for involvement in early intervention provision within an emergent literacy framework. Originality/value - Handwriting development is challenging for children with ASD. There is limited information on teaching or teacher–occupational therapy collaborative practices to address handwriting difficulties of children with ASD.

  1. Handwriting as an operant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, F. A.; Waller, M. B.

    1974-01-01

    Description of a writing console which was used for monitoring handwriting behavior. The main feature of the console is a translucent Plexiglass paddle, pivoted on a thin bronze tube, with its top flat surface providing the writing surface. The console was used in experiments on two subjects under various schedules of monetary reinforcement for handwriting. The results suggest that handwriting is an effective approach to the analysis of human behavior.

  2. Handwriting Movement Kinematics for Quantifying EPS in Patients Treated with Atypical Antipsychotics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caligiuri, Michael P.; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Dean, Charles E.; Niculescu, Alexander B.; Lohr, James B.

    2009-01-01

    Ongoing monitoring of neuroleptic-induced extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) is important to maximize treatment outcome, improve medication adherence and reduce re-hospitalization. Traditional approaches for assessing EPS such as parkinsonism, tardive akathisia, or dyskinesia rely upon clinical ratings. However, these observer-based EPS severity ratings can be unreliable and are subject to examiner bias. In contrast, quantitative instrumental methods are less subject to bias. Most instrumental methods have only limited clinical utility because of their complexity and costs. This paper describes an easy-to-use instrumental approach based on handwriting movements for quantifying EPS. Here, we present findings from psychiatric patients treated with atypical (second generation) antipsychotics. The handwriting task consisted of a sentence written several times within a 2 cm vertical boundary at a comfortable speed using an inkless pen and digitizing tablet. Kinematic variables including movement duration, peak vertical velocity and the number of acceleration peaks, and average normalized jerk (a measure of smoothness) for each up or down stroke and their submovements were analyzed. Results from 59 psychosis patients and 46 healthy comparison subjects revealed significant slowing and dysfluency in patients compared to controls. We observed differences across medications and daily dose. These findings support the ecological validity of handwriting movement analysis as an objective behavioral biomarker for quantifying the effects of antipsychotic medication and dose on the motor system. PMID:20381875

  3. Using online handwriting and audio streams for mathematical expressions recognition: a bimodal approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medjkoune, Sofiane; Mouchère, Harold; Petitrenaud, Simon; Viard-Gaudin, Christian

    2013-01-01

    The work reported in this paper concerns the problem of mathematical expressions recognition. This task is known to be a very hard one. We propose to alleviate the difficulties by taking into account two complementary modalities. The modalities referred to are handwriting and audio ones. To combine the signals coming from both modalities, various fusion methods are explored. Performances evaluated on the HAMEX dataset show a significant improvement compared to a single modality (handwriting) based system.

  4. Age-related changes in executive control and their relationships with activity performance in handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, Sara; Engel-Yeger, Batya; Fogel, Yael

    2013-04-01

    Deterioration in the frontal and prefrontal cortex associated with executive functions (EF) occurs with age and may be associated with changes in daily performance. The aim of the present study was to describe changes occurring with age in Executive Functions (EF) and handwriting activity, as well as to analyze relationships between age, EF and handwriting performance. The study population included 80 healthy participants (aged 31 to 76+) living in the community. After answering five questions about their writing habits, the participants completed the Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). In addition, they performed a handwriting task on a digitizer included in the Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET), which provides kinematic measures of the handwriting process. Significant differences were found between the four age groups for both EF and temporal and spatial handwriting measures. A series of regressions indicated that age predicted 35% of the variance of the BADS profile score (EF control) and 32% of the variance of in-air time while writing. The results of this study indicated age effect on both EF control and handwriting performance. Possible implications for further research and clinical evaluation and intervention are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Dysfluent Handwriting in Schizophrenic Outpatients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gawda, Barbara

    2016-04-01

    Taking into account findings in the literature, the author aimed to test whether specific graphical characteristics of handwriting can distinguish patients diagnosed with schizophrenic disorders from healthy controls. Handwriting samples (one sample from each person) from 60 outpatients (29 women, 31 men; age M = 28.5, SD = 5.4) with paranoid schizophrenia were analyzed by three documents examiners and were compared to samples from 60 controls (30 men, 30 women, age M = 28.0, SD = 3.0) without psychiatric disorders. Document examiners assessed 32 graphical features potentially related to schizophrenia. The comparisons between groups revealed that only 7 out of 32 handwriting properties were significantly different in the handwriting of schizophrenic outpatients from controls: the calligraphic forms of letters, loops in ovals, lacking of dots, tremor, sinusoidal baseline, and irregularities size of lower zone. These findings are discussed in terms of motor disturbances in schizophrenia and in relation to the previous research on handwriting of other mental disorders. Similarities between the graphical patterns of handwriting of schizophrenic patients and those of other mental disorders and/or other mental states have been demonstrated. © The Author(s) 2016.

  6. Effectiveness of the Size Matters Handwriting Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfeiffer, Beth; Rai, Gillian; Murray, Tammy; Brusilovskiy, Eugene

    2015-04-01

    The purpose of the research was to study changes in handwriting legibility among kindergarten, first- and second-grade students in response to the Size Matters curricular-based handwriting program. A two-group pre-post-test design was implemented at two public schools with half of the classrooms assigned to receive the Size Matters program and the other continuing to receive standard instruction. All participants completed two standardized handwriting measures at pre-test and after 40 instructional sessions were completed with the classes receiving the handwriting program. Results identified significant changes in legibility in the handwriting intervention group for all three grades when compared with the standard instruction group. The results of this study support the use of a curricular-embedded handwriting program and provide the foundation for future research examining the impact of handwriting legibility on learning outcomes.

  7. Predicting Handwriting Legibility in Taiwanese Elementary School Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Tzu-I; Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Chen, Hao-Ling; Wang, Tien-Ni

    This study investigates handwriting characteristics and potential predictors of handwriting legibility among typically developing elementary school children in Taiwan. Predictors of handwriting legibility included visual-motor integration (VMI), visual perception (VP), eye-hand coordination (EHC), and biomechanical characteristics of handwriting. A total of 118 children were recruited from an elementary school in Taipei, Taiwan. A computerized program then assessed their handwriting legibility. The biomechanics of handwriting were assessed using a digitizing writing tablet. The children's VMI, VP, and EHC were assessed using the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration. Results indicated that predictive factors of handwriting legibility varied in different age groups. VMI predicted handwriting legibility for first-grade students, and EHC and stroke force predicted handwriting legibility for second-grade students. Kinematic factors such as stroke velocity were the only predictor for children in fifth and sixth grades. Copyright © 2016 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  8. Analysis of Handwriting based on Rhythm Perception

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saito, Kazuya; Uchida, Masafumi; Nozawa, Akio

    Humanity fluctuation was reported in some fields. In handwriting process, fluctuation appears on handwriting-velocity. In this report, we focused attention on human rhythm perception and analyzed fluctuation in handwriting process. As a result, 1/f noise related to rhythm perception and features may caused by Kahneman's capacity model were measured on handwriting process.

  9. Probabilistic modeling of children's handwriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puri, Mukta; Srihari, Sargur N.; Hanson, Lisa

    2013-12-01

    There is little work done in the analysis of children's handwriting, which can be useful in developing automatic evaluation systems and in quantifying handwriting individuality. We consider the statistical analysis of children's handwriting in early grades. Samples of handwriting of children in Grades 2-4 who were taught the Zaner-Bloser style were considered. The commonly occurring word "and" written in cursive style as well as hand-print were extracted from extended writing. The samples were assigned feature values by human examiners using a truthing tool. The human examiners looked at how the children constructed letter formations in their writing, looking for similarities and differences from the instructions taught in the handwriting copy book. These similarities and differences were measured using a feature space distance measure. Results indicate that the handwriting develops towards more conformity with the class characteristics of the Zaner-Bloser copybook which, with practice, is the expected result. Bayesian networks were learnt from the data to enable answering various probabilistic queries, such as determining students who may continue to produce letter formations as taught during lessons in school and determining the students who will develop a different and/or variation of the those letter formations and the number of different types of letter formations.

  10. Handwriting Fluency and Visuospatial Generativity at Primary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stievano, Paolo; Michetti, Silvia; McClintock, Shawn M.; Levi, Gabriel; Scalisi, Teresa Gloria

    2016-01-01

    Handwriting is a complex activity that involves continuous interaction between lowerlevel perceptual-motor and higher-level cognitive processes. All handwriting models describe involvement of executive functions (EF) in handwriting development. Particular EF domains associated with handwriting include maintenance of information in working memory,…

  11. Do motor ability and handwriting kinematic measures predict organizational ability among children with Developmental Coordination Disorders?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, Sara

    2015-10-01

    Children with Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD) exhibit deficient daily performance concealed in their perception-action mechanism. The aim of this study was to analyze behavior organization of children with DCD, in varied tasks that require generating and monitoring mental representations related to space and time inputs/requirements, for achieving better insight about their perception-action mechanism. Participants included 42 children aged 7-10, half of whom were defined with DCD and half were typically developing (TD). The children were matched for age, gender and school. They were evaluated using the Movement-ABC and performed three handwriting tasks on an electronic tablet that is part of a computerized system (ComPET - Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool). In addition, their teachers completed the Questionnaire for Assessing Students' Organizational Abilities-Teachers (QASOA-T) to assess the children's daily organizational ability. Significant group differences (DCD versus controls) were found for all handwriting kinematic measures across the three handwriting tasks and for the children's organizational abilities. Motor ability predicted a considerable percentage of the variance of the kinematic handwriting measures (30-37%), as well as a high percentage of the variance of their organizational abilities (67%). The coefficient of variance of the pen tilt added an additional 3% to the prediction of their organizational abilities. The results of this study exhibited deficient ability among children with DCD in organizing their behavior in varied real-world tasks requiring generation and monitoring representation related to space and time. The significance of the results to understanding the performance mechanism and implication to the clinical field are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Markov Models for Handwriting Recognition

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    Plotz, Thomas

    2011-01-01

    Since their first inception, automatic reading systems have evolved substantially, yet the recognition of handwriting remains an open research problem due to its substantial variation in appearance. With the introduction of Markovian models to the field, a promising modeling and recognition paradigm was established for automatic handwriting recognition. However, no standard procedures for building Markov model-based recognizers have yet been established. This text provides a comprehensive overview of the application of Markov models in the field of handwriting recognition, covering both hidden

  13. Nonlinear and non-Gaussian Bayesian based handwriting beautification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Cao; Xiao, Jianguo; Xu, Canhui; Jia, Wenhua

    2013-03-01

    A framework is proposed in this paper to effectively and efficiently beautify handwriting by means of a novel nonlinear and non-Gaussian Bayesian algorithm. In the proposed framework, format and size of handwriting image are firstly normalized, and then typeface in computer system is applied to optimize vision effect of handwriting. The Bayesian statistics is exploited to characterize the handwriting beautification process as a Bayesian dynamic model. The model parameters to translate, rotate and scale typeface in computer system are controlled by state equation, and the matching optimization between handwriting and transformed typeface is employed by measurement equation. Finally, the new typeface, which is transformed from the original one and gains the best nonlinear and non-Gaussian optimization, is the beautification result of handwriting. Experimental results demonstrate the proposed framework provides a creative handwriting beautification methodology to improve visual acceptance.

  14. Handwriting in healthy people aged 65 years and over.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Drempt, Nadege; McCluskey, Annie; Lannin, Natasha A

    2011-08-01

    Handwriting is an important activity that is commonly affected by neurological and orthopaedic conditions. Handwriting research has predominantly involved children. Little is known about handwriting behaviour in healthy older adults. This study aims to describe the handwriting practices of 30 unimpaired adults aged 65 years and over. In this cross-sectional observational study, data were collected from 30 older adults using a self-report questionnaire, digital pen recordings over three days and a handwriting log. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The mean age of participants was 75.1 years (standard deviation=6.9). Variations in handwriting were evident in letter size, slant and spacing. Participants wrote very little--a median of 18 words per occasion (interquartile range=10.5-26.9 words). Most handwriting involved self-generated text (85%), not copied or transcribed text. Participants stood while writing for 17% of handwriting occasions. The most common reasons for handwriting were note taking (23%) and puzzles (22%). Legibility may not depend exclusively on the handwriting script that a beginning writer is taught, but may be a result of other factors as the person ages. A comprehensive adult handwriting assessment and retraining programme should be relevant to older adults, including common handwriting activities, involving self-generated text and few words. © 2011 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2011 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  15. Is handwriting constrained by phonology? Evidence from Stroop tasks with written responses and Chinese characters

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    Markus eDamian

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available To what extent is handwritten word production based on phonological codes? A few studies conducted in Western languages have recently provided evidence showing that phonology contributes to the retrieval of graphemic properties in written output tasks. Less is known about how orthographic production works in languages with non-alphabetic scripts such as written Chinese. We report a Stroop study in which Chinese participants wrote the colour of characters on a digital graphic tablet; characters were either neutral, or homophonic to the target (congruent, or homophonic to an alternative (incongruent. Facilitation was found from congruent homophonic distractors, but only when the homophone shared the same tone with the target. This finding suggests a contribution of phonology to written word production. A second experiment served as a control experiment to exclude the possibility that the effect in Experiment 1 had an exclusively semantic locus. Overall, the findings offer new insight into the relative contribution of phonology to handwriting, particularly in non-Western languages.

  16. The impact of handwriting difficulties on compositional quality in children with developmental coordination disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnett, Anna L; Wilmut, Kate; Plumb, Mandy S

    2016-01-01

    Introduction There is substantial evidence to support the relationship between transcription skills (handwriting and spelling) and compositional quality. For children with developmental coordination disorder, handwriting can be particularly challenging. While recent research has aimed to investigate their handwriting difficulties in more detail, the impact of transcription on their compositional quality has not previously been examined. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine compositional quality in children with developmental coordination disorder and to ascertain whether their transcription skills influence writing quality. Method Twenty-eight children with developmental coordination disorder participated in the study, with 28 typically developing age and gender matched controls. The children completed the ‘free-writing’ task from the detailed assessment of speed of handwriting tool, which was evaluated for compositional quality using the Wechsler objective language dimensions. Results The children with developmental coordination disorder performed significantly below their typically developing peers on five of the six Wechsler objective language dimensions items. They also had a higher percentage of misspelled words. Regression analyses indicated that the number of words produced per minute and the percentage of misspelled words explained 55% of the variance for compositional quality. Conclusion The handwriting difficulties so commonly reported in children with developmental coordination disorder have wider repercussions for the quality of written composition. PMID:27807392

  17. Using perturbed handwriting to support writer identification in the presence of severe data constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jin; Cheng, Wen; Lopresti, Daniel

    2011-01-01

    Since real data is time-consuming and expensive to collect and label, researchers have proposed approaches using synthetic variations for the tasks of signature verification, speaker authentication, handwriting recognition, keyword spotting, etc. However, the limitation of real data is particularly critical in the field of writer identification in that in forensics, adversaries cannot be expected to provide sufficient data to train a classifier. Therefore, it is unrealistic to always assume sufficient real data to train classifiers extensively for writer identification. In addition, this field differs from many others in that we strive to preserve as much inter-writer variations, but model-perturbed handwriting might break such discriminability among writers. Building on work described in another paper where human subjects were involved in calibrating realistic-looking transformation, we then measured the effects of incorporating perturbed handwriting into the training dataset. Experimental results justified our hypothesis that with limited real data, model-perturbed handwriting improved the performance of writer identification. Particularly, if only one single sample for each writer was available, incorporating perturbed data achieved a 36x performance gain.

  18. Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting 17+ to Brazilian Portuguese: conceptual, item and semantic equivalence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardoso, Monique Herrera; Capellini, Simone Aparecida

    2018-02-19

    Perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting 17+ (DASH 17+) for Brazilians. Evaluation of (1) conceptual, item and (2) semantic equivalence, with assistance of four translators and application of a pilot study to 36 students. (1) The concepts and items are equivalent in the British and Brazilian cultures. (2) Adaptations were made concerning the English language pangram used in copying tasks and selection of the lower-case, cursive handwriting in the alphabet-writing task. Application of the pilot study verified acceptability and understanding of the proposed tasks by the students. The Brazilian Portuguese version of the DASH 17+ was presented after finalization of the conceptual, item and semantic equivalence of the instrument. Further studies on psychometric properties should be conducted with the purpose of measuring the speed of handwriting in youngsters and adults with greater reliability and validity to the procedure.

  19. Circadian rhythms in handwriting kinematics and legibility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jasper, Isabelle; Gordijn, Marijke; Häussler, Andreas; Hermsdörfer, Joachim

    2011-08-01

    The aim of the present study was to analyze the circadian rhythmicity in handwriting kinematics and legibility and to compare the performance between Dutch and German writers. Two subject groups underwent a 40 h sleep deprivation protocol under Constant Routine conditions either in Groningen (10 Dutch subjects) or in Berlin (9 German subjects). Both groups wrote every 3h a test sentence of similar structure in their native language. Kinematic handwriting performance was assessed with a digitizing tablet and evaluated by writing speed, writing fluency, and script size. Writing speed (frequency of strokes and average velocity) revealed a clear circadian rhythm, with a parallel decline during night and a minimum around 3:00 h in the morning for both groups. Script size and movement fluency did not vary with time of day in neither group. Legibility of handwriting was evaluated by intra-individually ranking handwriting specimens of the 13 sessions by 10 German and 10 Dutch raters. Whereas legibility ratings of the German handwriting specimens deteriorated during night in parallel with slower writing speed, legibility of the Dutch handwriting deteriorated not until the next morning. In conclusion, the circadian rhythm of handwriting kinematics seems to be independent of script language at least among the two tested western countries. Moreover, handwriting legibility is also subject to a circadian rhythm which, however, seems to be influenced by variations in the assessment protocol. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Handwriting difficulties in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haberfehlner, Helga; Visser, Bart; Daffertshofer, Andreas; van Rossum, Marion Aj; Roorda, Leo D; van der Leeden, Marike; Dekker, Joost; Hoeksma, Agnes F

    2011-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to describe handwriting difficulties of primary school children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and to investigate possible correlations with hand function and writing performance. In a cross-sectional approach, 15 children with JIA and reported handwriting difficulties were included together with 15 healthy matched controls. Impairments (signs of arthritis or tenosynovitis, reduced grip force and limited range of motion of the wrist (wrist-ROM)), activity limitations (reduced quality and speed of handwriting, pain during handwriting), and participation restrictions (perceived handwriting difficulties at school) were assessed and analysed. Although selected by the presence of handwriting difficulties, the majority of the JIA children (73%) had no active arthritis of the writing hand, and only minor hand impairments were found. Overall, the JIA children performed well during the short handwriting test, but the number of letters they wrote per minute decreased significantly during the 5-minute test, compared to the healthy controls. JIA patients had significantly higher pain scores on a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale, compared to the healthy controls. The actual presence of arthritis, and limitation in grip force and wrist-ROM did not correlate with reported participation restrictions with regard to handwriting at school. The JIA children reported pain during handwriting, and inability to sustain handwriting for a longer period of time. The results of this pilot study show that JIA children with handwriting difficulties, experience their restrictions mainly through pain and the inability to sustain handwriting for a longer period of time. No correlations could be found with impairments.

  1. Historical Analyses of Disordered Handwriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiegg, Markus; Thorpe, Deborah

    2016-01-01

    Handwritten texts carry significant information, extending beyond the meaning of their words. Modern neurology, for example, benefits from the interpretation of the graphic features of writing and drawing for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases and disorders. This article examines how handwriting analysis can be used, and has been used historically, as a methodological tool for the assessment of medical conditions and how this enhances our understanding of historical contexts of writing. We analyze handwritten material, writing tests and letters, from patients in an early 20th-century psychiatric hospital in southern Germany (Irsee/Kaufbeuren). In this institution, early psychiatrists assessed handwriting features, providing us novel insights into the earliest practices of psychiatric handwriting analysis, which can be connected to Berkenkotter’s research on medical admission records. We finally consider the degree to which historical handwriting bears semiotic potential to explain the psychological state and personality of a writer, and how future research in written communication should approach these sources. PMID:28408774

  2. Encoding in the visual word form area: an fMRI adaptation study of words versus handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, Jason J S; Fox, Christopher J; Sekunova, Alla; Iaria, Giuseppe

    2010-08-01

    Written texts are not just words but complex multidimensional stimuli, including aspects such as case, font, and handwriting style, for example. Neuropsychological reports suggest that left fusiform lesions can impair the reading of text for word (lexical) content, being associated with alexia, whereas right-sided lesions may impair handwriting recognition. We used fMRI adaptation in 13 healthy participants to determine if repetition-suppression occurred for words but not handwriting in the left visual word form area (VWFA) and the reverse in the right fusiform gyrus. Contrary to these expectations, we found adaptation for handwriting but not for words in both the left VWFA and the right VWFA homologue. A trend to adaptation for words but not handwriting was seen only in the left middle temporal gyrus. An analysis of anterior and posterior subdivisions of the left VWFA also failed to show any adaptation for words. We conclude that the right and the left fusiform gyri show similar patterns of adaptation for handwriting, consistent with a predominantly perceptual contribution to text processing.

  3. Handwriting Instruction: An Analysis of Perspectives from Three Elementary Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharp, Laurie; Brown, Tiffany

    2015-01-01

    Handwriting is an essential skill for learners, but advancements with technology have greatly altered perceptions towards handwriting and handwriting instruction. This study sought to determine the current state of handwriting through an exploratory analysis of the teaching experiences of three practicing elementary teachers with varying…

  4. A quantitative measure of handwriting dysfluency for assessing tardive dyskinesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caligiuri, Michael P; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Dean, Charles E; Lohr, James B

    2015-04-01

    Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a movement disorder commonly associated with chronic exposure to antidopaminergic medications, which may be in some cases disfiguring and socially disabling. The consensus from a growing body of research on the incidence and prevalence of TD in the modern era of antipsychotics indicates that this disorder has not disappeared continues to challenge the effective management of psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. A fundamental component in an effective strategy for managing TD is its reliable and accurate assessment. In the present study, we examined the clinical utility of a brief handwriting dysfluency measure for quantifying TD. Digitized samples of handwritten circles and loops were obtained from 62 psychosis patients with or without TD and from 50 healthy subjects. Two measures of dysfluent pen movements were extracted from each vertical pen stroke, including normalized jerk and the number of acceleration peaks. Tardive dyskinesia patients exhibited significantly higher dysfluency scores than non-TD patients and controls. Severity of handwriting movement dysfluency was correlated with Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale severity ratings for some tasks. The procedure yielded high degrees of test-retest reliability. These results suggest that measures of handwriting movement dysfluency may be particularly useful for objectively evaluating the efficacy of pharmacotherapeutic strategies for treating TD.

  5. A review of factors that influence adult handwriting performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Drempt, Nadege; McCluskey, Annie; Lannin, Natasha A

    2011-10-01

    Handwriting is an important activity for people of all ages. Handwriting is frequently affected after stroke and other neurological conditions. However, research on the handwriting of healthy adults is difficult to find. This review aims to advance the development of evidence-informed handwriting assessment and retraining. The aim of this paper was to review factors that influence the handwriting performance of unimpaired adults, some of which are amenable to intervention. Searches were conducted of eight electronic databases up to April 2009 and again in November 2010. Reference lists were also used to identify potential studies of interest. No limits were placed on study design.  Age: Younger adults write more legibly and faster than older adults. Gender: Women write faster and more legibly than men. Pengrip: Grips other than the traditional dynamic tripod are functional, producing legible text in an acceptable time. Pen pressure: Pressure varies with different letters, words, text size, speed and across a page of text. Error corrections and a mixed writing style occur in healthy adult handwriting. Research was inconclusive about the association between speed, pressure and upper limb movements on handwriting performance. Other factors able to predict adult handwriting legibility have been largely unexplored. A number of knowledge and research gaps about adult handwriting were identified, including the need for more contemporary normative data. © 2011 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2011 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  6. Handwriting Analysis Indicates Spontaneous Dyskinesias in Neuroleptic Naïve Adolescents at High Risk for Psychosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dean, Derek J.; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Caligiuri, Michael; Mittal, Vijay A.

    2013-01-01

    Growing evidence suggests that movement abnormalities are a core feature of psychosis. One marker of movement abnormality, dyskinesia, is a result of impaired neuromodulation of dopamine in fronto-striatal pathways. The traditional methods for identifying movement abnormalities include observer-based reports and force stability gauges. The drawbacks of these methods are long training times for raters, experimenter bias, large site differences in instrumental apparatus, and suboptimal reliability. Taking these drawbacks into account has guided the development of better standardized and more efficient procedures to examine movement abnormalities through handwriting analysis software and tablet. Individuals at risk for psychosis showed significantly more dysfluent pen movements (a proximal measure for dyskinesia) in a handwriting task. Handwriting kinematics offers a great advance over previous methods of assessing dyskinesia, which could clearly be beneficial for understanding the etiology of psychosis. PMID:24300590

  7. A computerized multidimensional measurement of mental workload via handwriting analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luria, Gil; Rosenblum, Sara

    2012-06-01

    The goal of this study was to test the effect of mental workload on handwriting behavior and to identify characteristics of low versus high mental workload in handwriting. We hypothesized differences between handwriting under three different load conditions and tried to establish a profile that integrated these indicators. Fifty-six participants wrote three numerical progressions of varying difficulty on a digitizer attached to a computer so that we could evaluate their handwriting behavior. Differences were found in temporal, spatial, and angular velocity handwriting measures, but no significant differences were found for pressure measures. Using data reduction, we identified three clusters of handwriting, two of which differentiated well according to the three mental workload conditions. We concluded that handwriting behavior is affected by mental workload and that each measure provides distinct information, so that they present a comprehensive indicator of mental workload.

  8. The Relationship of Pencil Grasp on College Students' Handwriting Speed and Legibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, Lalit J.; Gladson, Beth L.

    2015-01-01

    To be successful in school, it is important for students to be able to communicate to teachers what they know and have learned through exams, papers, daily assignments, and projects. The primary way students display this knowledge during these tasks is in written form, and thus, the skill of handwriting is essential. School-based occupational…

  9. Fluctuation analysis of proficient and dysgraphic handwriting in children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, S.; Roman, H. E.

    2009-03-01

    We analyze handwriting records from several school children with the aim of characterizing the fluctuating behavior of the writing speed. It will be concluded that remarkable differences exist between proficient and dysgraphic handwritings which were unknown so far. It is shown that in the case of proficient handwriting, the variations in handwriting speed are strongly autocorrelated within times corresponding to the completion of a single character or letter, while become uncorrelated at longer times. In the case of dysgraphia, such correlations persist on longer time scales and the autocorrelation function seems to display algebraic time decay, indicating the presence of strong anomalies in the handwriting process. Applications of the results in educational/clinical programs are envisaged.

  10. Retrieving handwriting by combining word spotting and manifold ranking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peña Saldarriaga, Sebastián; Morin, Emmanuel; Viard-Gaudin, Christian

    2012-01-01

    Online handwritten data, produced with Tablet PCs or digital pens, consists in a sequence of points (x, y). As the amount of data available in this form increases, algorithms for retrieval of online data are needed. Word spotting is a common approach used for the retrieval of handwriting. However, from an information retrieval (IR) perspective, word spotting is a primitive keyword based matching and retrieval strategy. We propose a framework for handwriting retrieval where an arbitrary word spotting method is used, and then a manifold ranking algorithm is applied on the initial retrieval scores. Experimental results on a database of more than 2,000 handwritten newswires show that our method can improve the performances of a state-of-the-art word spotting system by more than 10%.

  11. Effectiveness of a self-regulated remedial program for handwriting difficulties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Waelvelde, Hilde; De Roubaix, Amy; Steppe, Lien; Troubleyn, Evy; De Mey, Barbara; Dewitte, Griet; Debrabant, Julie; Van de Velde, Dominique

    2017-09-01

    Handwriting difficulties may have pervasive effects on a child's school performance. I Can! is a remedial handwriting program with a focus on self-regulated learning and applying motor learning principles combined with a behavioural approach. It is developed for typically developing children with handwriting problems. The study aim was to evaluate the program's effectiveness. Thirty-one children aged 7-8 year participated in a cross-over study. Handwriting quality and speed were repeatedly assessed by means of the Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties test. Difficulties addressed were fluency in letter formation, fluency in letter connections, letter height, regularity of letter height, space between words, and line path. Mixed model analysis revealed improved quality of writing and speed for all children but significantly more improvement in handwriting quality for the children participating in the program. Although writing speed improved over time, no additional effects of the program occurred. 'I Can!' is found to be an effective instructive program to ameliorate handwriting quality in typically developing children with handwriting difficulties. The program's success was by a therapy burst of only 7 weeks focusing on the child's self-regulated learning capacities, within an individualized education plan according to their needs and goals.

  12. Examining First Grade Teachers' Handwriting Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arslan, Derya

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the first grade teachers' practices of handwriting instructions in terms of teaching, evaluation and handwriting difficulties. From qualitative research patterns, phenomenology was used. The study was applied to the 54 First grade teachers who work at central Burdur and Burdur county centre primary education…

  13. Visual improvement for bad handwriting based on Monte-Carlo method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Cao; Xiao, Jianguo; Xu, Canhui; Jia, Wenhua

    2014-03-01

    A visual improvement algorithm based on Monte Carlo simulation is proposed in this paper, in order to enhance visual effects for bad handwriting. The whole improvement process is to use well designed typeface so as to optimize bad handwriting image. In this process, a series of linear operators for image transformation are defined for transforming typeface image to approach handwriting image. And specific parameters of linear operators are estimated by Monte Carlo method. Visual improvement experiments illustrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively enhance visual effect for handwriting image as well as maintain the original handwriting features, such as tilt, stroke order and drawing direction etc. The proposed visual improvement algorithm, in this paper, has a huge potential to be applied in tablet computer and Mobile Internet, in order to improve user experience on handwriting.

  14. On Using Entropy for Enhancing Handwriting Preprocessing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernhard Peischl

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Handwriting is an important modality for Human-Computer Interaction. For medical professionals, handwriting is (still the preferred natural method of documentation. Handwriting recognition has long been a primary research area in Computer Science. With the tremendous ubiquity of smartphones, along with the renaissance of the stylus, handwriting recognition has become a new impetus. However, recognition rates are still not 100% perfect, and researchers still are constantly improving handwriting algorithms. In this paper we evaluate the performance of entropy based slant- and skew-correction, and compare the results to other methods. We selected 3700 words of 23 writers out of the Unipen-ICROW-03 benchmark set, which we annotated with their associated error angles by hand. Our results show that the entropy-based slant correction method outperforms a window based approach with an average precision of 6:02 for the entropy-based method, compared with the 7:85 for the alternative. On the other hand, the entropy-based skew correction yields a lower average precision of 2:86, compared with the average precision of 2:13 for the alternative LSM based approach.

  15. Validation of the Chinese Handwriting Analysis System (CHAS) for primary school students in Hong Kong.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li-Tsang, Cecilia W P; Wong, Agnes S K; Leung, Howard W H; Cheng, Joyce S; Chiu, Billy H W; Tse, Linda F L; Chung, Raymond C K

    2013-09-01

    There are more children diagnosed with specific learning difficulties in recent years as people are more aware of these conditions. Diagnostic tool has been validated to screen out this condition from the population (SpLD test for Hong Kong children). However, for specific assessment on handwriting problem, there seems a lack of standardized and objective evaluation tool to look into the problems. The objective of this study was to validate the Chinese Handwriting Analysis System (CHAS), which is designed to measure both the process and production of handwriting. The construct validity, convergent validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability of CHAS was analyzed using the data from 734 grade 1-6 students from 6 primary schools in Hong Kong. Principal Component Analysis revealed that measurements of CHAS loaded into 4 components which accounted for 77.73% of the variance. The correlation between the handwriting accuracy obtained from HAS and eyeballing was r=.73. Cronbach's alpha of all measurement items was .65. Except SD of writing time per character, all the measurement items regarding handwriting speed, handwriting accuracy and pen pressure showed good to excellent test-retest reliability (r=.72-.96), while measurement on the numbers of characters which exceeded grid showed moderate reliability (r=.48). Although there are still ergonomic, biomechanical or unspecified aspects which may not be determined by the system, the CHAS can definitely assist therapists in identifying primary school students with handwriting problems and implement interventions accordingly. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Relationship between the quality of children's handwriting and the Beery Buktenica developmental test of visuomotor integration after one year of writing tuition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duiser, Ivonne H F; van der Kamp, John; Ledebt, Annick; Savelsbergh, Geert J P

    2014-04-01

    We examined whether the three subtests of the Beery Buktenica developmental test of visuomotor integration predicted quality of handwriting across and within groups of boys and girls classified as proficient, at risk or non-proficient writers according to the Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting. The Beery Buktenica developmental test of visuomotor integration and the Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting tests were administered to 240 grade 2 children. Proficient writers scored better on the visuomotor integration subtest than non-proficient writers, while proficient and at risk writers scored better than non-proficient writers on the motor coordination subtest. No differences were found on the visual perception subtest. Girls were more often classified as proficient writers than boys, and they scored better on the motor coordination subtest. Across groups, regression indicated that gender and both the visuomotor integration subtest and the motor coordination subtest were significant predictors for the quality of handwriting (i.e., accounted for 17% of the variance). After one year of writing tuition, the visuomotor integration subtest (and to a lesser extent the motor coordination subtest) but not the visual perception subtest significant relates to quality of children's handwriting as measured with the Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting. However, the relatively little variance explained also points to other abilities and/or task constraints that underlie quality of handwriting. © 2013 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  17. Basic and supplementary sensory feedback in handwriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danna, Jérémy; Velay, Jean-Luc

    2015-01-01

    The mastering of handwriting is so essential in our society that it is important to try to find new methods for facilitating its learning and rehabilitation. The ability to control the graphic movements clearly impacts on the quality of the writing. This control allows both the programming of letter formation before movement execution and the online adjustments during execution, thanks to diverse sensory feedback (FB). New technologies improve existing techniques or enable new methods to supply the writer with real-time computer-assisted FB. The possibilities are numerous and various. Therefore, two main questions arise: (1) What aspect of the movement is concerned and (2) How can we best inform the writer to help them correct their handwriting? In a first step, we report studies on FB naturally used by the writer. The purpose is to determine which information is carried by each sensory modality, how it is used in handwriting control and how this control changes with practice and learning. In a second step, we report studies on supplementary FB provided to the writer to help them to better control and learn how to write. We suggest that, depending on their contents, certain sensory modalities will be more appropriate than others to assist handwriting motor control. We emphasize particularly the relevance of auditory modality as online supplementary FB on handwriting movements. Using real-time supplementary FB to assist in the handwriting process is probably destined for a brilliant future with the growing availability and rapid development of tablets. PMID:25750633

  18. Analysis of in-air movement in handwriting: A novel marker for Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drotár, Peter; Mekyska, Jiří; Rektorová, Irena; Masarová, Lucia; Smékal, Zdenek; Faundez-Zanuy, Marcos

    2014-12-01

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease affecting significant portion of elderly population. One of the most frequent hallmarks and usually also the first manifestation of PD is deterioration of handwriting characterized by micrographia and changes in kinematics of handwriting. There is no objective quantitative method of clinical diagnosis of PD. It is thought that PD can only be definitively diagnosed at postmortem, which further highlights the complexities of diagnosis. We exploit the fact that movement during handwriting of a text consists not only from the on-surface movements of the hand, but also from the in-air trajectories performed when the hand moves in the air from one stroke to the next. We used a digitizing tablet to assess both in-air and on-surface kinematic variables during handwriting of a sentence in 37 PD patients on medication and 38 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. By applying feature selection algorithms and support vector machine learning methods to separate PD patients from healthy controls, we demonstrated that assessing the in-air/on-surface hand movements led to accurate classifications in 84% and 78% of subjects, respectively. Combining both modalities improved the accuracy by another 1% over the evaluation of in-air features alone and provided medically relevant diagnosis with 85.61% prediction accuracy. Assessment of in-air movements during handwriting has a major impact on disease classification accuracy. This study confirms that handwriting can be used as a marker for PD and can be with advance used in decision support systems for differential diagnosis of PD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Handwriting measures as reflectors of executive functions among adults with Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, Sara

    2013-01-01

    Planning ahead and organizational abilities in time and space are ingredients of high-level cognitive functions labeled as ‘Executive Functions’ (EF) required for daily activities such as writing or home management. EF deficits are considered a possible underlying brain mechanism involved in Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD). The aim: of the study was to compare the handwriting process measures and the planning and organizational abilities in space and time of students with DCD with those of matched controls and to find whether handwriting measures can predict daily planning and organizational abilities among students with DCD. Method: 30 students diagnosed with DCD, between the ages of 24–41, and 30 age- and gender-matched controls participated in the study. They filled out the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ) and the Adult Developmental Co-ordination Disorders Checklist (ADC). Furthermore, they copied a paragraph on a digitizer that is part of a computerized system Computerised Penmanship Evaluation Toll (ComPET). Results: Significant group differences were found for the HPSQ subscales scores as well as for the temporal and spatial measures of the paragraph copy task. Significant group differences were also found for the planning and organizational abilities in space and time as reflected through the ADC subscales. Significant medium correlations were found in both groups between the mean HPSQ time subscale and the ADC-B subscale mean score (r = 0.50/0.58, p handwriting performance measures (mean HPSQ time subscale and mean stroke duration) predicted 19% of planning and organizational abilities as reflected through daily functions (ADC-B) [F(3, 54) = 38.37, β = 0.40, p handwriting and daily function among DCD will be examined. PMID:23805113

  20. Effectiveness of a co-taught handwriting program for first grade students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Case-Smith, Jane; Holland, Terri; White, Susan

    2014-02-01

    Our study examined the effects of Write Start, a classroom-embedded handwriting/writing program on handwriting and writing fluency for first grade students, co-taught by occupational therapists and teachers. Two first grade classrooms received the Write Start and two received standard handwriting instruction. This co-taught program included specific feedback during handwriting practice, small group activities, student self-evaluation, and peer supports. The students were evaluated on handwriting legibility, fluency, and written expression at baseline, immediately after the program, and 6 months later. When performance was compared between the two groups, the students in the Write Start program improved significantly more in legibility (d = .57) and fluency (d = .75) than students who received standard instruction. Gains in handwriting speed (d = .18), average legibility (d = .26), and written expression (d = .25) did not differ significantly between the two groups. A co-taught, inclusive handwriting/writing program can promote first grade students' achievement of lower case legibility and writing fluency.

  1. HANDWRITING AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND IDENTITY OF EACH NATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martina Fasnerová

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the fundamental element of the identity of each nation, which appears to be handwriting. The basic structure of Czech handwriting is explained. The written form is presented as a part of literacy, or more precisely reading literacy. The article refers to the differences of joined-up linear handwriting, according to which handwriting is taught in the Czech Republic.

  2. Assessing handwriting intervention effectiveness in elementary school students: a two-group controlled study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Roston, Karen Laurie; Sheu, Ching-Fan; Hinojosa, Jim

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the effectiveness of two approaches used in elementary schools to improve children's handwriting. Participants were 72 New York City public school students from the first and second grades. A nonequivalent pretest-posttest group design was used in which students engaged in handwriting activities using two approaches: intensive handwriting practice and visual-perceptual-motor activities. Handwriting speed, legibility, and visual-motor skills were examined after a 12-wk Handwriting Club using multivariate analysis of variance. The results showed that students in the intensive handwriting practice group demonstrated significant improvements in handwriting legibility compared with students in the visual-perceptual-motor activity group. No significant effects in handwriting speed and visual-motor skills were found between the students in intensive handwriting practice group and the students in visual-perceptual-motor activities group. The Handwriting Club model is a natural intervention that fits easily into existing school curriculums and can be an effective short-term intervention (response to intervention Tier II). Copyright © 2013 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  3. Computer Instruction in Handwriting, Spelling, and Composing for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in Grades 4 to 9

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berninger, Virginia W.; Nagy, William; Tanimoto, Steve; Thompson, Rob; Abbott, Robert D.

    2014-01-01

    Effectiveness of iPad computerized writing instruction was evaluated for 4th to 9th graders (n=35) with diagnosed specific learning disabilities (SLDs) affecting writing: dysgraphia (impaired handwriting), dyslexia (impaired spelling), and oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (impaired syntax composing). Each of the 18 two-hour lessons had multiple learning activities aimed at improving subword- (handwriting), word- (spelling), and syntax- (sentence composing) level language skills by engaging all four language systems (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) to create a functional writing system. To evaluate treatment effectiveness, normed measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing were used with the exception of one non-normed alphabet writing task. Results showed that the sample as a whole improved significantly from pretest to posttest in three handwriting measures, four spelling measures, and both written and oral syntax construction measures. All but oral syntax was evaluated with pen and paper tasks, showing that the computer writing instruction transferred to better writing with pen and paper. Performance on learning activities during instruction correlated with writing outcomes; and individual students tended to improve in the impaired skill associated with their diagnosis. Thus, although computers are often used in upper elementary school and middle school in the United States (US) for accommodations (alternatives to pen and paper) for students with persisting SLDs affecting writing, this study shows computers can also be used for Tier 3 instruction to improve the writing skills of students in grades 4 to 9 with history of persisting writing disabilities. PMID:25378768

  4. Computer Instruction in Handwriting, Spelling, and Composing for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in Grades 4 to 9.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berninger, Virginia W; Nagy, William; Tanimoto, Steve; Thompson, Rob; Abbott, Robert D

    2015-02-01

    Effectiveness of iPad computerized writing instruction was evaluated for 4 th to 9 th graders ( n =35) with diagnosed specific learning disabilities (SLDs) affecting writing: dysgraphia (impaired handwriting), dyslexia (impaired spelling), and oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (impaired syntax composing). Each of the 18 two-hour lessons had multiple learning activities aimed at improving subword - (handwriting), word - (spelling), and syntax - (sentence composing) level language skills by engaging all four language systems (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) to create a functional writing system. To evaluate treatment effectiveness, normed measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing were used with the exception of one non-normed alphabet writing task. Results showed that the sample as a whole improved significantly from pretest to posttest in three handwriting measures, four spelling measures, and both written and oral syntax construction measures. All but oral syntax was evaluated with pen and paper tasks, showing that the computer writing instruction transferred to better writing with pen and paper. Performance on learning activities during instruction correlated with writing outcomes; and individual students tended to improve in the impaired skill associated with their diagnosis. Thus, although computers are often used in upper elementary school and middle school in the United States (US) for accommodations (alternatives to pen and paper) for students with persisting SLDs affecting writing, this study shows computers can also be used for Tier 3 instruction to improve the writing skills of students in grades 4 to 9 with history of persisting writing disabilities.

  5. The Links between Handwriting and Composing for Y6 Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medwell, Jane; Strand, Steve; Wray, David

    2009-01-01

    Although handwriting is often considered a matter of presentation, a substantial body of international research suggests that the role of handwriting in children's composing has been neglected. Automaticity in handwriting is now seen as of key importance in composing but this proposition is relatively untested in the UK and the assumption has been…

  6. Development of Early Handwriting: Visual-Motor Control during Letter Copying

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maldarelli, Jennifer E.; Kahrs, Björn A.; Hunt, Sarah C.; Lockman, Jeffrey J.

    2015-01-01

    Despite the importance of handwriting for school readiness and early academic progress, prior research on the development of handwriting has focused primarily on the product rather than the process by which young children write letters. In contrast, in the present work, early handwriting is viewed as involving a suite of perceptual, motor, and…

  7. Handwriting Automaticity: The Search for Performance Thresholds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medwell, Jane; Wray, David

    2014-01-01

    Evidence is accumulating that handwriting has an important role in written composition. In particular, handwriting automaticity appears to relate to success in composition. This relationship has been little explored in British contexts and we currently have little idea of what threshold performance levels might be. In this paper, we report on two…

  8. Size variability of handwriting in healthy Korean older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, Ji Hye; Kim, Hyanghee; Kim, Jungwan; Park, Eunjeong; Kim, Soo Ryon

    2014-04-01

    The aim of the present study was to delineate how age-related deterioration affects the handwriting of healthy elderly (HE) subjects. A total of 235 HE (54 males, 181 females) aged 57-91 years participated as subjects in the study. In order to compare the area of handwriting, we divided the participants into two groups: (i) aged 57-74 years; and (ii) aged 75-91 years. The writing stimulus was a four-syllabic word with one-to-one grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence. The size of each syllable in the target word was measured using a software program. Alignment of the word to baseline was assessed using a multiple-choice checklist. As compared with handwriting by the younger group, the older group showed greater variability in the size of the written syllables within the word (P = 0.023). The handwriting was characterized by unequal size among syllables and non-perpendicular alignment, which could be explained by several factors. First, the variability might have resulted from irregular fine movement motor control in older adults. Second, the deterioration of visual feedback and visuomotor integration in normal aging might have affected handwriting performance. In conclusion, variability of handwriting can be sensitive in predicting the aging process. © 2013 Japan Geriatrics Society.

  9. Handwriting measures as reflectors of Executive Functions among adults withDevelopmental Coordination Disorders (DCD.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara eRosenblum

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Planning ahead and organizational abilities in time and space are ingredients of high-level cognitive functions labelled as ‘Executive Functions’ (EF required for daily activities such as writing or home management. EF deficits are considered a possible underlying brain mechanism involved in Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD. The aim of the study was to compare the handwriting process measures and the planning and organizational abilities in space and time of students with DCD with those of matched controls and to find whether handwriting measures can predict daily planning and organizational abilities among students with DCD. Method: 30 students diagnosed with DCD, between the ages of 24-41, and 30 age- and gender-matched controls participated in the study. They filled out the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ and the Adult Developmental Co-ordination Disorders Checklist (ADC. Furthermore, they copied a paragraph on a digitizer that is part of a computerized system (ComPET.Results: Significant group differences were found for the HPSQ subscales scores as well as for the temporal and spatial measures of the paragraph copy task. Significant group differences were also found for the planning and organizational abilities in space and time as reflected through the ADC subscales. Significant medium correlations were found in both groups between the mean HPSQ time subscale and the ADC-B subscale mean score (r=.50 /.58 p<.05. Series of regression analyses indicated that two handwriting performance measures (mean HPSQ time subscale and mean stroke duration predicted 19% of planning and organizational abilities as reflected through daily functions (ADC-B (F (3, 54 = 38.37, β= . 40 p<.0001.Conclusion: The results support previous evidence about EF deficits as an underlying brain mechanism involved in motor coordination disorders, their significance as related to theoretical models of handwriting and daily function among

  10. Kinesthetic sensitivity and related measures of hand sensitivity in children with nonproficient handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brink, Anne O'Leary; Jacobs, Anne Burleigh

    2011-01-01

    This study compared measures of hand sensitivity and handwriting quality in children aged 10 to 12 years identified by their teachers as having nonproficient or proficient handwriting. We hypothesized that children with nonproficient handwriting have decreased kinesthetic sensitivity of the hands and digits. Sixteen subjects without documented motor or cognitive concerns were tested for kinesthetic sensitivity, discriminate tactile awareness, diadochokinesia, stereognosis, and graphesthesia. Eight children were considered to have nonproficient handwriting; 8 had proficient handwriting. Nonparametric Mann-Whitney U tests were used to identify differences between groups on sensory tests. The 2 groups showed a statistically significant difference in handwriting legibility (P = .018). No significant difference was found on tests of kinesthetic sensitivity or other measures of sensation. Children presenting with handwriting difficulty as the only complaint have similar sensitivity in hands and digits as those with proficient handwriting. Failure to detect differences may result from a small sample size.

  11. Effects of a kinesthetic cursive handwriting intervention for grade 4-6 students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Gwenyth I; Siever, Jodi E; Mair, Judith A

    2010-01-01

    We studied whether Grade 4-6 students who participated in a kinesthetic writing intervention improved in legibility, speed, and personal satisfaction with cursive handwriting. Small groups of students with handwriting difficulties were seen weekly for 7 wk using a kinesthetic writing system. A repeated measures design was used to evaluate change in global legibility, individual letter formation, specific features of handwriting, and personal satisfaction. Analysis revealed (1) a significant increase in ratings of global legibility (p kinesthetic handwriting intervention may be effective in improving the skills of students with handwriting challenges.

  12. User-centred design and experience prototyping: Design and implementation of pre-handwriting intervention to children with coordination difficulties/dyspraxia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Othman, Muhammad Fakri; Senan, Norhalina; Suparjoh, Suriawati; Keay-Bright, Wendy

    2017-10-01

    We have proposed a method to assist children with coordination difficulties or dyspraxia to improve their pre-handwriting skills. We have chosen an animation technique called `Rotoscopy', a method that normally been used in animation and film production and adapted it to Rotoscopy Pre-handwriting Interface (RPI) prototypes using the interactive whiteboard (IWB) as interaction device. The motivation of this research is to discover how efficient if Rotoscopy is used beyond its normal purposes; and how it gives benefits in terms of behavioural and motivational aspects rather than commercial and profit point of view. Implementation of RPI prototypes has taken place through series of workshops with a teacher and a group of children with handwriting difficulties at a special education school in Caerphilly, Cardiff, United Kingdom. In the workshops children were given pre-handwriting activities in two different environments. They have been trained to use RPI prototypes and IWB, as well as pen and paper tasks. Their activities and action have been observed and recorded using video camera. Evaluation method is based-on video analysis of children's pre-handwriting result and their reaction and motivation during the workshop. It was learnt that majority of children who used RPI prototypes and IWB have produced better results in terms of accuracy of the drawing as compared to results of pen and paper activities. Furthermore the children were more motivated to use the prototypes and IWB rather than using pen and paper. The study's contribution to knowledge includes offering a new way to improve children's pre-handwriting skills using computer animation technique and touch-based devices.

  13. The impact of Graves' disease and its treatment on handwriting characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papi, Giampaolo; Botti, Cristina; Corsello, Salvatore Maria; Ciardullo, Anna Vittoria; Pontecorvi, Alfredo; Hegedüs, Laszlo

    2014-08-01

    Thyroid hormones are crucial for metabolism in all tissues in humans, including the nervous system and muscles, and could thus affect handwriting, which is the synthesis of complex and fine movements. Hyperthyroidism, characterized by symptoms such as tremor and weakness, could affect handwriting, although this has not been studied yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate handwriting characteristics before and after therapy for hyperthyroid Graves' disease (GD). Twenty-two patients (15 women, 7 men) with untreated GD (median age: 44 years; range: 20-70 years) were asked to write a "standard text" before and 12 months after being rendered euthyroid. The letters underwent a standardized detailed analysis by a handwriting expert, through inspection and stereoscopic microscope and magnifying glass. All patients demonstrated handwriting variations, perceptible even to direct observation. Graphological examination showed statistically significant changes after patients become euthyroid, in the following parameters: size of letters (4.5±1.1 vs. 5.9±1.3 mm; phandwriting in all patients. Following recovery from hyperthyroidism, a state of hypertrophic and contracted handwriting resulted in greater fluency and fluidity. Variations in handwriting should be included as signs/symptoms in GD.

  14. Writer and writing-style classification in the recognition of online handwriting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schomaker, Lambertus; Abbink, Gerben; Selen, Sjoerd

    1994-01-01

    One of the problems in the automatic recognition of cursive and mixed-cursive handwriting is the large variation of handwriting styles in a population. Automatic detection of the generic handwriting style, or identification of the writer could be useful to counteract this problem. The starting point

  15. Neuronal variability during handwriting: lognormal distribution.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valery I Rupasov

    Full Text Available We examined time-dependent statistical properties of electromyographic (EMG signals recorded from intrinsic hand muscles during handwriting. Our analysis showed that trial-to-trial neuronal variability of EMG signals is well described by the lognormal distribution clearly distinguished from the Gaussian (normal distribution. This finding indicates that EMG formation cannot be described by a conventional model where the signal is normally distributed because it is composed by summation of many random sources. We found that the variability of temporal parameters of handwriting--handwriting duration and response time--is also well described by a lognormal distribution. Although, the exact mechanism of lognormal statistics remains an open question, the results obtained should significantly impact experimental research, theoretical modeling and bioengineering applications of motor networks. In particular, our results suggest that accounting for lognormal distribution of EMGs can improve biomimetic systems that strive to reproduce EMG signals in artificial actuators.

  16. From Off-line to On-line Handwriting Recognition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lallican, P.; Viard-Gaudin, C.; Knerr, S.

    2004-01-01

    On-line handwriting includes more information on time order of the writing signal and on the dynamics of the writing process than off-line handwriting. Therefore, on-line recognition systems achieve higher recognition rates. This can be concluded from results reported in the literature, and has been

  17. Comparison of Cursive Handwriting Instruction Programs among Students without Identified Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimel, Kristin; Candler, Catherine; Neville-Smith, Marsha

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of cursive handwriting programs in improving letter legibility and form in third-grade students without identified handwriting problems. Four months into the school year, cursive handwriting was assessed for a sample of convenience of 50 third-grade students. Subsequently, students received…

  18. Quality of handwriting: Intervention based on the variation of finger force production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriano Percival Calvo

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Difficulties in the production of proficient handwriting can be detected early in childhood. From the control point of view, non-proficient handwriting can be explained by the difficulty in adequately activating motor synergies that give support to this motor skill. Therefore, imposing different demand on the control to the motor synergies of the fingers can generate improvement in the quality of handwriting. The goal of the present study was to verify the effects of an intervention program for children with handwriting difficulties, composed of manipulative and pre-calligraphic activities that stimulate finger motor synergies through different force production demands. Thirty-four children between 7 and 12 years of age participated in the present study. Handwriting quality was evaluated through the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. Only the experimental group (n=18 was submitted to the intervention program developed throughout 27 sessions of 30 minutes each. The results indicate that the intervention program based on the variability of force production had a positive effect on the quality of handwriting,mainly in terms of the size of letters.

  19. Handwriting or Typewriting? The Influence of Pen- or Keyboard-Based Writing Training on Reading and Writing Performance in Preschool Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiefer, Markus; Schuler, Stefanie; Mayer, Carmen; Trumpp, Natalie M; Hille, Katrin; Sachse, Steffi

    2015-01-01

    Digital writing devices associated with the use of computers, tablet PCs, or mobile phones are increasingly replacing writing by hand. It is, however, controversially discussed how writing modes influence reading and writing performance in children at the start of literacy. On the one hand, the easiness of typing on digital devices may accelerate reading and writing in young children, who have less developed sensory-motor skills. On the other hand, the meaningful coupling between action and perception during handwriting, which establishes sensory-motor memory traces, could facilitate written language acquisition. In order to decide between these theoretical alternatives, for the present study, we developed an intense training program for preschool children attending the German kindergarten with 16 training sessions. Using closely matched letter learning games, eight letters of the German alphabet were trained either by handwriting with a pen on a sheet of paper or by typing on a computer keyboard. Letter recognition, naming, and writing performance as well as word reading and writing performance were assessed. Results did not indicate a superiority of typing training over handwriting training in any of these tasks. In contrast, handwriting training was superior to typing training in word writing, and, as a tendency, in word reading. The results of our study, therefore, support theories of action-perception coupling assuming a facilitatory influence of sensory-motor representations established during handwriting on reading and writing.

  20. Curriculum-Based Handwriting Programs: A Systematic Review With Effect Sizes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engel, Courtney; Lillie, Kristin; Zurawski, Sarah; Travers, Brittany G.

    2018-01-01

    Challenges with handwriting can have a negative impact on academic performance, and these challenges are commonly addressed by occupational therapy practitioners in school settings. This systematic review examined the efficacy of curriculum-based interventions to address children’s handwriting difficulties in the classroom (preschool to second grade). We reviewed and computed effect sizes for 13 studies (11 Level II, 2 Level III) identified through a comprehensive database search. The evidence shows that curriculum-based handwriting interventions resulted in small- to medium-sized improvements in legibility, a commonly reported challenge in this age group. The evidence for whether these interventions improved speed is mixed, and the evidence for whether they improved fluency is insufficient. No clear support was found for one handwriting program over another. These results suggest that curriculum-based interventions can lead to improvements in handwriting legibility, but Level I research is needed to validate the efficacy of these curricula. PMID:29689170

  1. The impact of graves' disease and its treatment on handwriting characteristics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Papi, Giampaolo; Botti, Cristina; Corsello, Salvatore Maria

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Thyroid hormones are crucial for metabolism in all tissues in humans, including the nervous system and muscles, and could thus affect handwriting, which is the synthesis of complex and fine movements. Hyperthyroidism, characterized by symptoms such as tremor and weakness, could affect...... handwriting, although this has not been studied yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate handwriting characteristics before and after therapy for hyperthyroid Graves' disease (GD). METHODS: Twenty-two patients (15 women, 7 men) with untreated GD (median age: 44 years; range: 20-70 years) were asked to write...... a "standard text" before and 12 months after being rendered euthyroid. The letters underwent a standardized detailed analysis by a handwriting expert, through inspection and stereoscopic microscope and magnifying glass. RESULTS: All patients demonstrated handwriting variations, perceptible even to direct...

  2. National characteristics and variation in Arabic handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Hadhrami, Ahmed A N; Allen, Mike; Moffatt, Colin; Jones, Allison E

    2015-02-01

    From each of four Arabic countries; Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Oman, 150 participants produced handwriting samples which were examined to assess whether national characteristics were discernible. Ten characters, which have different configurations depending upon their position in the word, along with one short word, were classified into distinguishable forms, and these forms recorded for each handwriting sample. Tests of independence showed that character forms used were not independent of country (phandwriting samples that underwent 'blind' classification. When the countries were combined into two regions, North Africa and Middle East, the grouping was more marked. Thus, there appears to be some scope for narrowing down the nationality, and particularly the wider geographical region of an author based upon the character forms they use in Arabic handwriting. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. "Let Me Hear Your Handwriting!" Evaluating the Movement Fluency from Its Sonification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danna, Jérémy; Paz-Villagrán, Vietminh; Gondre, Charles; Aramaki, Mitsuko; Kronland-Martinet, Richard; Ystad, Sølvi; Velay, Jean-Luc

    2015-01-01

    The quality of handwriting is evaluated from the visual inspection of its legibility and not from the movement that generates the trace. Although handwriting is achieved in silence, adding sounds to handwriting movement might help towards its perception, provided that these sounds are meaningful. This study evaluated the ability to judge handwriting quality from the auditory perception of the underlying sonified movement, without seeing the written trace. In a first experiment, samples of a word written by children with dysgraphia, proficient children writers, and proficient adult writers were collected with a graphic tablet. Then, the pen velocity, the fluency, and the axial pen pressure were sonified in order to create forty-five audio files. In a second experiment, these files were presented to 48 adult listeners who had to mark the underlying unseen handwriting. In order to evaluate the relevance of the sonification strategy, two experimental conditions were compared. In a first 'implicit' condition, the listeners made their judgment without any knowledge of the mapping between the sounds and the handwriting variables. In a second 'explicit' condition, they knew what the sonified variables corresponded to and the evaluation criteria. Results showed that, under the implicit condition, two thirds of the listeners marked the three groups of writers differently. In the explicit condition, all listeners marked the dysgraphic handwriting lower than that of the two other groups. In a third experiment, the scores given from the auditory evaluation were compared to the scores given by 16 other adults from the visual evaluation of the trace. Results revealed that auditory evaluation was more relevant than the visual evaluation for evaluating a dysgraphic handwriting. Handwriting sonification might therefore be a relevant tool allowing a therapist to complete the visual assessment of the written trace by an auditory control of the handwriting movement quality.

  4. Handwriting and pre-frailty in the Lausanne cohort 65+ (Lc65+) study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camicioli, Richard; Mizrahi, Seymour; Spagnoli, Jacques; Büla, Christophe; Demonet, Jean-François; Vingerhoets, François; von Gunten, Armin; Santos-Eggimann, Brigitte

    2015-01-01

    Frailty is detected by weight loss, weakness, slow walking velocity, reduced physical activity or poor endurance/exhaustion. Handwriting has not been examined in the context of frailty, despite its functional importance. Our goal was to examine quantitative handwriting measures in people meeting 0, 1, and 2 or more (2+) frailty criteria. We also examined if handwriting parameters were associated with gait performance, weakness, poor endurance/exhaustion and cognitive impairment. From the population-based Lc65+, 72 subjects meeting 2+ frailty criteria with complete handwriting samples were identified. Gender-matched controls meeting 1 criterion or no criteria were identified. Cognitive impairment was defined by a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 25 or less or the lowest 20th percentile of Trail Making Test Part B. Handwriting was recorded using a writing tablet and measures of velocity, pauses, and pressure were extracted. Subjects with 2+ criteria were older, had more health problems and need for assistance but had higher education. No handwriting parameter differed between frailty groups (age and education adjusted). Writing velocity was not significantly slower among participants from the slowest 20th percentile of gait velocity but writing pressure was significantly lower among those from the lowest 20th percentile of grip strength. Poor endurance/exhaustion was not associated with handwriting measures. Low cognitive performance was related to longer pauses. Handwriting parameters might be associated with specific aspects of the frailty phenotype, but not reliably with global definitions of frailty at its earliest stages among subjects able to perform handwriting tests. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. The Effect of a Computerized Visual Perception and Visual-Motor Integration Training Program on Improving Chinese Handwriting of Children with Handwriting Difficulties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poon, K. W.; Li-Tsang, C. W .P.; Weiss, T. P. L.; Rosenblum, S.

    2010-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate the effect of a computerized visual perception and visual-motor integration training program to enhance Chinese handwriting performance among children with learning difficulties, particularly those with handwriting problems. Participants were 26 primary-one children who were assessed by educational psychologists and…

  6. Handwriting difficulties in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a pilot study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Haberfehlner, Helga; Visser, Bart; Daffertshofer, Andreas; van Rossum, Marion Aj; Roorda, Leo D.; van der Leeden, Marike; Dekker, Joost; Hoeksma, Agnes F.

    2011-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to describe handwriting difficulties of primary school children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and to investigate possible correlations with hand function and writing performance. In a cross-sectional approach, 15 children with JIA and reported handwriting

  7. Persistent Handwriting Difficulties in Children With ADHD After Treatment With Stimulant Medication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brossard-Racine, Marie; Shevell, Michael; Snider, Laurie; Bélanger, Stacey Ageranioti; Julien, Marilyse; Majnemer, Annette

    2015-07-01

    Children with ADHD often present with handwriting difficulties. However, the extent to which motor and attention skills influence performance in this group has not yet been explored. The objective of this study was to examine the factors associated with change in handwriting performance. This study examines the factors associated with change in handwriting performance of 49 children newly diagnosed with ADHD (mean age = 8.4 [SD=1.3] years) prior to and 3 months following use of a stimulant medication. Handwriting legibility and speed improved significantly at follow-up evaluation. However, most of the children with legibility difficulties at baseline continued to demonstrate difficulties when evaluated 3 months after initiation of medication. Change in handwriting legibility was best determined by improvements in visual-motor integration skills (β = 0.07-0.10; p Handwriting difficulties are common in children with ADHD, and medication alone is not sufficient to resolve these challenges. © 2012 SAGE Publications.

  8. Experts Fear Handwriting Will become a Lost Art

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zubrzycki, Jaclyn

    2012-01-01

    Educators and experts say students still need to learn penmanship, even in a digital age. Handwriting still has a place in the digital age, its proponents say, and they hoped that what they billed as a "summit" on the subject at a conference would spotlight their case for the enduring value of handwriting in the learning process. The Washington…

  9. Handwriting-Based Model for Identification of Developmental Disorders among North Indian Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhall, Jasmine Kaur

    2016-01-01

    Handwriting execution is based on the cognitive, kinesthetic, motor skills, and manual co-ordination skills of an individual. The deterioration in handwriting quality is a common implication of neurological disorders. Difficulty and degradation in handwriting has been attributed to the sensory motor deficits prevalent in developmental disorders.…

  10. Handwriting Velocity Modeling by Artificial Neural Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Mohamed Aymen Slim; Afef Abdelkrim; Mohamed Benrejeb

    2014-01-01

    The handwriting is a physical demonstration of a complex cognitive process learnt by man since his childhood. People with disabilities or suffering from various neurological diseases are facing so many difficulties resulting from problems located at the muscle stimuli (EMG) or signals from the brain (EEG) and which arise at the stage of writing. The handwriting velocity of the same writer or different writers varies according to different criteria: age, attitude, mood, wr...

  11. Changes in Handwriting due to Alzheimer’s Disease a Case Report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    İsmail Birincioğlu

    2016-08-01

    In this study, the reason that the experts delivered opposing opinions on the identification of a document handwritten by a person with AD after being referred to court was investigated. Based on the judicial file, the document examiners did not have the opportunity to evaluate all factors affecting the handwriting or signature of the individual, and an adequate number of handwriting and signature examples were not collected for comparison. Consequently, the examiners reached differing opinions. Thus, the above-mentioned factors are necessary to derive a satisfactory and accurate opinion regarding the identification of handwriting or signature. Keywords: Forensic sciences, handwriting, signature, Alzheimer’s Disease.

  12. Neuroimaging correlates of handwriting quality as children learn to read and write

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gimenez, Paul; Bugescu, Nicolle; Black, Jessica M.; Hancock, Roeland; Pugh, Kenneth; Nagamine, Masanori; Kutner, Emily; Mazaika, Paul; Hendren, Robert; McCandliss, Bruce D.; Hoeft, Fumiko

    2014-01-01

    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. PMID:24678293

  13. Neuroimaging correlations of handwriting quality as children learn to read and write

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul eGimenez

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available 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 grey 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.

  14. Handwriting or Typewriting? The Influence of Pen- or Keyboard-Based Writing Training on Reading and Writing Performance in Preschool Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiefer, Markus; Schuler, Stefanie; Mayer, Carmen; Trumpp, Natalie M.; Hille, Katrin; Sachse, Steffi

    2015-01-01

    Digital writing devices associated with the use of computers, tablet PCs, or mobile phones are increasingly replacing writing by hand. It is, however, controversially discussed how writing modes influence reading and writing performance in children at the start of literacy. On the one hand, the easiness of typing on digital devices may accelerate reading and writing in young children, who have less developed sensory-motor skills. On the other hand, the meaningful coupling between action and perception during handwriting, which establishes sensory-motor memory traces, could facilitate written language acquisition. In order to decide between these theoretical alternatives, for the present study, we developed an intense training program for preschool children attending the German kindergarten with 16 training sessions. Using closely matched letter learning games, eight letters of the German alphabet were trained either by handwriting with a pen on a sheet of paper or by typing on a computer keyboard. Letter recognition, naming, and writing performance as well as word reading and writing performance were assessed. Results did not indicate a superiority of typing training over handwriting training in any of these tasks. In contrast, handwriting training was superior to typing training in word writing, and, as a tendency, in word reading. The results of our study, therefore, support theories of action-perception coupling assuming a facilitatory influence of sensory-motor representations established during handwriting on reading and writing. PMID:26770286

  15. The "handwriting brain": a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of motor versus orthographic processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Planton, Samuel; Jucla, Mélanie; Roux, Franck-Emmanuel; Démonet, Jean-François

    2013-01-01

    Handwriting is a modality of language production whose cerebral substrates remain poorly known although the existence of specific regions is postulated. The description of brain damaged patients with agraphia and, more recently, several neuroimaging studies suggest the involvement of different brain regions. However, results vary with the methodological choices made and may not always discriminate between "writing-specific" and motor or linguistic processes shared with other abilities. We used the "Activation Likelihood Estimate" (ALE) meta-analytical method to identify the cerebral network of areas commonly activated during handwriting in 18 neuroimaging studies published in the literature. Included contrasts were also classified according to the control tasks used, whether non-specific motor/output-control or linguistic/input-control. These data were included in two secondary meta-analyses in order to reveal the functional role of the different areas of this network. An extensive, mainly left-hemisphere network of 12 cortical and sub-cortical areas was obtained; three of which were considered as primarily writing-specific (left superior frontal sulcus/middle frontal gyrus area, left intraparietal sulcus/superior parietal area, right cerebellum) while others related rather to non-specific motor (primary motor and sensorimotor cortex, supplementary motor area, thalamus and putamen) or linguistic processes (ventral premotor cortex, posterior/inferior temporal cortex). This meta-analysis provides a description of the cerebral network of handwriting as revealed by various types of neuroimaging experiments and confirms the crucial involvement of the left frontal and superior parietal regions. These findings provide new insights into cognitive processes involved in handwriting and their cerebral substrates. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Chinese handwriting performance in preterm children in grade 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Shao-Hsia; Hong, Rong-Bin

    2018-01-01

    Background First graders born prematurely perform poorly on handwriting speed and legibility. However, whether there are specific legibility factors in which preterm children demonstrate difficulty remains unknown. In addition, handwriting performance beyond the first grade and the influence of sex on handwriting performance in preterm children are still unclear. We aimed to investigate the influence of prematurity and sex on multiple dimensions of handwriting in grade two and to identify the contributors to performance. Methods Sixty-three preterm (34 boys and 29 girls) and 67 full-term (27 boys and 40 girls) peers in grade two were included. Class teachers were asked to complete the Chinese Handwriting Evaluation Form. A subgroup of 39 preterm children received assessments on intelligence, visual perception, tactile and kinesthetic sensation, and fine motor skills. Their inattention behavior was rated using a maternal self-report with a behavioral scale. Results Boys born prematurely exhibited poorer performance in the speed dimension than full-term boys (p = 0.008), whereas there was comparable performance in the two groups of girls (p = 0.221). In the dimensions related to legibility, preterm boys (32.4%) had a higher percentage of children with difficulty in the construction dimension than the other groups (preterm girls: 6.9%, full-term boys: 7.4%, full-term girls: 5.0%). However, no group difference was found in the dimensions of accuracy and directionality. Of the sensory-perceptual-motor factors, attention was the most significant predictor of accuracy in performance (p = 0.046) and speed dimensions (p = 0.001) in preterm children. Conclusions Boys appear to be vulnerable to the adverse impacts of preterm birth in terms of performance in the dimensions of speed and construction in grade two. Based on the significant contribution of attention to handwriting performance in preterm children, assessment and intervention in the area of attention is strongly

  17. Chinese Handwriting Performance of Primary School Children with Dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lam, Sutie S. T.; Au, Ricky K. C.; Leung, Howard W. H.; Li-Tsang, Cecilia W. P.

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the Chinese handwriting performance of typical children and children with dyslexia, and to examine whether speed and accuracy of handwriting could reliably discriminate these two groups of children. One hundred and thirty-seven children with dyslexia and 756 typical children were recruited from main stream…

  18. Effectiveness of an integrated handwriting program for first-grade students: a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Case-Smith, Jane; Holland, Terri; Bishop, Beth

    2011-01-01

    We developed and piloted a program for first-grade students to promote development of legible handwriting and writing fluency. The Write Start program uses a coteaching model in which occupational therapists and teachers collaborate to develop and implement a handwriting-writing program. The small-group format with embedded individualized supports allows the therapist to guide and monitor student performance and provide immediate feedback. The 12-wk program was implemented with 1 class of 19 students. We administered the Evaluation of Children's Handwriting Test, Minnesota Handwriting Assessment, and Woodcock-Johnson Fluency and Writing Samples test at baseline, immediately after the Write Start program, and at the end of the school year. Students made large, significant gains in handwriting legibility and speed and in writing fluency that were maintained at 6-mo follow-up. The Write Start program appears to promote handwriting and writing skills in first-grade students and is ready for further study in controlled trials.

  19. Handwriting Manual for Primary Teachers in Somalia. African Studies in Curriculum Development & Evaluation No. 61.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dirie, Mohamed Farah

    Concern over the poor and illegible handwriting of the students in Somalia led to the development of this handwriting manual for primary school teachers to: (1) give teachers guidance in teaching handwriting; (2) help teachers in the methodology of teaching handwriting; (3) let teachers know the easier ways of making cheap and obtainable materials…

  20. Dyslexic children fail to comply with the rhythmic constraints of handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagliarini, Elena; Guasti, Maria Teresa; Toneatto, Carlo; Granocchio, Elisa; Riva, Federica; Sarti, Daniela; Molteni, Bruna; Stucchi, Natale

    2015-08-01

    In this study, we sought to demonstrate that deficits in a specific motor activity, handwriting, are associated to Developmental Dyslexia. The linguistic and writing performance of children with Developmental Dyslexia, with and without handwriting problems (dysgraphia), were compared to that of children with Typical Development. The quantitative kinematic variables of handwriting were collected by means of a digitizing tablet. The results showed that all children with Developmental Dyslexia wrote more slowly than those with Typical Development. Contrary to typically developing children, they also varied more in the time taken to write the individual letters of a word and failed to comply with the principles of isochrony and homothety. Moreover, a series of correlations was found among reading, language measures and writing measures suggesting that the two abilities may be linked. We propose that the link between handwriting and reading/language deficits is mediated by rhythm, as both reading (which is grounded on language) and handwriting are ruled by principles of rhythmic organization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Standardized handwriting to assess bradykinesia, micrographia and tremor in Parkinson's disease.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esther J Smits

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To assess whether standardized handwriting can provide quantitative measures to distinguish patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease from age- and gender-matched healthy control participants. DESIGN: Exploratory study. Pen tip trajectories were recorded during circle, spiral and line drawing and repeated character 'elelelel' and sentence writing, performed by Parkinson patients and healthy control participants. Parkinson patients were tested after overnight withdrawal of anti-Parkinsonian medication. SETTING: University Medical Center Groningen, tertiary care, the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with Parkinson's disease (n = 10; mean age 69.0 years; 6 male and healthy controls (n = 10; mean age 68.1 years; 6 male. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Movement time and velocity to detect bradykinesia and the size of writing to detect micrographia. A rest recording to investigate the presence of a rest-tremor, by frequency analysis. RESULTS: Mean disease duration in the Parkinson group was 4.4 years and the patients were in modified Hoehn-Yahr stages 1-2.5. In general, Parkinson patients were slower than healthy control participants. Median time per repetition, median velocity and median acceleration of the sentence task and median velocity of the elel task differed significantly between Parkinson patients and healthy control participants (all p<0.0014. Parkinson patients also wrote smaller than healthy control participants and the width of the 'e' in the elel task was significantly smaller in Parkinson patients compared to healthy control participants (p<0.0014. A rest-tremor was detected in the three patients who were clinically assessed as having rest-tremor. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that standardized handwriting can provide objective measures for bradykinesia, tremor and micrographia to distinguish Parkinson patients from healthy control participants.

  2. Inter-relationships between objective handwriting features and executive control among children with developmental dysgraphia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, Sara

    2018-01-01

    To describe handwriting and executive control features and their inter-relationships among children with developmental dysgraphia, in comparison to controls. Participants included 64 children, aged 10-12 years, 32 with dysgraphia based on the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ) and 32 matched controls. Children copied a paragraph onto paper affixed to a digitizer that supplied handwriting process objective measures (Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET). Their written product was evaluated by the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE). Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire about their child's executive control abilities. Significant group differences were found for handwriting performance measures (HHE and ComPET) and executive control domains (BRIEF). Based on one discriminate function, including handwriting performance and executive control measures, 98.4% of the participants were correctly classified into groups. Significant correlations were found in each group between working memory and legibility as well as for other executive domains and handwriting measures. Furthermore, twenty percent of the variability of the mean pressure applied towards the writing surface among children with was explained by their 'emotional control' (BRIEF). The results strongly suggest consideration of executive control domains to obtain better insight into handwriting impairment characteristics among children with dysgraphia to improve their identification, evaluation and the intervention process.

  3. SOS: A Screening Instrument to Identify Children with Handwriting Impairments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Waelvelde, Hilde; Hellinckx, Tinneke; Peersman, Wim; Smits-Engelsman, Bouwien C. M.

    2012-01-01

    Poor handwriting has been shown to be associated with developmental disorders such as Developmental Coordination Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, autism, and learning disorders. Handwriting difficulties could lead to academic underachievement and poor self-esteem. Therapeutic intervention has been shown to be effective in…

  4. Handwriting versus Keyboard Writing: Effect on Word Recall

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Mangen

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to explore effects of writing modality on word recall and recognition. The following three writing modalities were used: handwriting with pen on paper; typewriting on a conventional laptop keyboard; and typewriting on an iPad touch keyboard. Thirty-six females aged 19-54 years participated in a fully counterbalanced within-subjects experimental design. Using a wordlist paradigm, participants were instructed to write down words (one list per writing modality read out loud to them, in the three writing modalities. Memory for words written using handwriting, a conventional keyboard and a virtual iPad keyboard was assessed using oral free recall and recognition. The data was analyzed using non-parametric statistics. Results show that there was an omnibus effect of writing modality and follow-up analyses showed that, for the free recall measure, participants had significantly better free recall of words written in the handwriting condition, compared to both keyboard writing conditions. There was no effect of writing modality in the recognition condition. This indicates that, with respect to aspects of word recall, there may be certain cognitive benefits to handwriting which may not be fully retained in keyboard writing. Cognitive and educational implications of this finding are discussed.

  5. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Improves Handwriting in Parkinson’s Disease

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    Bubblepreet K. Randhawa

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Parkinson disease (PD is characterized by hypometric movements resulting from loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. PD leads to decreased activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA; the net result of these changes is a poverty of movement. The present study determined the impact of 5 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS over the SMA on a fine motor movement, handwriting (writing cursive “l”s, and on cortical excitability, in individuals with PD. Methods. In a cross-over design, ten individuals with PD were randomized to receive either 5 Hz or control stimulation over the SMA. Immediately following brain stimulation right handed writing was assessed. Results. 5 Hz stimulation increased vertical size of handwriting and diminished axial pressure. In addition, 5 Hz rTMS significantly decreased the threshold for excitability in the primary motor cortex. Conclusions. These data suggest that in the short term 5 Hz rTMS benefits functional fine motor task performance, perhaps by altering cortical excitability across a network of brain regions. Further, these data may provide the foundation for a larger investigation of the effects of noninvasive brain stimulation over the SMA in individuals with PD.

  6. The effect of fine motor skills on handwriting legibility in preschool age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, Sang-Min

    2018-02-01

    [Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that fine motor skills have on handwriting legibility in children of preschool age. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects of this study were 52 children of normal growth and development. In order to ascertain handwriting legibility, a Korean alphabet writing assessment was used; to measure fine motor skills, fine motor precision and manual dexterity, sub-items of BOT-2 were measured. Furthermore, in order to measure in-hand manipulation skills, a Functional Dexterity Test was conducted. [Results] The results of the study showed a high level of correlation between fine motor skills and handwriting legibility. The study revealed that the accuracy of hand and in-hand manipulation skills is factors that have an effect on handwriting legibility. [Conclusion] Through the current research, occupational therapists can provide activities that aid the development of fine motor precision and in-hand manipulation skills for children during the instruction and treatment of handwriting to preschool age children, which helps to conduct better legibility in their handwriting.

  7. Parameter calibration for synthesizing realistic-looking variability in offline handwriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Wen; Lopresti, Dan

    2011-01-01

    Motivated by the widely accepted principle that the more training data, the better a recognition system performs, we conducted experiments asking human subjects to do evaluate a mixture of real English handwritten text lines and text lines altered from existing handwriting with various distortion degrees. The idea of generating synthetic handwriting is based on a perturbation method by T. Varga and H. Bunke that distorts an entire text line. There are two purposes of our experiments. First, we want to calibrate distortion parameter settings for Varga and Bunke's perturbation model. Second, we intend to compare the effects of parameter settings on different writing styles: block, cursive and mixed. From the preliminary experimental results, we determined appropriate ranges for parameter amplitude, and found that parameter settings should be altered for different handwriting styles. With the proper parameter settings, it should be possible to generate large amount of training and testing data for building better off-line handwriting recognition systems.

  8. Machine printed text and handwriting identification in noisy document images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yefeng; Li, Huiping; Doermann, David

    2004-03-01

    In this paper, we address the problem of the identification of text in noisy document images. We are especially focused on segmenting and identifying between handwriting and machine printed text because: 1) Handwriting in a document often indicates corrections, additions, or other supplemental information that should be treated differently from the main content and 2) the segmentation and recognition techniques requested for machine printed and handwritten text are significantly different. A novel aspect of our approach is that we treat noise as a separate class and model noise based on selected features. Trained Fisher classifiers are used to identify machine printed text and handwriting from noise and we further exploit context to refine the classification. A Markov Random Field-based (MRF) approach is used to model the geometrical structure of the printed text, handwriting, and noise to rectify misclassifications. Experimental results show that our approach is robust and can significantly improve page segmentation in noisy document collections.

  9. “Let Me Hear Your Handwriting!” Evaluating the Movement Fluency from Its Sonification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danna, Jérémy; Paz-Villagrán, Vietminh; Gondre, Charles; Aramaki, Mitsuko; Kronland-Martinet, Richard; Ystad, Sølvi; Velay, Jean-Luc

    2015-01-01

    The quality of handwriting is evaluated from the visual inspection of its legibility and not from the movement that generates the trace. Although handwriting is achieved in silence, adding sounds to handwriting movement might help towards its perception, provided that these sounds are meaningful. This study evaluated the ability to judge handwriting quality from the auditory perception of the underlying sonified movement, without seeing the written trace. In a first experiment, samples of a word written by children with dysgraphia, proficient children writers, and proficient adult writers were collected with a graphic tablet. Then, the pen velocity, the fluency, and the axial pen pressure were sonified in order to create forty-five audio files. In a second experiment, these files were presented to 48 adult listeners who had to mark the underlying unseen handwriting. In order to evaluate the relevance of the sonification strategy, two experimental conditions were compared. In a first ‘implicit’ condition, the listeners made their judgment without any knowledge of the mapping between the sounds and the handwriting variables. In a second ‘explicit’ condition, they knew what the sonified variables corresponded to and the evaluation criteria. Results showed that, under the implicit condition, two thirds of the listeners marked the three groups of writers differently. In the explicit condition, all listeners marked the dysgraphic handwriting lower than that of the two other groups. In a third experiment, the scores given from the auditory evaluation were compared to the scores given by 16 other adults from the visual evaluation of the trace. Results revealed that auditory evaluation was more relevant than the visual evaluation for evaluating a dysgraphic handwriting. Handwriting sonification might therefore be a relevant tool allowing a therapist to complete the visual assessment of the written trace by an auditory control of the handwriting movement quality

  10. Handwriting Development in Spanish Children with and without Learning Disabilities: A Graphonomic Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrientos, Pablo

    2017-01-01

    The central purpose of this study was to analyze the dynamics of handwriting movements in real time for Spanish students in early grades with and without learning disabilities. The sample consisted of 120 children from Grades 1 through 3 (primary education), classified into two groups: with learning disabilities and without learning disabilities.…

  11. Inter-relationships between objective handwriting features and executive control among children with developmental dysgraphia

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    Objective To describe handwriting and executive control features and their inter-relationships among children with developmental dysgraphia, in comparison to controls. Method Participants included 64 children, aged 10–12 years, 32 with dysgraphia based on the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ) and 32 matched controls. Children copied a paragraph onto paper affixed to a digitizer that supplied handwriting process objective measures (Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET). Their written product was evaluated by the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE). Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire about their child's executive control abilities. Results Significant group differences were found for handwriting performance measures (HHE and ComPET) and executive control domains (BRIEF). Based on one discriminate function, including handwriting performance and executive control measures, 98.4% of the participants were correctly classified into groups. Significant correlations were found in each group between working memory and legibility as well as for other executive domains and handwriting measures. Furthermore, twenty percent of the variability of the mean pressure applied towards the writing surface among children with was explained by their 'emotional control' (BRIEF). Conclusion The results strongly suggest consideration of executive control domains to obtain better insight into handwriting impairment characteristics among children with dysgraphia to improve their identification, evaluation and the intervention process. PMID:29689111

  12. Character context: a shape descriptor for Arabic handwriting recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mudhsh, Mohammed; Almodfer, Rolla; Duan, Pengfei; Xiong, Shengwu

    2017-11-01

    In the handwriting recognition field, designing good descriptors are substantial to obtain rich information of the data. However, the handwriting recognition research of a good descriptor is still an open issue due to unlimited variation in human handwriting. We introduce a "character context descriptor" that efficiently dealt with the structural characteristics of Arabic handwritten characters. First, the character image is smoothed and normalized, then the character context descriptor of 32 feature bins is built based on the proposed "distance function." Finally, a multilayer perceptron with regularization is used as a classifier. On experimentation with a handwritten Arabic characters database, the proposed method achieved a state-of-the-art performance with recognition rate equal to 98.93% and 99.06% for the 66 and 24 classes, respectively.

  13. Development of Malayalam Handwriting Scale for School Students in Kerala

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gafoor, K. Abdul; Naseer, A. R.

    2015-01-01

    With a view to support instruction, formative and summative assessment and to provide model handwriting performance for students to compare their own performance, a Malayalam handwriting scale is developed. Data from 2640 school students belonging to Malappuram, Palakkad and Kozhikode districts, sampled by taking 240 students per each grade…

  14. Hyperspectral imaging technology for revealing the original handwritings covered by the same inks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuanyuan Lian

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This manuscript presents a preliminary investigation on the applicability of hyperspectral imaging technology for nondestructive and rapid analysis to reveal covered original handwritings. The hyperspectral imager Nuance-Macro was used to collect the reflected light signature of inks from the overlapping parts. The software Nuance1p46 was used to analyze the reflected light signature of inks which shows the covered original handwritings. Different types of black/blue ballpoint pen inks and black/blue gel pen inks were chosen for sample preparation. From the hyperspectral images examined, the covered original handwritings of application were revealed in 90.5%, 69.1%, 49.5%, and 78.6% of the cases. Further, the correlation between the revealing effect and spectral characteristics of the reflected light of inks at the overlapping parts was interpreted through theoretical analysis and experimental verification. The results indicated that when the spectral characteristics of the reflected light of inks at the overlapping parts were the same or very similar to that of the ink that was used to cover the original handwriting, the original handwriting could not be shown. On the contrary, when the spectral characteristics of the reflected light of inks at the overlapping parts were different to that of the ink that was used to cover the original handwriting, the original handwriting was revealed.

  15. The use of handwriting examinations beyond the traditional court purpose.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agius, Anna; Jones, Kylie; Epple, Rochelle; Morelato, Marie; Moret, Sébastien; Chadwick, Scott; Roux, Claude

    2017-09-01

    Traditionally, forensic science has predominantly focused its resources and objectives on addressing court related questions. However, this view restricts the contribution of forensic science to one function and results in lost opportunities as investigative and intelligence roles are often overlooked. A change of perspective and expansion of the contributions of forensic science is required to take advantage of the benefits of abductive and inductive thought processes throughout the investigative and intelligence functions. One forensic discipline that has the potential to broaden its traditional focus is handwriting examination. Typically used in investigations that are focused on both criminal and civil cases, the examination procedure and outcome are time consuming and subjective, requiring a detailed study of the features of the handwriting in question. Traditionally, the major handwriting features exploited are characteristics that are often considered individual (or at least highly polymorphic) and habitual. However, handwriting can be considered as an information vector in an intelligence framework. One such example is the recognition of key elements related to the author's native language. This paper discusses the traditional method generally used around the world and proposes a theoretical approach to expand the application of handwriting examination towards gaining additional information for intelligence purposes. This concept will be designed and tested in a future research project. Copyright © 2017 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. All rights reserved.

  16. Handwriting Tics in Tourette's Syndrome: A Single Center Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zanaboni Dina, Carlotta; Bona, Alberto R; Zekaj, Edvin; Servello, Domenico; Porta, Mauro

    2016-01-01

    Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically defined by multiple motor tics and at least one sound tic, beginning in childhood or in adolescence. Handwriting is one of the most impaired school activities for TS patients because of the presence of tics that hamper learning processes. In this paper, we present a case of handwriting tics in a TS patient highlighting the main features.

  17. Does Poor Handwriting Conceal Literacy Potential in Primary School Children?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarney, Debra; Peters, Lynne; Jackson, Sarah; Thomas, Marie; Kirby, Amanda

    2013-01-01

    Handwriting is a complex skill that, despite increasing use of computers, still plays a vital role in education. It is assumed that children will master letter formation at a relatively early stage in their school life, with handwriting fluency developing steadily until automaticity is attained. The capacity theory of writing suggests that as…

  18. Where Does Handwriting Fit in? Strategies to Support Academic Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahill, Susan M.

    2009-01-01

    In today's environment of high-stakes testing, handwriting is a skill that is often overlooked in order to focus on other areas of the curriculum. However, research indicates that handwriting is tied to academic achievement, especially composition and literacy skills. This article provides strategies that can be used to support students with…

  19. Consistency of performance of robot-assisted surgical tasks in virtual reality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suh, I H; Siu, K-C; Mukherjee, M; Monk, E; Oleynikov, D; Stergiou, N

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate consistency of performance of robot-assisted surgical tasks in a virtual reality environment. Eight subjects performed two surgical tasks, bimanual carrying and needle passing, with both the da Vinci surgical robot and a virtual reality equivalent environment. Nonlinear analysis was utilized to evaluate consistency of performance by calculating the regularity and the amount of divergence in the movement trajectories of the surgical instrument tips. Our results revealed that movement patterns for both training tasks were statistically similar between the two environments. Consistency of performance as measured by nonlinear analysis could be an appropriate methodology to evaluate the complexity of the training tasks between actual and virtual environments and assist in developing better surgical training programs.

  20. Handwriting and Common Core State Standards: Teacher, Occupational Therapist, and Administrator Perceptions From New York State Public Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collette, Debra; Anson, Kylie; Halabi, Nora; Schlierman, April; Suriner, Allison

    Handwriting is the cornerstone of written performance and communication for school-age children. This mixed-methods study explored the impact of Common Core State Standards on handwriting instruction and its effects on perceptions regarding children's written responses in elementary school. Using surveys and interviews of elementary teachers, occupational therapists, and administrators in New York State public schools, we sought to understand current trends in handwriting instruction, changes in time spent on handwriting instruction in the classroom, supports offered to students who did not meet expectations for handwriting, and the impact of Common Core on children's written expression. Themes emerged revealing decreased handwriting instruction time and inconsistent use of handwriting instructional programs in the classroom after implementation of Common Core. Handwriting should be considered as a greater component in the foundational standards in Common Core. Occupational therapy services can support handwriting instruction implementation. Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  1. Handwriting individualization using distance and rarity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Yi; Srihari, Sargur; Srinivasan, Harish

    2012-01-01

    Forensic individualization is the task of associating observed evidence with a specific source. The likelihood ratio (LR) is a quantitative measure that expresses the degree of uncertainty in individualization, where the numerator represents the likelihood that the evidence corresponds to the known and the denominator the likelihood that it does not correspond to the known. Since the number of parameters needed to compute the LR is exponential with the number of feature measurements, a commonly used simplification is the use of likelihoods based on distance (or similarity) given the two alternative hypotheses. This paper proposes an intermediate method which decomposes the LR as the product of two factors, one based on distance and the other on rarity. It was evaluated using a data set of handwriting samples, by determining whether two writing samples were written by the same/different writer(s). The accuracy of the distance and rarity method, as measured by error rates, is significantly better than the distance method.

  2. Handwriting and fine motor problems after treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reinders-Messelink, H.A.; Schoemaker, M.M.; Goeken, L.N H; van den Briel, M.M.; Kamps, W.A; Simner, M L; Leedham, C G; Thomassen, A J W M

    1996-01-01

    Fine motor skills and handwriting performance were investigated in 17 children at least two years after treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It was hypothesized that as a late effect of vincristine neuropathy, children would still have fine motor and/or handwriting problems. Gross and fine

  3. Increasing viscosity and inertia using a robotically-controlled pen improves handwriting in children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben-Pazi, Hilla; Ishihara, Abraham; Kukke, Sahana; Sanger, Terence D

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the effect of mechanical properties of the pen on the quality of handwriting in children. Twenty two school aged children, ages 8–14 years wrote in cursive using a pen attached to a robot. The robot was programmed to increase the effective weight (inertia) and stiffness (viscosity) of the pen. Speed, frequency, variability, and quality of the two handwriting samples were compared. Increased inertia and viscosity improved handwriting quality in 85% of children (pHandwriting quality did not correlate with changes in speed, suggesting that improvement was not due to reduced speed. Measures of movement variability remained unchanged, suggesting that improvement was not due to mechanical smoothing of pen movement by the robot. Since improvement was not explained by reduced speed or mechanical smoothing, we conclude that children alter handwriting movements in response to pen mechanics. Altered movement could be caused by changes in proprioceptive sensory feedback. PMID:19794098

  4. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation to the cerebellum improves handwriting and cyclic drawing kinematics in focal hand dystonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradnam, Lynley V; Graetz, Lynton J; McDonnell, Michelle N; Ridding, Michael C

    2015-01-01

    There is increasing evidence that the cerebellum has a role in the pathophysiology of primary focal hand dystonia and might provide an intervention target for non-invasive brain stimulation to improve function of the affected hand. The primary objective of this study was to determine if cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves handwriting and cyclic drawing kinematics in people with hand dystonia, by reducing cerebellar-brain inhibition (CBI) evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Eight people with dystonia (5 writer's dystonia, 3 musician's dystonia) and eight age-matched controls completed the study and underwent cerebellar anodal, cathodal and sham tDCS in separate sessions. Dystonia severity was assessed using the Writer's Cramp Rating Scale (WRCS) and the Arm Dystonia Disability Scale (ADDS). The kinematic measures that differentiated the groups were; mean stroke frequency during handwriting and fast cyclic drawing and average pen pressure during light cyclic drawing. TMS measures of cortical excitability were no different between people with FHD and controls. There was a moderate, negative relationship between TMS-evoked CBI at baseline and the WRCS in dystonia. Anodal cerebellar tDCS reduced handwriting mean stroke frequency and average pen pressure, and increased speed and reduced pen pressure during fast cyclic drawing. Kinematic measures were not associated with a decrease in CBI within an individual. In conclusion, cerebellar anodal tDCS appeared to improve kinematics of handwriting and circle drawing tasks; but the underlying neurophysiological mechanism remains uncertain. A study in a larger homogeneous population is needed to further investigate the possible therapeutic benefit of cerebellar tDCS in dystonia.

  5. Handwriting Difficulties in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kushki, Azadeh; Chau, Tom; Anagnostou, Evdokia

    2011-01-01

    Functional handwriting involves complex interactions among physical, cognitive and sensory systems. Impairments in many aspects of these systems are associated with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), suggesting a heightened risk of handwriting difficulties in children with ASD. This scoping review aimed to: (1) survey the existing evidence about…

  6. A FRACTAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE NORMALIZATION STEP FOR ONLINE HANDWRITING RECOGNITION

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vincent, N.; Dorizzi, B.

    2004-01-01

    n this paper is presented an example of the use of fractal approaches in the field of online handwriting processing. The adaptation of the box counting method to the computation of online handwriting fractal dimension is presented. The influence of different parameters is studied. This allows

  7. Experiences of handwriting and using a computerized ATD in school: adolescents with Asperger's syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breivik, Ingrid; Hemmingsson, Helena

    2013-09-01

    Adolescents with Asperger's syndrome (AS), often have handwriting difficulties that affect their academic performance. The purpose of this descriptive multiple-case mixed-method study was to highlight how adolescents with AS experience writing in the school setting when writing by hand and when using a computerized Assistive Technology Device (ATD), for writing. A qualitative content analysis approach was used, including interviews with five adolescents, their parents, and their teachers. This was complemented by asking the adolescents to rate their perceived performance and satisfaction of writing with and without the ATD. All adolescents described handwriting difficulties, but a reduced ability to express oneself in writing was also common. Initiating and completing writing tasks was often so demanding that it caused resistance to the activity. Several advantages when using the ATD were described by the participants and the self-ratings showed higher scores for performance of and satisfaction with writing when the ATD was used. The results show that teachers' encouragement seemed to be important for the initiation and continuation of use of the ATD.

  8. Handwriting Capacity in Children Newly Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brossard-Racine, Marie; Majnemer, Annette; Shevell, Michael; Snider, Laurie; Belanger, Stacey Ageranioti

    2011-01-01

    Preliminary evidence suggests that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may exhibit handwriting difficulties. However, the exact nature of these difficulties and the extent to which they may relate to motor or behavioural difficulties remains unclear. The aim of this study was to describe handwriting capacity in children…

  9. Evaluation of Handwriting Movement Kinematics: From an Ecological to a Magnetic Resonance Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bisio, Ambra; Pedullà, Ludovico; Bonzano, Laura; Ruggeri, Piero; Brichetto, Giampaolo; Bove, Marco

    2016-01-01

    Writing is a means of communication which requires complex motor, perceptual, and cognitive skills. If one of these abilities gets lost following traumatic events or due to neurological diseases, handwriting could deteriorate. Occupational therapy practitioners provide rehabilitation services for people with impaired handwriting. However, to determine the effectiveness of handwriting interventions no studies assessed whether the proposed treatments improved the kinematics of writing movement or had an effect at the level of the central nervous system. There is need to find new quantitative methodologies able to describe the behavioral and the neural outcomes of the rehabilitative interventions for handwriting. In the present study we proposed a combined approach that allowed evaluating the kinematic parameters of handwriting movements, acquired by means of a magnetic resonance-compatible tablet, and their neural correlates obtained simultaneously from a functional magnetic resonance imaging examination. Results showed that the system was reliable in term of reproducibility of the kinematic data during a test/re-test procedure. Further, despite the modifications with respect to an ecological writing movement condition, the kinematic parameters acquired inside the MR-environment were descriptive of individuals’ movement features. At last, the imaging protocol succeeded to show the activation of the cerebral regions associated with the production of writing movement in healthy people. From these findings, this methodology seems to be promising to evaluate the handwriting movement deficits and the potential alterations in the neural activity in those individuals who have handwriting difficulties. Finally, it would provide a mean to quantitatively assess the effect of a rehabilitative treatment. PMID:27746727

  10. Evaluation of handwriting movement kinematics: from an ecological to a magnetic resonance environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ambra Bisio

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Writing is a means of communication which requires complex motor, perceptual and cognitive skills. If one of these abilities gets lost following traumatic events or due to neurological diseases, handwriting could deteriorate. Occupational therapy practitioners provide rehabilitation services for people with impaired handwriting. However, to determine the effectiveness of handwriting interventions no studies assessed whether the proposed treatments improved the kinematics of writing movement or had an effect at the level of the central nervous system. There is need to find new quantitative methodologies able to describe the behavioral and the neural outcomes of the rehabilitative interventions for handwriting. In the present study we proposed a combined approach that allowed evaluating the kinematic parameters of handwriting movements, acquired by means of a magnetic resonance-compatible tablet, and their neural correlates obtained simultaneously from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI examination. Results showed that the system was reliable in term of reproducibility of the kinematic data during a test/re-test procedure. Further, despite the modifications with respect to an ecological writing movement condition, the kinematic parameters acquired inside the MR-environment were descriptive of individuals’ movement features. At last, the imaging protocol succeeded to show the activation of the cerebral regions associated with the production of writing movement in healthy people. From these findings, this methodology seems to be promising to evaluate the handwriting movement deficits and the potential alterations in the neural activity in those individuals who have handwriting difficulties. Finally, it would provide a mean to quantitatively assess the effect of a rehabilitative treatment.

  11. Impact of distal median neuropathy on handwriting performance for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome in office and administrative support occupations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuo, Li-Chieh; Hsu, Hsiao-Man; Wu, Po-Ting; Lin, Sheng-Che; Hsu, Hsiu-Yun; Jou, I-Ming

    2014-06-01

    This study investigates the handwriting performance of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and healthy controls in office and administrative support occupations, adopting both biomechanical and functional perspectives. This work also explores how surgical intervention altered the performance of the CTS patients. Fourteen CTS patients and 14 control subjects were recruited to complete a self-reported survey and participate in sensory tests, hand strength, dexterity and handwriting tasks using a custom force acquisition pen along with motion capture technology. Based on the results of these, the sensory measurements, along with functional and biomechanical parameters, were used to determine the differences between the groups and also reveal any improvements that occurred in the CTS group after surgical intervention. The CTS patients showed significantly poorer hand sensibility and dexterity than the controls, as well as excessive force exertion of the digits and pen tip, and less efficient force adjustment ability during handwriting. After surgery and sensory recovery, the hand dexterity and pen tip force of the CTS patients improved significantly. The force adjustment abilities of the digits also increased, but these changes were not statistically significant. This study provides the objective measurements and novel apparatus that can be used to determine impairments in the handwriting abilities of office or administrative workers with CTS. The results can also help clinicians or patients to better understand the sensory-related deficits in sensorimotor control of the hand related to CTS, and thus develop and implement more suitable training or adaptive protocols.

  12. Writer Identification and Verification from Intra-variable Individual Handwriting

    OpenAIRE

    Adak, Chandranath; Chaudhuri, Bidyut B.; Blumenstein, Michael

    2017-01-01

    The handwriting of an individual may vary excessively with many factors such as mood, time, space, writing speed, writing medium, utensils etc. Therefore, it becomes more challenging to perform automated writer verification/ identification on a particular set of handwritten patterns (e.g. speedy handwriting) of a person, especially when the system is trained using a different set of writing patterns (e.g. normal/medium speed) of that same person. However, it would be interesting to experiment...

  13. Handprints of the Mind: Decoding Personality Traits and Handwritings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gowda, Mahesh Ramanina; Harish, Nikitha; Aslam, Arun; Padmanabiah, Mangala; Magaji, Radhika

    2015-01-01

    Context: Handwriting analysis is a unique, specialized and emerging scientific process that has been carried out and applied for centuries now. However, its reliability and effectiveness as a method of assessing personality and behavior is not established and is still a debatable issue. The present paper aimed to examine the possibility of a correlation between clinical diagnosis and graphological analysis and to explore the key links between the underlying personality traits and its manifestations in handwriting among children. Aim: The aim was to study the possibility of a correlation between clinical diagnosis and graphological analysis. Objectives: To explore the key links between the underlying personality traits and its manifestations in handwriting among children. To study the possibility of using Graphotherapy as a remedial tool in aid of teaching/learning techniques and behavior modifications. Hypothesis: There are no significant and concrete differences between the psychodiagnostic assessment of personality through Children's Personality Questionnaire (CPQ) and handwriting analysis. Materials and Methods: N = 60, age group = 8-12 years. Tools: CPQ - a 16 personality factor scale and a semi-structured proforma. Simple random sampling technique was used. Results: The P values for the study sample were found to be greater than 0.05 at 5% level of significance to all the 14 dimensions of personality hence going in line with the null hypothesis that states “there are no significant and concrete differences between the psychodiagnostic assessment of Personality through CPQ and handwriting analysis.” Graphologists were thoroughly trained to interpret on the same 14 dimensions of personality as that of CPQ, most samples were analyzed to have a lying loop, a trait, which might also be attributed to the difference found in Trait-H, further asserting the subjective limitations of most psychological tests. PMID:26702172

  14. Problems of Gifted and Talented Students Regarding Cursive Handwriting: Parent Opinions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hatice Kadioglu Ates

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available We are living in an age where knowledge is rapidly produced and consumed. In this period, the future of the individual and the society depends on accessing, using and producing information. This situation requires a qualified education and first literacy teaching which is the foundation of it. Primary school is the foundation of everything; likewise, the first literacy learning is the foundation of learning (Gunes, Uysal and Tac, 2016. First literacy is to create a new communication and interaction channel for the individual by teaching the symbols of humankind that it created in ten thousand years. Education performs a great miracle by making a seven-year old child comprehend this script that humankind developed in ten thousand years within a seven- or eight-month period (Guleryuz, 2001. It is desired for and expected of the children who start the first grade in primary school at the level of illiteracy to reach the level of basic literacy with qualified first literacy education under the supervision of an effective program, equipped teacher (Sagirli, 2015. Education in cursive handwriting in our country has started in Ataturk era. Ataturk demonstrated examples of the New Turkish Latin Letters on the blackboard with the cursive handwriting. Elderly and young people of the generation of Ataturk era have learned the cursive handwriting very well and used for many years. Many documents of that period such as diplomas, identity cards, registry of deeds etc. have been prepared with cursive handwriting in a clear, cursive and aesthetic form (Gunes, 2006. In our country, it has been decided to start the first literacy education with the cursive handwriting under the scope of the 2004 draft program. For nearly thirteen years, our students are becoming literate with cursive handwriting. There are many studies in literature that examine the opinions of teachers, students, and parents about the cursive handwriting. The aim of the concerned study is to

  15. Kinematic and Pressure Features of Handwriting and Drawing: Preliminary Results Between Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer Disease and Healthy Controls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garre-Olmo, Josep; Faúndez-Zanuy, Marcos; López-de-Ipiña, Karmele; Calvó-Perxas, Laia; Turró-Garriga, Oriol

    2017-01-01

    Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative dementia of old age, and the leading chronic disease contributor to disability and dependence among older people worldwide. Clinically, AD is characterized by a progressive cognitive decline that interferes with the ability to perform the activities of daily living. Handwriting and drawing are complex human activities that entail an intricate blend of cognitive, kinesthetic, and perceptual-motor features. To compare the kinematic characteristics of handwriting and drawing between patients with AD, patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy controls. We used a cross-sectional and observational design to assess the kinematic and pressure features of handwriting and drawing using a computerized system. Participants were asked to copy one sentence, write a dictated sentence and an own sentence, copy two and-three dimensions drawings, and to execute the clock drawing test. By means of discriminant analyses, we explored the value of several kinematic features in order to classify participants depending on their degree of cognitive functioning. The sample consisted of 52 participants (23 AD, 12 MCI, and 17 healthy controls) with a mean age of 69.7 years (SD=8.11). The degree of correct classification was largely dependent on the nature of the groups to be classified and the specific task, and ranged between 63.5% and 100%. Diagnostic accuracy based on kinematic measures showed higher specificity values for distinguishing between normal and impaired cognition (MCI and AD), and higher sensitivity was obtained when distinguishing between impaired cognition levels (MCI vs. AD). The kinematic features of writing and drawing procedures, rather than the final product, may be a useful and objective complement to the clinical assessment of patients with cognitive impairment. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

  16. Handwriting Without Tears(®): General Education Effectiveness Through a Consultative Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donica, Denise K

    2015-01-01

    This study explores the effectiveness of the Handwriting Without Tears(®) (HWT) kindergarten printing curriculum in general education through a consultative approach with occupational therapy. One cohort of students was the control (n = 19), whereas two other cohorts were experimental groups learning printing through the HWT curriculum (n = 20 each). The Test of Handwriting Skills-Revised (THS-R) was used to collect end-of-year legibility scores for all cohorts. Both experimental groups individually and both experimental groups combined into one group outperformed the control group on all 10 of the THS-R subtests-scoring significantly higher (p handwriting curriculum implementation and the success of HWT for printing instruction. Copyright © 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  17. Electrically and magnetically dual-driven Janus particles for handwriting-enabled electronic paper

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Komazaki, Y., E-mail: komazaki@dt.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp; Hirama, H.; Torii, T. [Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8563 (Japan)

    2015-04-21

    In this work, we describe the synthesis of novel electrically and magnetically dual-driven Janus particles for a handwriting-enabled twisting ball display via the microfluidic technique. One hemisphere of the Janus particles contains a charge control agent, which allows the display color to be controlled by applying a voltage and superparamagnetic nanoparticles, allows handwriting by applying a magnetic field to the display. We fabricated a twisting ball display utilizing these Janus particles and tested the electric color control and handwriting using a magnet. As a result, the display was capable of permitting handwriting with a small magnet in addition to conventional color control using an applied voltage (80 V). Handwriting performance was improved by increasing the concentration of superparamagnetic nanoparticles and was determined to be possible even when 80 V was applied across the electrodes for 4 wt. % superparamagnetic nanoparticles in one hemisphere. This improvement was impossible when the concentration was reduced to 2 wt. % superparamagnetic nanoparticles. The technology presented in our work can be applied to low-cost, lightweight, highly visible, and energy-saving electronic message boards and large whiteboards because the large-size display can be fabricated easily due to its simple structure.

  18. Electrically and magnetically dual-driven Janus particles for handwriting-enabled electronic paper

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Komazaki, Y.; Hirama, H.; Torii, T.

    2015-01-01

    In this work, we describe the synthesis of novel electrically and magnetically dual-driven Janus particles for a handwriting-enabled twisting ball display via the microfluidic technique. One hemisphere of the Janus particles contains a charge control agent, which allows the display color to be controlled by applying a voltage and superparamagnetic nanoparticles, allows handwriting by applying a magnetic field to the display. We fabricated a twisting ball display utilizing these Janus particles and tested the electric color control and handwriting using a magnet. As a result, the display was capable of permitting handwriting with a small magnet in addition to conventional color control using an applied voltage (80 V). Handwriting performance was improved by increasing the concentration of superparamagnetic nanoparticles and was determined to be possible even when 80 V was applied across the electrodes for 4 wt. % superparamagnetic nanoparticles in one hemisphere. This improvement was impossible when the concentration was reduced to 2 wt. % superparamagnetic nanoparticles. The technology presented in our work can be applied to low-cost, lightweight, highly visible, and energy-saving electronic message boards and large whiteboards because the large-size display can be fabricated easily due to its simple structure

  19. Handwritten document age classification based on handwriting styles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramaiah, Chetan; Kumar, Gaurav; Govindaraju, Venu

    2012-01-01

    Handwriting styles are constantly changing over time. We approach the novel problem of estimating the approximate age of Historical Handwritten Documents using Handwriting styles. This system will have many applications in handwritten document processing engines where specialized processing techniques can be applied based on the estimated age of the document. We propose to learn a distribution over styles across centuries using Topic Models and to apply a classifier over weights learned in order to estimate the approximate age of the documents. We present a comparison of different distance metrics such as Euclidean Distance and Hellinger Distance within this application.

  20. Validity and reliability of a new tool to evaluate handwriting difficulties in Parkinson's disease.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evelien Nackaerts

    Full Text Available Handwriting in Parkinson's disease (PD features specific abnormalities which are difficult to assess in clinical practice since no specific tool for evaluation of spontaneous movement is currently available.This study aims to validate the 'Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties' (SOS-test in patients with PD.Handwriting performance of 87 patients and 26 healthy age-matched controls was examined using the SOS-test. Sixty-seven patients were tested a second time within a period of one month. Participants were asked to copy as much as possible of a text within 5 minutes with the instruction to write as neatly and quickly as in daily life. Writing speed (letters in 5 minutes, size (mm and quality of handwriting were compared. Correlation analysis was performed between SOS outcomes and other fine motor skill measurements and disease characteristics. Intrarater, interrater and test-retest reliability were assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC and Spearman correlation coefficient.Patients with PD had a smaller (p = 0.043 and slower (p 0.769 for both groups.The SOS-test is a short and effective tool to detect handwriting problems in PD with excellent reliability. It can therefore be recommended as a clinical instrument for standardized screening of handwriting deficits in PD.

  1. Handwriting Characteristics among Secondary Students with and without Physical Disabilities: A Study with a Computerized Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li-Tsang, Cecilia W. P.; Au, Ricky K. C.; Chan, Michelle H. Y.; Chan, Lily W. L.; Lau, Gloria M. T.; Lo, T. K.; Leung, Howard W. H.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to investigate the handwriting characteristics of secondary school students with and without physical disabilities (PD). With the use of a computerized Chinese Handwriting Assessment Tool (CHAT), it was made possible to objectively assess and analyze in detail the handwriting characteristics of individual…

  2. Diversity of Physicians’ Handwriting and Name Stamp in Chemotherapy Prescriptions: Potential Target for Fraud

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asiyeh Amouei

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available BBackgrounds: Verification and authentication of the paper-based handwritten prescriptions is of great importance for antineoplastic medications that are good targets for forgery and fraud. Pharmacists usually investigate handwriting, signature and name stamp of prescribers to verify prescriptions in Iran. Anecdotal reports of variations in handwriting and name stamp of physicians who wrote antineoplastic prescriptions raised concerns in this regard. The aim of the study was to investigate the reported diversity and evaluate the quality of writing physician identity and required items in antineoplastic prescriptions.Methods: All insured hand-written prescriptions contained at least one antineoplastic medication and were dispensed by four main authorized community pharmacies dispensing antineoplastic medications in Tehran during one month were included. Prescriptions that were written by specialties other than oncology-related fields were excluded. Prescriptions of each physician were evaluated considering handwriting and name stamp by experienced pharmacy staff and the frequency of detected handwriting and name stamp types was recorded.Results: Of the 11022 included prescriptions, 10944 were eligible and written by 241 physicians. Median (third quartile number of physicians’ prescriptions was 17 (51. Maximum number of observed handwriting and name stamp types were eight and six respectively. High prescribers tended to have several handwriting and name stamp types.Conclusion: The observed diversity and variation in handwriting and name stamp of the physicians in antineoplastic prescriptions may facilitate the entrance of forged prescription and makes fraud detection difficult. Administrative and regulatory interventions in addition to notification of health care professionals about the observed potential might be necessary.

  3. In-Depth Analysis of Handwriting Curriculum and Instruction in Four Kindergarten Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vander Hart, Nanho; Fitzpatrick, Paula; Cortesa, Cathryn

    2010-01-01

    The quality of handwriting curriculum and instructional practices in actual classrooms was investigated in an in-depth case study of four inner city kindergarten classrooms using quantitative and qualitative methods. The handwriting proficiency of students was also evaluated to assess the impact of the instructional practices observed. The…

  4. Handwriting: A Matter of Affairs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Ghabra, Iman M. M. Muwafaq

    2015-01-01

    Academic performance is the main concern of educators all over the world. Authentic researchers have studied the importance of handwriting for improving students' performance, and they have proved that using the hand in writing activates many regions in the brain that are related to memory and comprehension. The study aims at displaying the…

  5. Handwriting features of children with developmental coordination disorder--results of triangular evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, Sara; Margieh, Jumana Aassy; Engel-Yeger, Batya

    2013-11-01

    Developmental coordination disorders (DCD) is one of the most common disorders affecting school-aged children. The study aimed to characterize the handwriting performance of children with DCD who write in Arabic, based on triangular evaluation. Participants included 58 children aged 11-12 years, 29 diagnosed with DCD based on the DSM-IV criteria and the M-ABC, and 29 matched typically developed controls. Children were asked to copy a paragraph on a sheet of paper affixed to a digitizer supplying objective measures of the handwriting process. The handwriting proficiency screening questionnaire (HPSQ) was completed by their teachers while observing their performance and followed by evaluation of their final written product. Results indicated that compared to controls, children with DCD required significantly more on-paper and in-air time per stroke while copying. In addition, global legibility, unrecognizable letters and spatial arrangement measures of their written product were significantly inferior. Significant group differences were also found between the HPSQ subscales scores. Furthermore, 82.8% of all participants were correctly classified into groups based on one discriminate function which included two handwriting performance measures. These study results strongly propose application of triangular standardized evaluation to receive better insight of handwriting deficit features of individual children with DCD who write in Arabic. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Specifying the Graphic Characteristics of Words That Influence Children's Handwriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gosse, Claire; Carbonnelle, Simon; de Vleeschouwer, Christophe; Van Reybroeck, Marie

    2018-01-01

    Research about the development of the graphomotor side of writing is very scarce. The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of what constitutes graphic complexity of written material by determining the impact of graphic characteristics on handwriting production. In this end, the pen stroke of cursive handwriting was precisely…

  7. For a Psycholinguistic Model of Handwriting Production: Testing the Syllable-Bigram Controversy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kandel, Sonia; Peereman, Ronald; Grosjacques, Geraldine; Fayol, Michel

    2011-01-01

    This study examined the theoretical controversy on the impact of syllables and bigrams in handwriting production. French children and adults wrote words on a digitizer so that we could collect data on the local, online processing of handwriting production. The words differed in the position of the lowest frequency bigram. In one condition, it…

  8. Rehabilitation of handwriting skills in stroke patients using interactive games : a pilot study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Curtis, J.S.; Ruijs, L.S.; de Vries, M.H.E.; Winters, R.; Martens, J.B.O.S.

    This paper describes an interactive application that aims to support the rehabilitation of handwriting skills in people that suffer from paralysis after a stroke. The purpose of the application is to make the rehabilitation of handwriting skills fun and engaging. Four platform-independent games with

  9. Automatically measuring the effect of strategy drawing features on pupils' handwriting and gender

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tabatabaey-Mashadi, Narges; Sudirman, Rubita; Guest, Richard M.; Khalid, Puspa Inayat

    2013-12-01

    Children's dynamic drawing strategies have been recently recognized as indicators of handwriting ability. However the influence of each feature in predicting handwriting is unknown due to lack of a measuring system. An automated measuring algorithm suitable for psychological assessment and non-subjective scoring is presented here. Using the weight vector and classification rate of a machine learning algorithm, an overall feature's effect is calculated which is comparable in different groupings. In this study thirteen previously detected drawing strategy features are measured for their influence on handwriting and gender. Features are extracted from drawing a triangle, Beery VMI and Bender Gestalt tangent patterns. Samples are related to 203 pupils (77 below average writers, and 101 female). The results show that the number of strokes in drawing the triangle pattern plays a major role in both groupings; however Left Tendency flag feature is affected by children's handwriting about 2.5 times greater than their gender. Experiments indicate that different forms of a feature sometimes show different influences.

  10. Sub-word based Arabic handwriting analysis for writer identification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maliki, Makki; Al-Jawad, Naseer; Jassim, Sabah

    2013-05-01

    Analysing a text or part of it is key to handwriting identification. Generally, handwriting is learnt over time and people develop habits in the style of writing. These habits are embedded in special parts of handwritten text. In Arabic each word consists of one or more sub-word(s). The end of each sub-word is considered to be a connect stroke. The main hypothesis in this paper is that sub-words are essential reflection of Arabic writer's habits that could be exploited for writer identification. Testing this hypothesis will be based on experiments that evaluate writer's identification, mainly using K nearest neighbor from group of sub-words extracted from longer text. The experimental results show that using a group of sub-words could be used to identify the writer with a successful rate between 52.94 % to 82.35% when top1 is used, and it can go up to 100% when top5 is used based on K nearest neighbor. The results show that majority of writers are identified using 7 sub-words with a reliability confident of about 90% (i.e. 90% of the rejected templates have significantly larger distances to the tested example than the distance from the correctly identified template). However previous work, using a complete word, shows successful rate of at most 90% in top 10.

  11. Multi-model approach to characterize human handwriting motion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chihi, I; Abdelkrim, A; Benrejeb, M

    2016-02-01

    This paper deals with characterization and modelling of human handwriting motion from two forearm muscle activity signals, called electromyography signals (EMG). In this work, an experimental approach was used to record the coordinates of a pen tip moving on the (x, y) plane and EMG signals during the handwriting act. The main purpose is to design a new mathematical model which characterizes this biological process. Based on a multi-model approach, this system was originally developed to generate letters and geometric forms written by different writers. A Recursive Least Squares algorithm is used to estimate the parameters of each sub-model of the multi-model basis. Simulations show good agreement between predicted results and the recorded data.

  12. Is Handwriting Performance Affected by the Writing Surface? Comparing Preschoolers', Second Graders', and Adults' Writing Performance on a Tablet vs. Paper

    OpenAIRE

    Gerth, Sabrina; Klassert, Annegret; Dolk, Thomas; Fliesser, Michael; Fischer, Martin H.; Nottbusch, Guido; Festman, Julia

    2016-01-01

    Due to their multifunctionality, tablets offer tremendous advantages for research on handwriting dynamics or for interactive use of learning apps in schools. Further, the widespread use of tablet computers has had a great impact on handwriting in the current generation. But, is it advisable to teach how to write and to assess handwriting in pre- and primary schoolchildren on tablets rather than on paper? Since handwriting is not automatized before the age of 10 years, children's handwriting m...

  13. The effect of a motor skills training program in the improvement of practiced and non-practiced tasks performance in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farhat, Faiçal; Hsairi, Ines; Baati, Hamza; Smits-Engelsman, B C M; Masmoudi, Kaouthar; Mchirgui, Radhouane; Triki, Chahnez; Moalla, Wassim

    2016-04-01

    The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of a group-based task oriented skills training program on motor and physical ability for children with DCD. It was also investigated if there was an effect on fine motor and handwriting tasks that were not specifically practiced during the training program. Forty-one children aged 6-10years took part in this study. Children were assigned to three groups: an experimental training group consisting of 14 children with DCD, a control non-training group consisted of 13 children with DCD and a control non-training group consisting of 14 typically developed children. The measurements included were, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC), the Modified Agility Test (MAT), the Triple Hop Distance (THD), the 5 Jump-test (5JT) and the Handwriting Performance Test. All measures were administered pre and post an 8-week training program. The results showed that 10 children of the DCD training-group improved their performance in MABC test, attaining a score above the 15th percentile after their participation in the training program. DCD training-group showed a significant improvement on all cluster scores (manual dexterity (t (13)=5.3, pskills (t (13)=2.73, pskills, in the training program, may reflect improvement in motor skill but also transfer to other skills. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Practice Patterns of School-Based Occupational Therapists Targeting Handwriting: A Knowledge-to-Practice Gap

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramm, Heidi; Egan, Mary

    2015-01-01

    Poor handwriting is a common reason for referral to school-based occupational therapy. A survey was used to explore the extent to which current practice patterns in Ontario, Canada, align with evidence on effective intervention for handwriting. Knowledge-to-practice gaps were identified related to focus on performance components versus…

  15. Circadian rhythms in handwriting kinematics and legibility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jasper, Isabelle; Gordijn, Marijke; Haeussler, Andreas; Hermsdoerfer, Joachim

    The aim of the present study was to analyze the circadian rhythmicity in handwriting kinematics and legibility and to compare the performance between Dutch and German writers. Two subject groups underwent a 40 h sleep deprivation protocol under Constant Routine conditions either in Groningen (10

  16. Invariant properties between stroke features in handwriting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Teulings, H L; Schomaker, L R

    A handwriting pattern is considered as a sequence of ballistic strokes. Replications of a pattern may be generated from a single, higher-level memory representation, acting as a motor program. Therefore, those stroke features which show the most invariant pattern are probably related to the

  17. Handwriting in 2015: A Main Occupation for Primary School-Aged Children in the Classroom?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMaster, Emily; Roberts, Tara

    2016-01-01

    Historically, handwriting is a skill acquired by children in the classroom. The relevance of this skill today is currently debated due to advances in technology. A nonexperimental time-series design investigated how much time Australian primary school children spend on handwriting in the classroom. A second aim investigated how much time was spent…

  18. Handwriting in Signing Deaf Middle-School Students and Relationship with Text Composition and Spelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alamargot, Denis; Morin, Marie-France; Simard-Dupuis, Érika

    2018-01-01

    We set out to (i) assess the handwriting skills of signing deaf students, and (ii) examine the extent to which their text composition and spelling performances are linked to their handwriting efficiency. We asked 15 prelingually and profoundly deaf middle-school students (M = 15.18 years), all sign-language users, and a group of hearing students…

  19. Novel Automated Morphometric and Kinematic Handwriting Assessment: A Validity Study in Children with ASD and ADHD

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dirlikov, Benjamin; Younes, Laurent; Nebel, Mary Beth; Martinelli, Mary Katherine; Tiedemann, Alyssa Nicole; Koch, Carolyn A.; Fiorilli, Diana; Bastian, Amy J.; Denckla, Martha Bridge; Miller, Michael I.; Mostofsky, Stewart H.

    2017-01-01

    This study presents construct validity for a novel automated morphometric and kinematic handwriting assessment, including (1) convergent validity, establishing reliability of automated measures with traditional manual-derived Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA), and (2) discriminant validity, establishing that the automated methods distinguish…

  20. Consistency of self-reported alcohol consumption on randomized and sequential alcohol purchase tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael eAmlung

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Behavioral economic demand for addictive substances is commonly assessed via purchase tasks that measure estimated drug consumption at a range of prices. Purchase tasks typically use escalating prices in sequential order, which may influence performance by providing explicit price reference points. This study investigated the consistency of value preferences on two alcohol purchase tasks (APTs that used either a randomized or sequential price order (price range: free to $30 per drink in a sample of ninety-one young adult monthly drinkers. Randomization of prices significantly reduced relative response consistency (p < .01, although absolute consistency was high for both versions (>95%. Self-reported alcohol consumption across prices and indices of demand were highly similar across versions, although a few notable exceptions were found. These results suggest generally high consistency and overlapping performance between randomized and sequential price assessment. Implications for the behavioral economics literature and priorities for future research are discussed.

  1. The A2iA French handwriting recognition system at the Rimes-ICDAR2011 competition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menasri, Farès; Louradour, Jérôme; Bianne-Bernard, Anne-Laure; Kermorvant, Christopher

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes the system for the recognition of French handwriting submitted by A2iA to the competition organized at ICDAR2011 using the Rimes database. This system is composed of several recognizers based on three different recognition technologies, combined using a novel combination method. A framework multi-word recognition based on weighted finite state transducers is presented, using an explicit word segmentation, a combination of isolated word recognizers and a language model. The system was tested both for isolated word recognition and for multi-word line recognition and submitted to the RIMES-ICDAR2011 competition. This system outperformed all previously proposed systems on these tasks.

  2. Relationship between Legible Handwriting and Level of Success of Third Grade Students in Written Expression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayat, Seher; Küçükayar, Hasan

    2016-01-01

    This study aims to identify third-grade students' performance levels for written expression and handwriting and to find the relationship between these performances. The study is based on relational screening model. It is carried out with 110 third grade students. Students' levels of success in handwriting and in written expression are evaluated…

  3. Invariant Handwriting Features Useful in Cursive-Script Recognition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Teulings, Hans-leo L; Schomaker, L R; Impedovo, S.

    1994-01-01

    A handwriting pattern is considered as a sequence of ballistic strokes. Replications of a pattern may be generated from a single, higher-level memory representation, acting as a motor program. Therefore, those stroke features which show the most invariant pattern are probably related to the

  4. Relationships between Handwriting Performance and Organizational Abilities among Children with and without Dysgraphia: A Preliminary Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenblum, Sara; Aloni, Tsipi; Josman, Naomi

    2010-01-01

    Organizational ability constitutes one executive function (EF) component essential for common everyday performance. The study aim was to explore the relationship between handwriting performance and organizational ability in school-aged children. Participants were 58 males, aged 7-8 years, 30 with dysgraphia and 28 with proficient handwriting.…

  5. A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis of Handwriting Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santangelo, Tanya; Graham, Steve

    2016-01-01

    While there are many ways to author text today, writing with paper and pen (or pencil) is still quite common at home and work, and predominates writing at school. Because handwriting can bias readers' judgments about the ideas in a text and impact other writing processes, like planning and text generation, it is important to ensure students…

  6. User-interface aspects in recognizing connected-cursive handwriting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schomaker, L

    1994-01-01

    There are at least two major stumbling blocks for user acceptance of pen-based computers: the recognition performance is not good enough, especially on cursive handwriting; and the user interface technology has not reached a mature stage. The initial reaction of product reviewers and potential user

  7. Extraction of Dynamic Features from Hand Drawn Data for the Identification of Children with Handwriting Difficulty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khalid, Puspa Inayat; Yunus, Jasmy; Adnan, Robiah

    2010-01-01

    Studies have shown that differences between children with and without handwriting difficulties lie not only in the written product (static data) but also in dynamic data of handwriting process. Since writing system varies among countries and individuals, this study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using quantitative outcome measures…

  8. Illegible handwriting and other prescription errors on prescriptions at ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    H. Brits

    Background: It is generally accepted that doctors have illegible handwriting. The writer usually ... the text.2 The following quote stresses the problem with illegible ... to determine which group of health care workers (HCWs) could read the ...

  9. The Influence of Lying Body Position on Handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dziedzic, Tomasz

    2016-01-01

    Although the problem of handwriting variability due to lying body position has practical significance, particularly for last will cases, it has not been sufficiently studied. The presented experiment aimed to recognize how such posture may influence handwriting features. Samples of text and signatures were collected from 50 healthy individuals, aged 23-58, produced in three postures: typical sitting position (SP) and two different lying positions (LP1 & LP2). Using the SP sample of each individual as a specimen, eleven characteristics in LP1 and LP2 samples were evaluated as similar or different. Nine other features were measured with a specialized software, and their conformity was tested with Student's t-test. Although none of the characteristics differed significantly in most cases, variation occurred in pen pressure, margins, baselines, and heights of letters. Additionally, a series of blind tests revealed that lying position of the individuals did not hinder the possibility to identify their writings. © 2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

  10. Characterization of Motor Control in Handwriting Difficulties in Children with or without Developmental Coordination Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Shao-Hsia; Yu, Nan-Ying

    2010-01-01

    Aim: The purpose of this study was to characterize handwriting deficits in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) using computerized movement analyses. Method: Seventy-two children (40 females, 32 males; mean age 7y, SD 7mo; range 6y 2mo to 7y 11mo) with handwriting deficits (33 with DCD, 39 without DCD); and 22 age- and…

  11. Does handwriting on a tablet screen affect students' graphomotor execution? A comparison between Grades Two and Nine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alamargot, Denis; Morin, Marie-France

    2015-12-01

    We sought to ascertain how handwriting with a plastic-tipped pen on the screen of a digital tablet affects graphomotor execution in students, compared with handwriting on paper with a ballpoint pen. We predicted that the modification to propriokinesthetic feedback induced by the screen/plastic tip combination would differently disturb younger and older students, who rely on perceptual feedback either to form letters (former) or to adjust movement execution (latter). Twenty-eight students from Grades Two and Nine were asked to handwrite the alphabet and their names and surnames under the two conditions. Kinematics were recorded using the tablet, controlled by Eye and Pen software. Results showed that handwriting on the tablet surface with a plastic-tipped pen primarily affected pen pauses in the second graders and pen movements in the ninth graders, suggesting a disturbance in segment trajectory calculation in the younger participants and reduced control of muscular adjustment in the older children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Handwriting, visuomotor integration, and neurological condition at school age

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hoorn, Jessika F.; Maathuis, Carel G. B.; Peters, Lieke H. J.; Hadders-Algra, Mijna

    2010-01-01

    Aim The study investigated the relationships between handwriting, visuomotor integration, and neurological condition. We paid particular attention to the presence of minor neurological dysfunction (MND). Method Participants were 200 children (131 males, 69 females; age range 8-13y) of whom 118

  13. In Early Education, Why Teach Handwriting before Keyboarding?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevenson, Nancy C.; Just, Carol

    2014-01-01

    Legible written communication is essential for students to share knowledge (Rogers and Case-Smith 2002). If students lack proficiency in written communication, their composition skills will suffer, which can affect their self-esteem and grades. Whether or not this proficiency is in handwriting or keyboarding is a question worthy of discussion. In…

  14. A long-term self-managed handwriting intervention for people with Parkinson's disease: results from the control group of a phase II randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collett, Johnny; Franssen, Marloes; Winward, Charlotte; Izadi, Hooshang; Meaney, Andy; Mahmoud, Wala; Bogdanovic, Marko; Tims, Martin; Wade, Derick; Dawes, Helen

    2017-12-01

    To report on the control group of a trial primarily designed to investigate exercise for improving mobility in people with Parkinson's disease (pwP). The control group undertook a handwriting intervention to control for attention and time spent practising a specific activity. Secondary analysis of a two-arm parallel phase II randomized controlled trial with blind assessment. Community. PwP able to walk ⩾100 m and with no contraindication to exercise were recruited from the Thames Valley, UK, and randomized (1:1) to exercise or handwriting, via a concealed computer-generated list. Handwriting was undertaken at home and exercise in community facilities; both were delivered through workbooks with monthly support visits and involved practice for 1 hour, twice weekly, over a period of six months. Handwriting was assessed, at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months, using a pangram giving writing speed, amplitude (area) and progressive reduction in amplitude (ratio). The Movement Disorder Society (MDS)-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) item 2.7 measured self-reported handwriting deficits. In all, 105 pwP were recruited (analysed: n  = 51 handwriting, n  = 54 exercise). A total of 40 pwP adhered to the handwriting programme, most completing ⩾1 session/week. Moderate effects were found for amplitude (total area: d = 0.32; 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.11 to 0.7; P = 0.13) in favour of handwriting over a period of12 months; effects for writing speed and ratio parameters were small ≤0.11. Self-reported handwriting difficulties also favoured handwriting (UPDRS 2.7: odds ratio (OR) = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.34 to 0.91; P = 0.02). No adverse effects were reported. PwP generally adhere to self-directed home handwriting which may provide benefit with minimal risk. Encouraging effects were found in writing amplitude and, moreover, perceived ability.

  15. The Use of Graphic Rules in Grade One to Help Identify Children at Risk of Handwriting Difficulties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khalid, Puspa Inayat; Yunus, Jasmy; Adnan, Robiah; Harun, Mokhtar; Sudirman, Rubita; Mahmood, Nasrul Humaimi

    2010-01-01

    Previous researches on elementary grade handwriting revealed that pupils employ certain strategy when writing or drawing. The relationship between this strategy and the use of graphic rules has been documented but very little research has been devoted to the connection between the use of graphic rules and handwriting proficiency. Thus, this study…

  16. Handwriting as a Tool for Learning in ELT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lund, Ragnhild Elisabeth

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses the role that handwriting can have when writing is used as a tool for learning in English language education. Nineteen Norwegian EFL teacher training students were interviewed in focus groups about their own practices and their thoughts about writing-to-learn activities. All the students said that they prefer to write by…

  17. Exploring multiple feature combination strategies with a recurrent neural network architecture for off-line handwriting recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mioulet, L.; Bideault, G.; Chatelain, C.; Paquet, T.; Brunessaux, S.

    2015-01-01

    The BLSTM-CTC is a novel recurrent neural network architecture that has outperformed previous state of the art algorithms in tasks such as speech recognition or handwriting recognition. It has the ability to process long term dependencies in temporal signals in order to label unsegmented data. This paper describes different ways of combining features using a BLSTM-CTC architecture. Not only do we explore the low level combination (feature space combination) but we also explore high level combination (decoding combination) and mid-level (internal system representation combination). The results are compared on the RIMES word database. Our results show that the low level combination works best, thanks to the powerful data modeling of the LSTM neurons.

  18. A Global Online Handwriting Recognition Approach Based on Frequent Patterns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Gmati

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available In this article, the handwriting signals are represented based on geometric and spatio-temporal characteristics to increase the feature vectors relevance of each object. The main goal was to extract features in the form of a numeric vector based on the extraction of frequent patterns. We used two types of frequent motifs (closed frequent patterns and maximal frequent patterns that can represent handwritten characters pertinently. These common features patterns are generated from a raw data transformation method to achieve high relevance. A database of words consisting of two different letters was created. The proposed application gives promising results and highlights the advantages that frequent pattern extraction algorithms can achieve, as well as the central role played by the “minimum threshold” parameter in the overall description of the characters.

  19. Students' Choices between Typing and Handwriting in Examinations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mogey, Nora; Cowan, John; Paterson, Jessie; Purcell, Mike

    2012-01-01

    Keyboarding (typing) is a ubiquitous skill for most UK students, and most coursework essays must be word processed. However, few examinations, other than for students with disabilities, permit the use of a word processor. It is not known how students would respond given a free choice between handwriting and word processing in an essay examination.…

  20. Examining Teachers' Trait, State and Cursive Handwriting Anxiety

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karatas, Zeynep; Arslan, Derya; Karatas, Mustafa Erdal

    2014-01-01

    This study examines whether the trait and state anxiety and cursive handwriting anxiety of teachers differs according to assorted variables. The study group for this research project is composed of 381 teachers from the city of Burdur and the district centre of Bucak, Turkey. Of these participants, 44% were female and 56% were male. As for the…

  1. Human-like behavior of robot arms: general considerations and the handwriting task-part II: The robot arm in handwriting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Potkonjak, V.; Kostic, D.; Tzafestas, S.; Popovic, M.; Lazarevic, M.; Djordjevic, G.

    2001-01-01

    This paper (Part II) investigates the motion of a redundant anthropomorphic arm during the writing task. Two approaches are applied. The first is based on the concept of distributed positioning which is suitable to model the "writing" task before the occurrence of fatigue symptoms. The second

  2. Predictors of Handwriting in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellinckx, Tinneke; Roeyers, Herbert; Van Waelvelde, Hilde

    2013-01-01

    During writing, perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes interact. This study explored the predictive value of several factors on handwriting quality as well as on speed in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Our results showed that, in this population, age, gender, and visual-motor integration significantly predicted handwriting…

  3. Handwriting Development in Grade 2 and Grade 3 Primary School Children with Normal, At Risk, or Dysgraphic Characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Overvelde, Anneloes; Hulstijn, Wouter

    2011-01-01

    The wide variation in prevalence of dysgraphic handwriting (5-33%) is of clinical importance, because poor handwriting has been identified as one of the most common reasons for referring school-age children to occupational therapy or physiotherapy, and is included as an criterion for the diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder. This study…

  4. Handwriting and Gender: A Multi-Use Data Set

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradley, Sean

    2015-01-01

    Can individuals guess the gender of a writer based on a sample of his or her handwriting? We administer an electronic survey twice to the same individuals to find out. The resulting data set is interesting to students, rich enough to be amenable to a wide array of activities, and open to a variety of exploratory tacks for statistics students and…

  5. Effects of Neoprene Wrist/Hand Splints on Handwriting for Students with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome: A Single System Design Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frohlich, Lauren; Wesley, Alison; Wallen, Margaret; Bundy, Anita

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: Pain associated with hypermobility of wrist and hand joints can contribute to decreased handwriting output. This study examined the effectiveness of a neoprene wrist/hand splint in reducing pain and increasing handwriting speed and endurance for students with joint hypermobility syndrome. Methods: Multiple baseline, single system design…

  6. Handwriting, Visuomotor Integration, and Neurological Condition at School Age

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Hoorn, Jessika F.; Maathuis, Carel G. B.; Peters, Lieke H. J.; Hadders-Algra, Mijna

    2010-01-01

    Aim: The study investigated the relationships between handwriting, visuomotor integration, and neurological condition. We paid particular attention to the presence of minor neurological dysfunction (MND). Method : Participants were 200 children (131 males, 69 females; age range 8-13y) of whom 118 received mainstream education (mean age 10y 5mo, SD…

  7. The Influence of Chinese Character Handwriting Diagnosis and Remedial Instruction System on Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiao, Hsien-Sheng; Chang, Cheng-Sian; Chen, Chiao-Jia; Wu, Chia-Hou; Lin, Chien-Yu

    2015-01-01

    This study designed and developed a Chinese character handwriting diagnosis and remedial instruction (CHDRI) system to improve Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners' ability to write Chinese characters. The CFL learners were given two tests based on the CHDRI system. One test focused on Chinese character handwriting to diagnose the CFL…

  8. Finding features used in the human reading of cursive handwriting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schomaker, Lambert; Segers, Eliane

    Abstract. This paper first summarizes a number of findings in the human reading of handwriting. A method is proposed to uncover more detailed information about geometrical features which human readers use in the reading of Western script. The results of an earlier experiment on the use of

  9. Finding features used in the human reading of cursive handwriting

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schomaker, L.R.B.; Segers, P.C.J.

    1999-01-01

    This paper first summarizes a number of findings in human reading of handwriting. A method is proposed to uncover more detailed information about geometrical features which human readers use in the reading of Western script. The results of an earlier experiment on the use of ascender/descender

  10. Standardized Handwriting to Assess Bradykinesia, Micrographia and Tremor in Parkinson's Disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smits, Esther J.; Tolonen, Antti J.; Cluitmans, Luc; van Gils, Mark; Conway, Bernard A.; Zietsma, Rutger C.; Leenders, Klaus L.; Maurits, Natasha M.

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To assess whether standardized handwriting can provide quantitative measures to distinguish patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease from age- and gender-matched healthy control participants. Design: Exploratory study. Pen tip trajectories were recorded during circle, spiral and line

  11. Motor control of handwriting in the developing brain: A review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmis, Sarah; Danna, Jeremy; Velay, Jean-Luc; Longcamp, Marieke

    This review focuses on the acquisition of writing motor aspects in adults, and in 5-to 12-year-old children without learning disabilities. We first describe the behavioural aspects of adult writing and dominant models based on the notion of motor programs. We show that handwriting acquisition is characterized by the transition from reactive movements programmed stroke-by-stroke in younger children, to an automatic control of the whole trajectory when the motor programs are memorized at about 10 years old. Then, we describe the neural correlates of adult writing, and the changes that could occur with learning during childhood. The acquisition of a new skill is characterized by the involvement of a network more restricted in space and where neural specificity is increased in key regions. The cerebellum and the left dorsal premotor cortex are of fundamental importance in motor learning, and could be at the core of the acquisition of handwriting.

  12. Children with Dyslexia Are Slow Writers Because They Pause More Often and Not Because They Are Slow at Handwriting Execution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumner, Emma; Connelly, Vincent; Barnett, Anna L.

    2013-01-01

    It is commonly assumed that children with dyslexia are slower at handwriting than other children. However, evidence of slow handwriting in children with dyslexia is very mixed. Thirty-one children with dyslexia, aged 9 years, were compared to both age-matched children and younger spelling-ability matched children. Participants completed an…

  13. The Effect of the Number of Syllables on Handwriting Production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambert, Eric; Kandel, Sonia; Fayol, Michel; Esperet, Eric

    2008-01-01

    Four experiments examined whether motor programming in handwriting production can be modulated by the syllable structure of the word to be written. This study manipulated the number of syllables. The items, words and pseudo-words, had 2, 3 or 4 syllables. French adults copied them three times. We measured the latencies between the visual…

  14. Ponderings of an Occupational Therapy Administrator: Beyond Handwriting--Are We Ready?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polichino, Jean E.

    2016-01-01

    Handwriting has historically played a significant role in the services provided by occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants working in schools. Reflecting on nearly three decades of school practice, an occupational therapy administrator considers how this niche developed and how it positions occupational therapy practitioners to…

  15. A FAST LEXICALLY CONSTRAINED VITERBI ALGORITHM FOR ON­ LINE HANDWRITING RECOGNITIO

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lifchitz, A.; Maire, F.

    2004-01-01

    Most on­line cursive handwriting recognition systems use a lexical constraint to help improve the recognition performance. Traditionally, the vocabulary lexicon is stored in a trie (automaton whose underlying graph is a tree). In this paper, we propose a solution based on a more compact data

  16. Effects on Learning Logographic Character Formation in Computer-Assisted Handwriting Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Chen-hui; Kuo, Chin-Hwa; Horng, Wen-Bing; Chen, Chun-Wen

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports on a study that investigates how different learning methods might affect the learning process of character handwriting among beginning college learners of Chinese, as measured by tests of recognition, approximate production, precise production, and awareness of conventional stroke sequence. Two methodologies were examined during…

  17. Writing to dictation and handwriting performance among Chinese children with dyslexia: relationships with orthographic knowledge and perceptual-motor skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng-Lai, Alice; Li-Tsang, Cecilia W P; Chan, Alan H L; Lo, Amy G W

    2013-10-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between writing to dictation, handwriting, orthographic, and perceptual-motor skills among Chinese children with dyslexia. A cross-sectional design was used. A total of 45 third graders with dyslexia were assessed. Results of stepwise multiple regression models showed that Chinese character naming was the only predictor associated with word dictation (β=.32); handwriting speed was related to deficits in rapid automatic naming (β=-.36) and saccadic efficiency (β=-.29), and visual-motor integration predicted both of the number of characters exceeded grid (β=-.41) and variability of character size (β=-.38). The findings provided support to a multi-stage working memory model of writing for explaining the possible underlying mechanism of writing to dictation and handwriting difficulties. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Handwriting in Early Childhood Education: Current Research and Future Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dinehart, Laura H.

    2015-01-01

    Early fine motor writing skills are quickly becoming recognized as an important school readiness skill associated with later academic success (Dinehart and Manfra, 2013; Grissmer et al., 2010; Son and Meisels, 2006). Yet, little is known about the development of handwriting, the extent to which it is of value in the early childhood classroom and…

  19. Preliminary study towards the development of copying skill assessment on dyslexic children in Jawi handwriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahim, Kartini Abdul; Kahar, Rosmila Abdul; Khalid, Halimi Mohd.; Salleh, Rohayu Mohd; Hashim, Rathiah

    2015-05-01

    Recognition of Arabic handwritten and its variants such as Farsi (Persian) and Urdu had been receiving considerable attention in recent years. Being contrast to Arabic handwritten, Jawi, as a second method of Malay handwritten, has not been studied yet, but if any, there were a few references on it. The recent transformation in Malaysian education, the Special Education is one of the priorities in the Malaysia Blueprint. One of the special needs quoted in Malaysia education is dyslexia. A dyslexic student is considered as student with learning disability. Concluding a student is truly dyslexia might be incorrect for they were only assessed through Roman alphabet, without considering assessment via Jawi handwriting. A study was conducted on dyslexic students attending a special class for dyslexia in Malay Language to determine whether they are also dyslexia in Jawi handwriting. The focus of the study is to test the copying skills in relation to word reading and writing in Malay Language with and without dyslexia through both characters. A total of 10 dyslexic children and 10 normal children were recruited. In conclusion for future study, dyslexic students have less difficulty in performing Jawi handwriting in Malay Language through statistical analysis.

  20. The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers towards Cursive Handwriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karadag, Ruhan

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study is to determine the primary school pre-service teachers' attitude toward cursive handwriting and to determine whether a significant difference exists among those pre-service teachers' attitude with respect to gender, class and their universities. In order to collect data "Scale for Attitude towards Cursive…

  1. Dataset of coded handwriting features for use in statistical modelling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Agius

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The data presented here is related to the article titled, “Using handwriting to infer a writer's country of origin for forensic intelligence purposes” (Agius et al., 2017 [1]. This article reports original writer, spatial and construction characteristic data for thirty-seven English Australian11 In this study, English writers were Australians whom had learnt to write in New South Wales (NSW. writers and thirty-seven Vietnamese writers. All of these characteristics were coded and recorded in Microsoft Excel 2013 (version 15.31. The construction characteristics coded were only extracted from seven characters, which were: ‘g’, ‘h’, ‘th’, ‘M’, ‘0’, ‘7’ and ‘9’. The coded format of the writer, spatial and construction characteristics is made available in this Data in Brief in order to allow others to perform statistical analyses and modelling to investigate whether there is a relationship between the handwriting features and the nationality of the writer, and whether the two nationalities can be differentiated. Furthermore, to employ mathematical techniques that are capable of characterising the extracted features from each participant.

  2. THE APPLICATION OF GRAPHOLOGY AND ENNEAGRAM TECHNIQUES IN DETERMINING PERSONALITY TYPE BASED ON HANDWRITING FEATURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dian Pratiwi

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This research was conducted with the aim of developing previous studies that have successfully applied the science of graphology to analyze digital handwriting and characteristics of his personality through shape based feature extraction, which in the present study will be applied one method of psychological tests commonly used by psychologists to recognize human’s personality that is Enneagram. The Enneagram method in principle will classify the personality traits of a person into nine types through a series of questions, which then calculated the amount of the overall weight of the answer. Thickness is what will provide direction personality type, which will then be matched with the personality type of the result of the graphology analysis of the handwriting. Personality type of handwritten analysis results is processed based on the personality traits that are the result of the identification of a combination of four dominant form of handwriting through the software output of previous studies, that Slant (tilt writing, Size (font size, Baseline, and Breaks (respite each word. From the results of this research can be found there is a correlation between personality analysis based on the psychology science to the graphology science, which results matching personality types by 81.6% of 49  respondents data who successfully tested.

  3. Both Handwriting Speed and Selective Attention Are Important to Lecture Note-Taking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peverly, Stephen T.; Garner, Joanna K.; Vekaria, Pooja C.

    2014-01-01

    The primary purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the relationship of handwriting speed, fine motor fluency, speed of verbal access, language comprehension, working memory, and attention (executive control; selective) to note-taking and all of the aforementioned variables to test performance (written recall). A second purpose was to…

  4. Analysis of cursive letters, syllables, and words handwriting in a French second-grade child with Developmental Coordination Disorder and comparison with typically developing children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolly, Caroline; Gentaz, Edouard

    2013-01-01

    Poor handwriting is a core deficit in Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). In a previous study, we compared the evolution of cursive letters handwriting in a girl with DCD throughout her second-grade year with that of typically developing (TD) children. We found that her handwriting evolved much less than that of TD children and remained similar to that of pre-schoolers at all stages, suggesting that her handwriting skills have reached a steady state level. We present here a continuation of this work, in which we focused on the velocity aspects of handwriting in another French child with DCD. Indeed, different velocity patterns have been observed in Chinese and English children with DCD. In the French cursive style of writing, consecutive letters are joined, a major difference with the English script style of writing. We thus analyzed the handwriting of a second-grade French girl with DCD, not only for isolated letters but also for syllables and words, in comparison to that of TD first-graders (6-7 years old; N = 85) and second-graders (7-8 years old; N = 88). Each written track was digitized, and nine kinematic parameters were measured to evaluate writing fluency. Results showed that the productions of the child with DCD were more similar to those of first-graders than to those of second-graders. In line with our previous study, the most discriminative parameters between the child with DCD and TD children were size and mean speed. Moreover, her handwriting was less fluent than that of TD children. In contrast to previous observations, we observed a higher writing velocity of the child with DCD when compared to TD children, whatever the complexity of the item, and no significant difference with TD children in the pausing time during writing. These differences may reflect linguistic specificities. For syllables and words, each letter was treated separately as a single unit, thus reflecting a problem in anticipation and automation.

  5. Analysis of cursive letters, syllables, and words handwriting in a French second-grade child with Developmental Coordination Disorder and comparison with typically developing children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolly, Caroline; Gentaz, Edouard

    2014-01-01

    Poor handwriting is a core deficit in Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). In a previous study, we compared the evolution of cursive letters handwriting in a girl with DCD throughout her second-grade year with that of typically developing (TD) children. We found that her handwriting evolved much less than that of TD children and remained similar to that of pre-schoolers at all stages, suggesting that her handwriting skills have reached a steady state level. We present here a continuation of this work, in which we focused on the velocity aspects of handwriting in another French child with DCD. Indeed, different velocity patterns have been observed in Chinese and English children with DCD. In the French cursive style of writing, consecutive letters are joined, a major difference with the English script style of writing. We thus analyzed the handwriting of a second-grade French girl with DCD, not only for isolated letters but also for syllables and words, in comparison to that of TD first-graders (6–7 years old; N = 85) and second-graders (7–8 years old; N = 88). Each written track was digitized, and nine kinematic parameters were measured to evaluate writing fluency. Results showed that the productions of the child with DCD were more similar to those of first-graders than to those of second-graders. In line with our previous study, the most discriminative parameters between the child with DCD and TD children were size and mean speed. Moreover, her handwriting was less fluent than that of TD children. In contrast to previous observations, we observed a higher writing velocity of the child with DCD when compared to TD children, whatever the complexity of the item, and no significant difference with TD children in the pausing time during writing. These differences may reflect linguistic specificities. For syllables and words, each letter was treated separately as a single unit, thus reflecting a problem in anticipation and automation. PMID:24478735

  6. No adverse effect of vincristine on handwriting in children after completion of therapy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartman, A.; van den Bos, C.; van Dartel, N.; Stijnen, Th; Pieters, R.

    2007-01-01

    Long-term writing difficulties in children after treatment with vincristine for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Wilms tumor, B non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and malignant mesenchymal tumors, were investigated. Handwriting of 33 survivors and 33 controls matched for age, sex, and grade, was assessed with the

  7. fMRI activation patterns in an analytic reasoning task: consistency with EEG source localization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Bian; Vasanta, Kalyana C.; O'Boyle, Michael; Baker, Mary C.; Nutter, Brian; Mitra, Sunanda

    2010-03-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to model brain activation patterns associated with various perceptual and cognitive processes as reflected by the hemodynamic (BOLD) response. While many sensory and motor tasks are associated with relatively simple activation patterns in localized regions, higher-order cognitive tasks may produce activity in many different brain areas involving complex neural circuitry. We applied a recently proposed probabilistic independent component analysis technique (PICA) to determine the true dimensionality of the fMRI data and used EEG localization to identify the common activated patterns (mapped as Brodmann areas) associated with a complex cognitive task like analytic reasoning. Our preliminary study suggests that a hybrid GLM/PICA analysis may reveal additional regions of activation (beyond simple GLM) that are consistent with electroencephalography (EEG) source localization patterns.

  8. UPX: a new XML representation for annotated datasets of online handwriting data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Agrawal, M.; Bali, K.; Madhvanath, S.; Vuurpijl, L.G.

    2005-01-01

    This paper introduces our efforts to create UPX, an XML-based successor to the venerable UNIPEN format for the representation of annotated datasets of online handwriting data. In the first part of the paper, shortcomins of the UNIPEN format are dicussed and the goals of UPX are outlined. Prior work

  9. Perception of the Cursive Handwriting Movement in Writers and Pre-Writers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonneton-Botté, Nathalie; Bara, Florence; Marec-Breton, Nathalie; De La Haye-Nicolas, Fanny; Gonthier, Corentin

    2018-01-01

    The objective of this study was to confirm the existence of knowledge relating to the cursive writing movement for French pupils in 3rd year of kindergarten, 2nd grade and 5th grade of elementary school. 141 pupils were asked to watch a visual presentation of cursive handwriting to determine whether they were able to detect violations of two rules…

  10. Switching among graphic patterns is governed by oscillatory coordination dynamics: Implications for understanding handwriting.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pier-Giorgio eZanone

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Revisiting an original idea by Hollerbach (1981, previous work has established that the production of graphic shapes, assumed to be the blueprint for handwriting, is governed by the dynamics of orthogonal non-linear coupled oscillators. Such dynamics determines few stable coordination patterns, giving rise to a limited set of preferred graphic shapes, namely, four lines and four ellipsoids independent of orientation. The present study investigates the rules of switching among such graphic coordination patterns. Seven participants were required to voluntarily switch within twelve pairs of shapes presented on a graphic tablet. In line with previous theoretical and experimental work on bimanual coordination, results corroborated our hypothesis that the relative stability of the produced coordination patterns determines the time needed for switching: the transition to a more stable pattern was shorter, and inversely. Moreover, switching between patterns with the same orientation but different eccentricities was faster than with a change in orientation. Nonetheless, the switching time covaried strictly with the change in relative phase effected by the transition between two shapes, whether this implied a change in eccentricity or in orientation. These findings suggest a new operational definition of what the (motor units or strokes of handwriting are and shed a novel light on how co-articulation and recruitment of degrees of freedom may occur in graphic skills. They also yield some leads for understanding the acquisition and the neural underpinnings of handwriting.

  11. Should Cursive Handwriting Still Be Taught in Schools? Information Capsule. Volume 0916

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blazer, Christie

    2010-01-01

    Elementary school students spend less time learning cursive handwriting than they did in years past. The declining emphasis on cursive writing has been attributed to the increasing use of technology, the growing proportion of class time spent preparing for standardized tests, and the perception that the time students spend learning to write in…

  12. Handwriting tics in Tourette’s syndrome: a single center study.

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    Carlotta eZanaboni Dina

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Tourette’s syndrome (TS is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically defined by multiple motor tics and at least one sound tic (1, beginning in childhood or in adolescence. More recently, Tourette’s syndrome has been acknowledged as a broad spectrum syndrome (2, including different comorbidities and coexisting symptoms. When beginning in early childhood TS mainly presents with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD and tics, when beginning in adolescence instead tics and obsessive-compulsive behavior or disorder (OCB/OCD are predominant. OCB/OCD trait is present in 60-80% of patients (3, and they are considered as thought tics (4. In many cases motor and sound tics resolve spontaneously in adulthood, though OCB/OCD generally remain. Tics often interfere with subject’s daily activities (5 affecting Quality of Life and causing Social Impairment, particularly in schooling and working. Handwriting is one of the most impaired school activity for TS patients because of the tics presence that hamper learning processes.In our clinical experience handwriting tics (HT could severely affect and condition TS subjects, but they are not often pointed out in the Literature. For this reason there are not precise data regarding the incidence of HT neither in Tourette’s syndrome patients nor in healthy population.

  13. Exploring Content Validity of Shore Handwriting Screening and Newly Developed Score Sheet With Pre-Kindergarten Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise K. Donica

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Limited tools exist to measure handwriting readiness skills of pre-kindergarten students. This study was a preliminary exploration of content validity of the Shore Handwriting Screening (SHS and the newly developed Score Sheet with the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2 in 4- and 5-year-old pre-kindergarten students. Because socioeconomic status (SES is known to impact handwriting skills, data from two different socioeconomic groups were collected. Method: Students from a Lower SES group (n = 36 and a Higher SES group (n = 14 completed the SHS and fine motor composite of the BOT-2. Pearson’s correlation was used to compare scores on the two assessments within the two groups. Results: SHS overall percentage scores were compared to standard scores and composite scores of the BOT-2. SHS scores displayed moderate to high correlation with fine manual control portions of the BOT-2 for the Lower SES group and low to moderate correlation for the same portion in the Higher SES group. Conclusion: SHS and the Score Sheet correlate to fine and visual-motor skill subtests on the fine manual control portions of the BOT-2, which supports the need for further research on the reliability and validity of the Score Sheet for use in practice.

  14. Electrocorticographic language mapping with a listening task consisting of alternating speech and music phrases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mooij, Anne H; Huiskamp, Geertjan J M; Gosselaar, Peter H; Ferrier, Cyrille H

    2016-02-01

    Electrocorticographic (ECoG) mapping of high gamma activity induced by language tasks has been proposed as a more patient friendly alternative for electrocortical stimulation mapping (ESM), the gold standard in pre-surgical language mapping of epilepsy patients. However, ECoG mapping often reveals more language areas than considered critical with ESM. We investigated if critical language areas can be identified with a listening task consisting of speech and music phrases. Nine patients with implanted subdural grid electrodes listened to an audio fragment in which music and speech alternated. We analysed ECoG power in the 65-95 Hz band and obtained task-related activity patterns in electrodes over language areas. We compared the spatial distribution of sites that discriminated between listening to speech and music to ESM results using sensitivity and specificity calculations. Our listening task of alternating speech and music phrases had a low sensitivity (0.32) but a high specificity (0.95). The high specificity indicates that this test does indeed point to areas that are critical to language processing. Our test cannot replace ESM, but this short and simple task can give a reliable indication where to find critical language areas, better than ECoG mapping using language tasks alone. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Joining Movement Sequences: Modified Dynamic Movement Primitives for Robotics Applications Exemplified on Handwriting

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kulvicius, Tomas; Ning, K.; Tamosiunaite, M.

    2012-01-01

    to simulated handwriting generation, which are also shown on a robot, where an adaptive algorithm is used to learn trajectories from human demonstration. These results demonstrate that the new method is a feasible alternative for joining of movement sequences, which has a high potential for all robotics...

  16. Teaching Handwriting to Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities: A Problem-Solving Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datchuk, Shawn

    2015-01-01

    Problems with handwriting can negatively impact the writing of students with learning disabilities. In this article, an example is provided of a fourth-grade special education teacher's efforts to assist a new student by using a problem-solving approach to help determine an efficient course of action for special education teachers who are trying…

  17. Diffraction, Handwriting and Intra-Mediality in Louise Paillé's Livres-livres

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brillenburg Wurth, Kiene

    2014-01-01

    In this article, I focus on primary entanglements as the co-materialization of the verbal and visual in contemporary literary handwriting. As we will see, this is a special kind of writing. It is a writing meant to be seen and engaged with as matter. It tends to be non-linear and almost completely

  18. Synthesis of Common Arabic Handwritings to Aid Optical Character Recognition Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laslo Dinges

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Document analysis tasks such as pattern recognition, word spotting or segmentation, require comprehensive databases for training and validation. Not only variations in writing style but also the used list of words is of importance in the case that training samples should reflect the input of a specific area of application. However, generation of training samples is expensive in the sense of manpower and time, particularly if complete text pages including complex ground truth are required. This is why there is a lack of such databases, especially for Arabic, the second most popular language. However, Arabic handwriting recognition involves different preprocessing, segmentation and recognition methods. Each requires particular ground truth or samples to enable optimal training and validation, which are often not covered by the currently available databases. To overcome this issue, we propose a system that synthesizes Arabic handwritten words and text pages and generates corresponding detailed ground truth. We use these syntheses to validate a new, segmentation based system that recognizes handwritten Arabic words. We found that a modification of an Active Shape Model based character classifiers—that we proposed earlier—improves the word recognition accuracy. Further improvements are achieved, by using a vocabulary of the 50,000 most common Arabic words for error correction.

  19. Synthesis of Common Arabic Handwritings to Aid Optical Character Recognition Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dinges, Laslo; Al-Hamadi, Ayoub; Elzobi, Moftah; El-Etriby, Sherif

    2016-03-11

    Document analysis tasks such as pattern recognition, word spotting or segmentation, require comprehensive databases for training and validation. Not only variations in writing style but also the used list of words is of importance in the case that training samples should reflect the input of a specific area of application. However, generation of training samples is expensive in the sense of manpower and time, particularly if complete text pages including complex ground truth are required. This is why there is a lack of such databases, especially for Arabic, the second most popular language. However, Arabic handwriting recognition involves different preprocessing, segmentation and recognition methods. Each requires particular ground truth or samples to enable optimal training and validation, which are often not covered by the currently available databases. To overcome this issue, we propose a system that synthesizes Arabic handwritten words and text pages and generates corresponding detailed ground truth. We use these syntheses to validate a new, segmentation based system that recognizes handwritten Arabic words. We found that a modification of an Active Shape Model based character classifiers-that we proposed earlier-improves the word recognition accuracy. Further improvements are achieved, by using a vocabulary of the 50,000 most common Arabic words for error correction.

  20. Characteristics of Handwriting of People With Cerebellar Ataxia: Three-Dimensional Movement Analysis of the Pen Tip, Finger, and Wrist.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujisawa, Yuhki; Okajima, Yasutomo

    2015-11-01

    There are several functional tests for evaluating manual performance; however, quantitative manual tests for ataxia, especially those for evaluating handwriting, are limited. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of cerebellar ataxia by analyzing handwriting, with a special emphasis on correlation between the movement of the pen tip and the movement of the finger or wrist. This was an observational study. Eleven people who were right-handed and had cerebellar ataxia and 17 people to serve as controls were recruited. The Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia was used to grade the severity of ataxia. Handwriting movements of both hands were analyzed. The time required for writing a character, the variability of individual handwriting, and the correlation between the movement of the pen tip and the movement of the finger or wrist were evaluated for participants with ataxia and control participants. The writing time was longer and the velocity profile and shape of the track of movement of the pen tip were more variable in participants with ataxia than in control participants. For participants with ataxia, the direction of movement of the pen tip deviated more from that of the finger or wrist, and the shape of the track of movement of the pen tip differed more from that of the finger or wrist. The severity of upper extremity ataxia measured with the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia was mostly correlated with the variability parameters. Furthermore, it was correlated with the directional deviation of the trajectory of movement of the pen tip from that of the finger and with increased dissimilarity of the shapes of the tracks. The results may have been influenced by the scale and parameters used to measure movement. Ataxic handwriting with increased movement noise is characterized by irregular pen tip movements unconstrained by the finger or wrist. The severity of ataxia is correlated with these unconstrained movements. © 2015 American

  1. Integrating Eye Trackers with Handwriting Tablets to Discover Difficulties of Solving Geometry Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, John J. H.; Lin, Sunny S. J.

    2018-01-01

    To deepen our understanding of those aspects of problems that cause the most difficulty for solvers, this study integrated eye-tracking with handwriting devices to investigate problem solvers' online processes while solving geometry problems. We are interested in whether the difference between successful and unsuccessful solvers can be identified…

  2. The Effects of "Handwriting without Tears®" on the Handwriting Skills of Appropriate Size, Form, and Tool for a Four Year-Old Boy with a Developmental Delay

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyers, Colleen; McLaughlin, T. F.; Derby, Mark; Weber, Kimberly P.; Robison, Milena

    2015-01-01

    The ability to write one's own name legibly is a critical lifelong skill for academic success. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the Handwriting Without Tears® program on teaching a four year-old how to write his first name using proper size, form, and tool. The participant was a four year-old boy in a self-contained…

  3. Examining the Contribution of Handwriting and Spelling to Written Expression in Kindergarten Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puranik, Cynthia S.; AlOtaiba, Stephanie

    2012-01-01

    In this study, we examined the development of beginning writing skills in kindergarten children and the contribution of spelling and handwriting to these writing skills after accounting for early language, literacy, cognitive skills, and student characteristics. Two hundred and forty two children were given a battery of cognitive, oral language,…

  4. Handwriting, Spelling, and Narrative Competence in the Fictional Stories of Italian Primary-School Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Longobardi, Emiddia; Spataro, Pietro; Pizzicannella, Emiliano

    2018-01-01

    Previous studies with English-speaking children showed that handwriting and spelling abilities played a critical role in the development of writing fluency and quality, particularly during the transition from the kindergarten to primary school; in contrast, studies dealing with orthographically transparent languages found small or no relations…

  5. Chinese handwriting recognition an algorithmic perspective

    CERN Document Server

    Su, Tonghua

    2013-01-01

    This book provides an algorithmic perspective on the recent development of Chinese handwriting recognition. Two technically sound strategies, the segmentation-free and integrated segmentation-recognition strategy, are investigated and algorithms that have worked well in practice are primarily focused on. Baseline systems are initially presented for these strategies and are subsequently expanded on and incrementally improved. The sophisticated algorithms covered include: 1) string sample expansion algorithms which synthesize string samples from isolated characters or distort realistic string samples; 2) enhanced feature representation algorithms, e.g. enhanced four-plane features and Delta features; 3) novel learning algorithms, such as Perceptron learning with dynamic margin, MPE training and distributed training; and lastly 4) ensemble algorithms, that is, combining the two strategies using both parallel structure and serial structure. All the while, the book moves from basic to advanced algorithms, helping ...

  6. Factors Influencing Student Preference When Comparing Handwriting and Typing for Essay Style Examinations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mogey, Nora; Fluck, Andrew

    2015-01-01

    It seems anachronistic that we expect students to handwrite essay examinations when almost all their other work is mediated by computer. Two universities, one in the UK and one in Australia, are exploring the use of computers in free text response examinations. This paper compares both the attitudes and the behaviours of their students concerning…

  7. An Autonomous Learning System of Bengali Characters Using Web-Based Intelligent Handwriting Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khatun, Nazma; Miwa, Jouji

    2016-01-01

    This research project was aimed to develop an intelligent Bengali handwriting education system to improve the literacy level in Bangladesh. Due to the socio-economical limitation, all of the population does not have the chance to go to school. Here, we developed a prototype of web-based (iPhone/smartphone or computer browser) intelligent…

  8. Use of Handwriting Recognition Technologies in Tablet-Based Learning Modules for First Grade Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yanikoglu, Berrin; Gogus, Aytac; Inal, Emre

    2017-01-01

    Learning through modules on a tablet helps students participate effectively in learning activities in classrooms and provides flexibility in the learning process. This study presents the design and evaluation of an application that is based on handwriting recognition technologies and e-content for the developed learning modules. The application…

  9. Benchmarking desktop and mobile handwriting across COTS devices: The e-BioSign biometric database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tolosana, Ruben; Vera-Rodriguez, Ruben; Fierrez, Julian; Morales, Aythami; Ortega-Garcia, Javier

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes the design, acquisition process and baseline evaluation of the new e-BioSign database, which includes dynamic signature and handwriting information. Data is acquired from 5 different COTS devices: three Wacom devices (STU-500, STU-530 and DTU-1031) specifically designed to capture dynamic signatures and handwriting, and two general purpose tablets (Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and Samsung ATIV 7). For the two Samsung tablets, data is collected using both pen stylus and also the finger in order to study the performance of signature verification in a mobile scenario. Data was collected in two sessions for 65 subjects, and includes dynamic information of the signature, the full name and alpha numeric sequences. Skilled forgeries were also performed for signatures and full names. We also report a benchmark evaluation based on e-BioSign for person verification under three different real scenarios: 1) intra-device, 2) inter-device, and 3) mixed writing-tool. We have experimented the proposed benchmark using the main existing approaches for signature verification: feature- and time functions-based. As a result, new insights into the problem of signature biometrics in sensor-interoperable scenarios have been obtained, namely: the importance of specific methods for dealing with device interoperability, and the necessity of a deeper analysis on signatures acquired using the finger as the writing tool. This e-BioSign public database allows the research community to: 1) further analyse and develop signature verification systems in realistic scenarios, and 2) investigate towards a better understanding of the nature of the human handwriting when captured using electronic COTS devices in realistic conditions.

  10. Typing Compared with Handwriting for Essay Examinations at University: Letting the Students Choose

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mogey, Nora; Paterson, Jessie; Burk, John; Purcell, Michael

    2010-01-01

    Students at the University of Edinburgh do almost all their work on computers, but at the end of the semester they are examined by handwritten essays. Intuitively it would be appealing to allow students the choice of handwriting or typing, but this raises a concern that perhaps this might not be "fair"--that the choice a student makes,…

  11. Does the Handwriting Style Learned in First Grade Determine the Style Used in the Fourth and Fifth Grades and Influence Handwriting Speed and Quality? A Comparison between French and Quebec Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bara, Florence; Morin, Marie-France

    2013-01-01

    An important issue relating to the teaching of handwriting concerns the style that should be learned at school (manuscript or cursive). Whereas some countries choose to teach both styles (e.g., Canada), other countries choose to teach only one (e.g., France). Our research had three main underlying goals, namely (1) to observe and describe the…

  12. Three-dimensional movement analysis of handwriting in subjects with mild hemiparesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harada, Takako; Okajima, Yasutomo; Takahashi, Hidetoshi

    2010-08-01

    To investigate the effects of hemiparesis on handwriting using a 3-dimensional movement analyzer. Comparative case study. Ambulatory care clinic. Right-handed patients (n=25; mean age +/- SD, 62.3+/-10y) with mild right hemiparesis secondary to subcortical stroke, and age-matched (n=10; 65.6+/-13y) and age-unmatched (n=15; 32.4+/-10y) control subjects. Not applicable. Time required to write a Japanese character of 2 different sizes and average speed of handwriting at the pen tip. Average radii of tracks of the moving pen tip, metacarpal head of the index finger, and distal end of the forearm during writing. Correlation coefficients of the instantaneous speed-time graph of the pen tip with that of the index finger and with that of the distal forearm during writing. Time for writing with the hemiparetic right hand was longer than that with the unaffected left hand (P=.05 approximately .03), while it was shorter in healthy control subjects (P=.07 approximately .05). In contrast with the left-hand writing, the track radius of the pen tip of the right-hand writing in patients with hemiparesis with normal joint position sense was significantly larger than that of the finger or distal forearm (P=.01). The finding was the same as in the young and elderly control subjects. This right-left difference disappeared in the patients with hemiparesis with position sense impairment. The correlation coefficient of speed between the pen tip and the finger was larger in right-hand than left-hand writing in the control and sensory-normative patients with hemiparesis even though the difference was significant only in the healthy elderly subjects (P=.03). Irrespective of the right or left hand use, the correlation coefficient between the pen tip and the finger or distal forearm significantly increased as the character size increased (P=.03 approximately 6 x10(-6)) in all subjects and patients. However, this size-related difference was less significant in the patients with sensory

  13. A NEW STRATEGY FOR IMPROVING FEATURE SETS IN A DISCRETE HMM­BASED HANDWRITING RECOGNITION SYSTEM

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Grandidier, F.; Sabourin, R.; Suen, C.Y.; Gilloux, M.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we introduce a new strategy for improving a discrete HMM­based handwriting recognition system, by integrating several information sources from specialized feature sets. For a given system, the basic idea is to keep the most discriminative features, and to replace the others with new

  14. Application of A Computer Animation Technique to Assist the Teaching of Pre-Handwriting Skills to Children with Coordination Difficulties/Dyspraxia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Othman Muhammad Fakri

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We have proposed a method to assist children with coordination difficulties or dyspraxia to improve their handwriting skills. We have chosen an animation technique called ‘Rotoscopy’, a method that normally been used in animation and film production and adapted it to Rotoscopy Prehandwriting Interface (RPI prototypes using the interactive whiteboard (IWB as interaction device. The motivation of this research is to discover how efficient if Rotoscopy is used beyond its normal purposes? Does it give benefits in terms of behavioural and motivational aspect rather than commercial and profit point of view? Implementation of RPI prototypes has taken place through series of workshops with a teacher and a group of children with handwriting difficulties at a special education school in Caerphilly, Cardiff, United Kingdom. In the workshops children were given pre-handwriting activities in two different environments. They have been trained to use RPI prototypes and IWB as well as using pen and paper. Their activities and action has been observed and recorded using video camera. Evaluation method is based-on video analysis of children’s pre-handwriting result and their reaction and motivation during the workshop. It was learnt that majority of children who used RPI prototypes and IWB have produced better results in terms of accuracy of the drawing as compared to results of pen and paper activities. Furthermore the children are more motivated to use the prototypes and IWB rather than using pen and paper. The study’s contribution includes offering a new way to improve children’s prehandwriting skills using computer animation technique and touch-based devices.

  15. The Effects of Handwriting Instruction on Reading for Students in Grades 1 and 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stroik, Linda R.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental group comparison study using a repeated measures comparison group design with random assignment of subjects to groups was to investigate the effects of handwriting instruction on reading progress for learners in grade 1 and grade 2. At three points in time, the number of words each student read…

  16. A primary care physician perspective survey on the limited use of handwriting and pen computing in the electronic medical record

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gary Arvary

    2002-09-01

    The use of handwriting in the EMR was broadly supported by this group of PCPs in private practice. Likewise, wireless pen computers were the overwhelming choice of computer for use during a consultation. In this group, older and lower volume physicians were less likely to desire a computer for use during a consultation. User acceptance of the EMR may be related to how closely it resembles the processes that are being automated. More surveys are required to determine the needs and expectations of physicians. The data also support other research studies that demonstrate the preference for handwriting and wireless computers, and the need for a limited, standardised and controlled vocabulary.

  17. Relationships between Fine-Motor, Visual-Motor, and Visual Perception Scores and Handwriting Legibility and Speed

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Sheryl; Guiltner, Val; Sollereder, Patti; Cui, Ying

    2011-01-01

    Occupational therapists assess fine motor, visual motor, visual perception, and visual skill development, but knowledge of the relationships between scores on sensorimotor performance measures and handwriting legibility and speed is limited. Ninety-nine students in grades three to six with learning and/or behavior problems completed the Upper-Limb…

  18. Improving a HMM-based off-line handwriting recognition system using MME-PSO optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamdani, Mahdi; El Abed, Haikal; Hamdani, Tarek M.; Märgner, Volker; Alimi, Adel M.

    2011-01-01

    One of the trivial steps in the development of a classifier is the design of its architecture. This paper presents a new algorithm, Multi Models Evolvement (MME) using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). This algorithm is a modified version of the basic PSO, which is used to the unsupervised design of Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based architectures. For instance, the proposed algorithm is applied to an Arabic handwriting recognizer based on discrete probability HMMs. After the optimization of their architectures, HMMs are trained with the Baum- Welch algorithm. The validation of the system is based on the IfN/ENIT database. The performance of the developed approach is compared to the participating systems at the 2005 competition organized on Arabic handwriting recognition on the International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR). The final system is a combination between an optimized HMM with 6 other HMMs obtained by a simple variation of the number of states. An absolute improvement of 6% of word recognition rate with about 81% is presented. This improvement is achieved comparing to the basic system (ARAB-IfN). The proposed recognizer outperforms also most of the known state-of-the-art systems.

  19. Evaluation of adolescents' self-esteem through the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory and graphometric analysis of students' handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wellingham-Jones, P

    1987-10-01

    Self-esteem has long been considered an essential component of good mental health. Coopersmith's Self-esteem Inventory and Wellingham-Jones Self-esteem Values List applied to handwritings were given to 15- to 19-yr.-old students to explore the former's usefulness in designing programs to enhance self-esteem. Students were from 4 high schools representing the socioeconomic range of a small rural California city. Handwritings of the 25 students scoring highest and the 25 scoring lowest on self-esteem were graphometrically evaluated. Chi squared showed total agreement between the two tests in 62% of the cases, partial agreement in 30%, complete disagreement in 8%. This suggests Coopersmith's inventory may be a useful tool for school administrators, provided its limitations are understood. Similarities and differences between and within the high and low self-esteem groups were discussed.

  20. Parents' perspectives on a collaborative approach to the application of the Handwriting Without Tears(®) programme with children with Down syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patton, Sandra; Hutton, Eve

    2016-08-01

    The active involvement of parents and children in goal setting and intervention is integral to contemporary occupational therapy process models. However, parental perspectives on collaborative handwriting intervention are limited. This paper presents parental perspectives on a three-way collaboration involving teachers, parents and an occupational therapist in the application of Handwriting Without Tears(®) (HWT(®) ) with children with Down syndrome. Within a larger mixed methods study, 44 parents completed purpose-designed questionnaires and six parents participated in a focus group, post 8 months of programme implementation. Both methods gathered parent's perspectives on the usefulness and limitations of applying HWT(®) . The focus group explored collaboration in depth. Analysis involved triangulation of data from descriptive analysis of numerical data with content analysis of open-ended questions and focus group data. Enablers of parent-child engagement in HWT(®) were identified as; the parent-child-friendly aspects of HWT(®) , the teacher involvement ensuring continuity which eased demands on parents, the ongoing support/guidance of the occupational therapist and the child's involvement in HWT(®) group intervention. The occupational therapists' involvement was reported as essential to encouraging teacher/parent involvement. Barriers to child-parent engagement included fluctuations in child health, mood, attention span and time limitations including the child's involvement in other therapy programmes. Parents perceived the HWT(®) and the three-way collaborative approach as enabling active parent-child engagement in handwriting intervention. This approach warrants further investigation. Findings have the potential to inform practice guidelines and pre- and post-graduation education related to collaborative handwriting intervention with children with Down syndrome and their families. © 2016 Occupational Therapy Australia.

  1. Means of Ensuring Information Security and Experimental Study of the Efficiency of Forensic Handwriting Techniques

    OpenAIRE

    Sergey Dmitrievich Kulik; Konstantin Igorevich Tkachenko; Denis Arturovich Nikonets

    2013-01-01

    This article deals with the special means, which allow to protect the information in the document. They are an integral part of the automated tools of ensuring the information security. It is proposed the use of a special input device PC Notes Taker. The results of experimental verification of the effectiveness of forensic handwriting techniques are described.

  2. Training children aged 5-10 years in manual compliance control to improve drawing and handwriting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bingham, Geoffrey P; Snapp-Childs, Winona

    2018-04-12

    A large proportion of school-aged children exhibit poor drawing and handwriting. This prevalence limits the availability of therapy. We developed an automated method for training improved manual compliance control and relatedly, prospective control of a stylus. The approach included a difficult training task, while providing parametrically modifiable support that enables the children to perform successfully while developing good compliance control. The task was to use a stylus to push a bead along a 3D wire path. Support was provided by making the wire magnetically attractive to the stylus. Support was progressively reduced as 3D tracing performance improved. We report studies that (1) compared performance of Typically Developing (TD) children and children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), (2) tested training with active versus passive movement, (3) tested progressively reduced versus constant or no support during training, (4) tested children of different ages, (5) tested the transfer of training to a drawing task, (6) tested the specificity of training in respect to the size, shape and dimensionality of figures, and (7) investigated the relevance of the training task to the Beery VMI, an inventory used to diagnose DCD. The findings were as follows. (1) Pre-training performance of TD and DCD children was the same and good with high support but distinct and poor with low support. Support yielded good self-efficacy that motivated training. Post training performance with no support was improved and the same for TD and DCD children. (2) Actively controlled movements were required for improved performance. (3) Progressively reduced support was required for good performance during and after training. (4) Age differences in performance during pre-training were eliminated post-training. (5) Improvements transferred to drawing. (6) There was no evidence of specificity of training in transfer. (7) Disparate Beery scores were reflected in pre-training but not

  3. Long-term consequences of switching handedness: a positron emission tomography study on handwriting in "converted" left-handers.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Siebner, H.R.; Limmer, C.; Peinemann, A.; Drzezga, A.; Bloem, B.R.; Schwaiger, M.; Conrad, B.

    2002-01-01

    Until some decades ago, left-handed children who attended German schools were forced to learn to write with their right hand. To explore the long-term consequences of switching handedness, we studied the functional neuroanatomy of handwriting in 11 adult "converted" left-handers and 11 age-matched

  4. Employing Handwriting without Tears® to Teach a 4-Year-Old Preschool Student to Write His Name with the Appropriate Size, Shape, and Form Combined with an Imitate/Trace/Copy/Memory Procedure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steele, Emalia C.; McLaughlin, Thomas; Derby, K. Mark; Weber, Kimberly P.; Donica, Denise K.; McKenzie, Michelle

    2015-01-01

    The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the prewriting and handwriting curriculum Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT) in a preschool setting with a single student who has developmental delays and a suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Data were collected during the regular preschool day. The behavior…

  5. An Improved Cognitive Model of the Iowa and Soochow Gambling Tasks With Regard to Model Fitting Performance and Tests of Parameter Consistency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junyi eDai

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT and the Soochow Gambling Task (SGT are two experience-based risky decision-making tasks for examining decision-making deficits in clinical populations. Several cognitive models, including the expectancy-valence learning model (EVL and the prospect valence learning model (PVL, have been developed to disentangle the motivational, cognitive, and response processes underlying the explicit choices in these tasks. The purpose of the current study was to develop an improved model that can fit empirical data better than the EVL and PVL models and, in addition, produce more consistent parameter estimates across the IGT and SGT. Twenty-six opiate users (mean age 34.23; SD 8.79 and 27 control participants (mean age 35; SD 10.44 completed both tasks. Eighteen cognitive models varying in evaluation, updating, and choice rules were fit to individual data and their performances were compared to that of a statistical baseline model to find a best fitting model. The results showed that the model combining the prospect utility function treating gains and losses separately, the decay-reinforcement updating rule, and the trial-independent choice rule performed the best in both tasks. Furthermore, the winning model produced more consistent individual parameter estimates across the two tasks than any of the other models.

  6. Means of Ensuring Information Security and Experimental Study of the Efficiency of Forensic Handwriting Techniques

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey Dmitrievich Kulik

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This article deals with the special means, which allow to protect the information in the document. They are an integral part of the automated tools of ensuring the information security. It is proposed the use of a special input device PC Notes Taker. The results of experimental verification of the effectiveness of forensic handwriting techniques are described.

  7. Handwriting: Feature Correlation Analysis for Biometric Hashes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vielhauer, Claus; Steinmetz, Ralf

    2004-12-01

    In the application domain of electronic commerce, biometric authentication can provide one possible solution for the key management problem. Besides server-based approaches, methods of deriving digital keys directly from biometric measures appear to be advantageous. In this paper, we analyze one of our recently published specific algorithms of this category based on behavioral biometrics of handwriting, the biometric hash. Our interest is to investigate to which degree each of the underlying feature parameters contributes to the overall intrapersonal stability and interpersonal value space. We will briefly discuss related work in feature evaluation and introduce a new methodology based on three components: the intrapersonal scatter (deviation), the interpersonal entropy, and the correlation between both measures. Evaluation of the technique is presented based on two data sets of different size. The method presented will allow determination of effects of parameterization of the biometric system, estimation of value space boundaries, and comparison with other feature selection approaches.

  8. Handwriting: Feature Correlation Analysis for Biometric Hashes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ralf Steinmetz

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available In the application domain of electronic commerce, biometric authentication can provide one possible solution for the key management problem. Besides server-based approaches, methods of deriving digital keys directly from biometric measures appear to be advantageous. In this paper, we analyze one of our recently published specific algorithms of this category based on behavioral biometrics of handwriting, the biometric hash. Our interest is to investigate to which degree each of the underlying feature parameters contributes to the overall intrapersonal stability and interpersonal value space. We will briefly discuss related work in feature evaluation and introduce a new methodology based on three components: the intrapersonal scatter (deviation, the interpersonal entropy, and the correlation between both measures. Evaluation of the technique is presented based on two data sets of different size. The method presented will allow determination of effects of parameterization of the biometric system, estimation of value space boundaries, and comparison with other feature selection approaches.

  9. A Comparison of the Handwriting Abilities of Secondary Students with Visual Impairments and Those of Sighted Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris-Brown, Talitha; Richmond, Janet; Maddalena, Sebastian Della; Jaworski, Alinta

    2015-01-01

    Despite the large number of people with visual impairments in Australia, all Western Australian secondary students are required to complete their secondary exams using handwriting, unless they qualify for special provisions. Students with visual impairments do not necessarily qualify for special provisions on the basis of their visual impairment…

  10. A Longitudinal Study of Handwriting Skills in Pre-Schoolers: The Acquisition of Syllable Oriented Programming Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soler Vilageliu, Olga; Kandel, Sonia

    2012-01-01

    Previous studies have shown the relevance of the syllable as a programming unit in handwriting production, both in adults and elementary school children. This longitudinal study focuses on the acquisition of writing skills in a group of preschoolers. It examines how and when the syllable structure of the word starts regulating motor programming in…

  11. Image Segmentation of Historical Handwriting from Palm Leaf Manuscripts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surinta, Olarik; Chamchong, Rapeeporn

    Palm leaf manuscripts were one of the earliest forms of written media and were used in Southeast Asia to store early written knowledge about subjects such as medicine, Buddhist doctrine and astrology. Therefore, historical handwritten palm leaf manuscripts are important for people who like to learn about historical documents, because we can learn more experience from them. This paper presents an image segmentation of historical handwriting from palm leaf manuscripts. The process is composed of three steps: 1) background elimination to separate text and background by Otsu's algorithm 2) line segmentation and 3) character segmentation by histogram of image. The end result is the character's image. The results from this research may be applied to optical character recognition (OCR) in the future.

  12. Daily Behavior Report Cards: An Investigation of the Consistency of On-Task Data across Raters and Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chafouleas, Sandra M.; Riley-Tillman, T. Chris; Sassu, Kari A.; LaFrance, Mary J.; Patwa, Shamim S.

    2007-01-01

    In this study, the consistency of on-task data collected across raters using either a Daily Behavior Report Card (DBRC) or systematic direct observation was examined to begin to understand the decision reliability of using DBRCs to monitor student behavior. Results suggested very similar conclusions might be drawn when visually examining data…

  13. Task-level strategies for human sagittal-plane running maneuvers are consistent with robotic control policies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mu Qiao

    Full Text Available The strategies that humans use to control unsteady locomotion are not well understood. A "spring-mass" template comprised of a point mass bouncing on a sprung leg can approximate both center of mass movements and ground reaction forces during running in humans and other animals. Legged robots that operate as bouncing, "spring-mass" systems can maintain stable motion using relatively simple, distributed feedback rules. We tested whether the changes to sagittal-plane movements during five running tasks involving active changes to running height, speed, and orientation were consistent with the rules used by bouncing robots to maintain stability. Changes to running height were associated with changes to leg force but not stance duration. To change speed, humans primarily used a "pogo stick" strategy, where speed changes were associated with adjustments to fore-aft foot placement, and not a "unicycle" strategy involving systematic changes to stance leg hip moment. However, hip moments were related to changes to body orientation and angular speed. Hip moments could be described with first order proportional-derivative relationship to trunk pitch. Overall, the task-level strategies used for body control in humans were consistent with the strategies employed by bouncing robots. Identification of these behavioral strategies could lead to a better understanding of the sensorimotor mechanisms that allow for effective unsteady locomotion.

  14. Evaluating fine motor coordination in children who are not ready for handwriting : which test should we take?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Vries, Liesbeth; van Hartingsveldt, Margo J.; Cup, Edith H.C.; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria W.G.; de Groot, Imelda J.M.

    2015-01-01

    When children are not ready to write, assessment of fine motor coordination may be indicated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate which fine motor test, the Nine-Hole Peg Test (9-HPT) or the newly developed Timed Test of In-Hand Manipulation (Timed-TIHM), correlates best with handwriting

  15. Evaluating fine motor coordination in children who are not ready for handwriting: which test should we take?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vries, L. de; Hartingsveldt, M.J. van; Cup, E.H.C.; Nijhuis-Van der Sanden, M.W.G.; Groot, I.J.M. de

    2015-01-01

    When children are not ready to write, assessment of fine motor coordination may be indicated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate which fine motor test, the Nine-Hole Peg Test (9-HPT) or the newly developed Timed Test of In-Hand Manipulation (Timed-TIHM), correlates best with handwriting

  16. Development of Chinese Handwriting Skills among Kindergarten Children: Copying of the Composition in Chinese Characters and Name Writing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tse, Linda F. L.; Siu, Andrew M. H.; Li-Tsang, Cecilia W. P.

    2017-01-01

    Although copying and name writing skills are regarded as the indicators of handwriting development in alphabetic writing systems, there is limited information on logographs such as Chinese. Chinese characters are not only simply a combination of strokes as letters in English, but also place a great demand on visuospatial ability to maintain good…

  17. To Write or to Type? The Effects of Handwriting and Word-Processing on the Written Style of Examination Essays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mogey, Nora; Hartley, James

    2013-01-01

    There is much debate about whether or not these days students should be able to word-process essay-type examinations as opposed to handwriting them, particularly when they are asked to word-process everything else. This study used word-processing software to examine the stylistic features of 13 examination essays written by hand and 24 by…

  18. Relationship between the quality of children's handwriting and the Beery Buktenica developmental test of visuomotor integration after one year of writing tuition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Duiser, I.H.; van der Kamp, J.; Ledebt, A.; Savelsbergh, G.J.P.

    2014-01-01

    Objective: We examined whether the three subtests of the Beery Buktenica developmental test of visuomotor integration predicted quality of handwriting across and within groups of boys and girls classified as proficient, at risk or non-proficient writers according to the Concise Assessment Scale for

  19. Design of a Template for Handwriting Based Hindi Text Entry in Handheld Devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangopadhyay, Diya; Vasal, Ityam; Yammiyavar, Pradeep

    Mobile phones, in the recent times, have become affordable and accessible to a wider range of users including the hitherto technologically and economically under-represented segments. Indian users are a gigantic consumer base for mobile phones. With Hindi being one of the most widely spoken languages in the country and the primary tool of communication for about a third of its population, an effective solution for Hindi text entry in mobile devices is expected to be immensely useful to the non English speaking users. This paper proposes a mobile phone handwriting based text entry solution for Hindi language, which allows for an easy text entry method, while facilitating better recognition accuracy.

  20. Age-Related Evolution Patterns in Online Handwriting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Characterizing age from handwriting (HW) has important applications, as it is key to distinguishing normal HW evolution with age from abnormal HW change, potentially triggered by neurodegenerative decline. We propose, in this work, an original approach for online HW style characterization based on a two-level clustering scheme. The first level generates writer-independent word clusters from raw spatial-dynamic HW information. At the second level, each writer's words are converted into a Bag of Prototype Words that is augmented by an interword stability measure. This two-level HW style representation is input to an unsupervised learning technique, aiming at uncovering HW style categories and their correlation with age. To assess the effectiveness of our approach, we propose information theoretic measures to quantify the gain on age information from each clustering layer. We have carried out extensive experiments on a large public online HW database, augmented by HW samples acquired at Broca Hospital in Paris from people mostly between 60 and 85 years old. Unlike previous works claiming that there is only one pattern of HW change with age, our study reveals three major aging HW styles, one specific to aged people and the two others shared by other age groups. PMID:27752277

  1. The effects of Chinese calligraphy handwriting and relaxation training in Chinese Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma patients: a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xue-Ling; Li, Huan-Huan; Hong, Ming-Huang; Kao, Henry S R

    2010-05-01

    Chinese calligraphy handwriting is the practice of traditional Chinese brush writing, researches found calligraphy had therapeutic effects on certain diseases, some authors argued that calligraphy might have relaxation effect. This study was to compare the effects of calligraphy handwriting with those of progressive muscle relaxation and imagery training in Chinese Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma patients. This study was a randomized controlled trial. Two hundred and eighty-seven Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma patients were approached, ninety (31%) patients were recruited and randomized to one of the three treatment groups: progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery training group, Calligraphy handwriting group, or a Control group. Seventy-nine (87.8%) completed all of the outcome measures. The primary treatment outcome was the changes of physiological arousal parameters measured by pre- and post-treatment differences of heart rate, blood pressure and respiration rate. The secondary outcomes included: modified Chinese version of Symptom Distress Scale, Profile of Mood State-Short Form, and Karnofsky Performance Status measured at baseline, during treatment (after the 2-week intervention), post-treatment (after the 4-week intervention) and after a 2-week follow-up. Effectiveness was tested by repeated measure ANOVA analyses. Cancer centre of a major university hospital in Guangdong, China. Results showed that both of calligraphy and relaxation training demonstrated slow-down effects on physiological arousal parameters. Moreover, calligraphy practice gradually lowered participants' systolic blood pressure (simple main effect of time at pre-treatment measure, p=.007) and respiration rate (p=.000) at pre- and post-treatment measures as the intervention proceeded, though with a smaller effect size as compared to relaxation. Both of calligraphy and relaxation training had certain symptom relief and mood improvement effects in NPC patients. Relaxation was effective in relieving

  2. Working Memory Training Improves Dual-Task Performance on Motor Tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimura, Takehide; Kaneko, Fuminari; Nagahata, Keita; Shibata, Eriko; Aoki, Nobuhiro

    2017-01-01

    The authors investigated whether working memory training improves motor-motor dual-task performance consisted of upper and lower limb tasks. The upper limb task was a simple reaction task and the lower limb task was an isometric knee extension task. 45 participants (age = 21.8 ± 1.6 years) were classified into a working memory training group (WM-TRG), dual-task training group, or control group. The training duration was 2 weeks (15 min, 4 times/week). Our results indicated that working memory capacity increased significantly only in the WM-TRG. Dual-task performance improved in the WM-TRG and dual-task training group. Our study provides the novel insight that working memory training improves dual-task performance without specific training on the target motor task.

  3. The Neural Basis of Typewriting: A Functional MRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higashiyama, Yuichi; Takeda, Katsuhiko; Someya, Yoshiaki; Kuroiwa, Yoshiyuki; Tanaka, Fumiaki

    2015-01-01

    To investigate the neural substrate of typewriting Japanese words and to detect the difference between the neural substrate of typewriting and handwriting, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in 16 healthy volunteers. All subjects were skillful touch typists and performed five tasks: a typing task, a writing task, a reading task, and two control tasks. Three brain regions were activated during both the typing and the writing tasks: the left superior parietal lobule, the left supramarginal gyrus, and the left premotor cortex close to Exner's area. Although typing and writing involved common brain regions, direct comparison between the typing and the writing task revealed greater left posteromedial intraparietal cortex activation in the typing task. In addition, activity in the left premotor cortex was more rostral in the typing task than in the writing task. These findings suggest that, although the brain circuits involved in Japanese typewriting are almost the same as those involved in handwriting, there are brain regions that are specific for typewriting.

  4. The Neural Basis of Typewriting: A Functional MRI Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuichi Higashiyama

    Full Text Available To investigate the neural substrate of typewriting Japanese words and to detect the difference between the neural substrate of typewriting and handwriting, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study in 16 healthy volunteers. All subjects were skillful touch typists and performed five tasks: a typing task, a writing task, a reading task, and two control tasks. Three brain regions were activated during both the typing and the writing tasks: the left superior parietal lobule, the left supramarginal gyrus, and the left premotor cortex close to Exner's area. Although typing and writing involved common brain regions, direct comparison between the typing and the writing task revealed greater left posteromedial intraparietal cortex activation in the typing task. In addition, activity in the left premotor cortex was more rostral in the typing task than in the writing task. These findings suggest that, although the brain circuits involved in Japanese typewriting are almost the same as those involved in handwriting, there are brain regions that are specific for typewriting.

  5. Effect of robotic-assisted three-dimensional repetitive motion to improve hand motor function and control in children with handwriting deficits: a nonrandomized phase 2 device trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palsbo, Susan E; Hood-Szivek, Pamela

    2012-01-01

    We explored the efficacy of robotic technology in improving handwriting in children with impaired motor skills. Eighteen participants had impairments arising from cerebral palsy (CP), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or other disorders. The intervention was robotic-guided three-dimensional repetitive motion in 15-20 daily sessions of 25-30 min each over 4-8 wk. Fine motor control improved for the children with learning disabilities and those ages 9 or older but not for those with CP or under age 9. All children with ASD or ADHD referred for slow writing speed were able to increase speed while maintaining legibility. Three-dimensional, robot-assisted, repetitive motion training improved handwriting fluidity in children with mild to moderate fine motor deficits associated with ASD or ADHD within 10 hr of training. This dosage may not be sufficient for children with CP. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  6. Writing forces associated with four pencil grasp patterns in grade 4 children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwellnus, Heidi; Carnahan, Heather; Kushki, Azadeh; Polatajko, Helene; Missiuna, Cheryl; Chau, Tom

    2013-01-01

    OBJECTIVE. We investigated differences in handwriting kinetics, speed, and legibility among four pencil grasps after a 10-min copy task. METHOD. Seventy-four Grade 4 students completed a handwriting assessment before and after a copy task. Grip and axial forces were measured with an instrumented stylus and force-sensitive tablet. We used multiple linear regression to analyze the relationship between grasp pattern and grip and axial forces. RESULTS. We found no kinetic differences among grasps, whether considered individually or grouped by the number of fingers on the barrel. However, when grasps were grouped according to the thumb position, the adducted grasps exhibited higher mean grip and axial forces. CONCLUSION. Grip forces were generally similar across the different grasps. Kinetic differences resulting from thumb position seemed to have no bearing on speed and legibility. Interventions for handwriting difficulties should focus more on speed and letter formation than on grasp pattern. Copyright © 2013 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  7. Greater preference consistency during the Willingness-to-Pay task is related to higher resting state connectivity between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackey, Scott; Olafsson, Valur; Aupperle, Robin; Lu, Kun; Fonzo, Greg; Parnass, Jason; Liu, Thomas; Paulus, Martin P.

    2015-01-01

    The significance of why a similar set of brain regions are associated with the default mode network and value-related neural processes remains to be clarified. Here, we examined i) whether brain regions exhibiting willingness-to-pay (WTP) task-related activity are intrinsically connected when the brain is at rest, ii) whether these regions overlap spatially with the default mode network, and iii) whether individual differences in choice behavior during the WTP task are reflected in functional brain connectivity at rest. Blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging while subjects performed the WTP task and at rest with eyes open. Brain regions that tracked the value of bids during the WTP task were used as seed regions in an analysis of functional connectivity in the resting state data. The seed in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was functionally connected to core regions of the WTP task-related network. Brain regions within the WTP task-related network, namely the ventral precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex overlapped spatially with publically available maps of the default mode network. Also, those individuals with higher functional connectivity during rest between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum showed greater preference consistency during the WTP task. Thus, WTP task-related regions are an intrinsic network of the brain that corresponds spatially with the default mode network, and individual differences in functional connectivity within the WTP network at rest may reveal a priori biases in choice behavior. PMID:26271206

  8. The Differential Effects of the Use of Handwriting without Tears® Modified Gray Block Paper to Teach Two Preschool Students with Developmental Delays Capital Letter Writing Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffith, Jessica; McLaughlin, T. F.; Neyman, Jen; Donica, Denise K.; Robison, Milena

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) modified gray block paper with letter writing on two preschool students diagnosed with developmental delays in pre-academics. Two students were selected from a self-contained special education preschool classroom in the Pacific Northwest. All…

  9. Task Selection, Task Switching and Multitasking during Computer-Based Independent Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Judd, Terry

    2015-01-01

    Detailed logs of students' computer use, during independent study sessions, were captured in an open-access computer laboratory. Each log consisted of a chronological sequence of tasks representing either the application or the Internet domain displayed in the workstation's active window. Each task was classified using a three-tier schema…

  10. Fluency and Accuracy in Alphabet Writing by Keyboarding : A Cross-Sectional Study in Spanish-Speaking Children With and Without Learning Disabilities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bisschop, Elaine; Morales, Celia; Gil, Verónica; Jiménez-Suárez, Elizabeth

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to analyze whether children with and without difficulties in handwriting, spelling, or both differed in alphabet writing when using a keyboard. The total sample consisted of 1,333 children from Grades 1 through 3. Scores on the spelling and handwriting factors from the

  11. Emerging behavioral flexibility in loop writing: A longitudinal study in 7-to-9 year-old primary school children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bosga-Stork, I.M.; Bosga, J.; Meulenbroek, R.G.J.

    2017-01-01

    The development of the ability to adapt one's motor performance to the constraints of a movement task was examined in a longitudinal study involving 7-to-9 year-old children who were asked to perform a preparatory handwriting task. The capacity for sensorimotor synchronization was captured by the

  12. On the importance of Task 1 and error performance measures in PRP dual-task studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strobach, Tilo; Schütz, Anja; Schubert, Torsten

    2015-01-01

    The psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm is a dominant research tool in the literature on dual-task performance. In this paradigm a first and second component task (i.e., Task 1 and Task 2) are presented with variable stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and priority to perform Task 1. The main indicator of dual-task impairment in PRP situations is an increasing Task 2-RT with decreasing SOAs. This impairment is typically explained with some task components being processed strictly sequentially in the context of the prominent central bottleneck theory. This assumption could implicitly suggest that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing, i.e., decreasing SOAs do not increase reaction times (RTs) and error rates of the first task. The aim of the present review is to assess whether PRP dual-task studies included both RT and error data presentations and statistical analyses and whether studies including both data types (i.e., RTs and error rates) show data consistent with this assumption (i.e., decreasing SOAs and unaffected RTs and/or error rates in Task 1). This review demonstrates that, in contrast to RT presentations and analyses, error data is underrepresented in a substantial number of studies. Furthermore, a substantial number of studies with RT and error data showed a statistically significant impairment of Task 1 performance with decreasing SOA. Thus, these studies produced data that is not primarily consistent with the strong assumption that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing in the context of PRP dual-task situations; this calls for a more careful report and analysis of Task 1 performance in PRP studies and for a more careful consideration of theories proposing additions to the bottleneck assumption, which are sufficiently general to explain Task 1 and Task 2 effects. PMID:25904890

  13. On the importance of Task 1 and error performance measures in PRP dual-task studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strobach, Tilo; Schütz, Anja; Schubert, Torsten

    2015-01-01

    The psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm is a dominant research tool in the literature on dual-task performance. In this paradigm a first and second component task (i.e., Task 1 and Task 2) are presented with variable stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and priority to perform Task 1. The main indicator of dual-task impairment in PRP situations is an increasing Task 2-RT with decreasing SOAs. This impairment is typically explained with some task components being processed strictly sequentially in the context of the prominent central bottleneck theory. This assumption could implicitly suggest that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing, i.e., decreasing SOAs do not increase reaction times (RTs) and error rates of the first task. The aim of the present review is to assess whether PRP dual-task studies included both RT and error data presentations and statistical analyses and whether studies including both data types (i.e., RTs and error rates) show data consistent with this assumption (i.e., decreasing SOAs and unaffected RTs and/or error rates in Task 1). This review demonstrates that, in contrast to RT presentations and analyses, error data is underrepresented in a substantial number of studies. Furthermore, a substantial number of studies with RT and error data showed a statistically significant impairment of Task 1 performance with decreasing SOA. Thus, these studies produced data that is not primarily consistent with the strong assumption that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing in the context of PRP dual-task situations; this calls for a more careful report and analysis of Task 1 performance in PRP studies and for a more careful consideration of theories proposing additions to the bottleneck assumption, which are sufficiently general to explain Task 1 and Task 2 effects.

  14. On the importance of Task 1 and error performance measures in PRP dual-task studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tilo eStrobach

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The Psychological Refractory Period (PRP paradigm is a dominant research tool in the literature on dual-task performance. In this paradigm a first and second component task (i.e., Task 1 and 2 are presented with variable stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs and priority to perform Task 1. The main indicator of dual-task impairment in PRP situations is an increasing Task 2-RT with decreasing SOAs. This impairment is typically explained with some task components being processed strictly sequentially in the context of the prominent central bottleneck theory. This assumption could implicitly suggest that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing, i.e. decreasing SOAs do not increase RTs and error rates of the first task. The aim of the present review is to assess whether PRP dual-task studies included both RT and error data presentations and statistical analyses and whether studies including both data types (i.e., RTs and error rates show data consistent with this assumption (i.e., decreasing SOAs and unaffected RTs and/ or error rates in Task 1. This review demonstrates that, in contrast to RT presentations and analyses, error data is underrepresented in a substantial number of studies. Furthermore, a substantial number of studies with RT and error data showed a statistically significant impairment of Task 1 performance with decreasing SOA. Thus, these studies produced data that is not primarily consistent with the strong assumption that processes of Task 1 are unaffected by Task 2 and bottleneck processing in the context of PRP dual-task situations; this calls for a more careful report and analysis of Task 1 performance in PRP studies and for a more careful consideration of theories proposing additions to the bottleneck assumption, which are sufficiently general to explain Task 1 and Task 2 effects.

  15. Design of handwriting drawing board based on common copper clad laminate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hongyuan; Gao, Wenzhi; Wang, Yuan

    2015-02-01

    Handwriting drawing board is not only a subject which can be used to write and draw, but also a method to measure and process weak signals. This design adopts 8051 single chip microprocessor as the main controller. It applies a constant-current source[1][2] to copper plate and collects the voltage value according to the resistance divider effect. Then it amplifies the signal with low-noise and high-precision amplifier[3] AD620 which is placed in the low impedance and anti-interference pen. It converts analog signal to digital signal by an 11-channel, 12-bit A/D converter TLC2543. Adoption of average filtering algorithm can effectively improve the measuring accuracy, reduce the error and make the collected voltage signal more stable. The accurate position can be detected by scanning the horizontal and vertical ordinates with the analog switch via the internal bridge of module L298 which can change the direction of X-Y axis signal scan. DM12864 is used as man-machine interface and this hominization design is convenient for man-machine communication. This collecting system has high accuracy, high stability and strong anti-interference capability. It's easy to control and has very large development space in the future.

  16. Consistent-handed individuals are more authoritarian.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyle, Keith B; Grillo, Michael C

    2014-01-01

    Individuals differ in the consistency with which they use one hand over the other to perform everyday activities. Some individuals are very consistent, habitually using a single hand to perform most tasks. Others are relatively inconsistent, and hence make greater use of both hands. More- versus less-consistent individuals have been shown to differ in numerous aspects of personality and cognition. In several respects consistent-handed individuals resemble authoritarian individuals. For example, both consistent-handedness and authoritarianism have been linked to cognitive inflexibility. Therefore we hypothesised that consistent-handedness is an external marker for authoritarianism. Confirming our hypothesis, we found that consistent-handers scored higher than inconsistent-handers on a measure of submission to authority, were more likely to identify with a conservative political party (Republican), and expressed less-positive attitudes towards out-groups. We propose that authoritarianism may be influenced by the degree of interaction between the left and right brain hemispheres, which has been found to differ between consistent- and inconsistent-handed individuals.

  17. Search and Hyperlinking Task at MediaEval 2012

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eskevich, Maria; Jones, Gareth J.F.; Chen, Shu; Aly, Robin; Ordelman, Roeland J.F.; Larson, Martha

    2012-01-01

    The Search and Hyperlinking Task was one of the Brave New Tasks at MediaEval 2012. The Task consisted of two sub- tasks which focused on search and linking in retrieval from a collection of semi-professional video content. These tasks followed up on research carried out within the MediaEval 2011

  18. Examining the relationships between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and developmental coordination disorder symptoms, and writing performance in Japanese second grade students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noda, Wataru; Ito, Hiroyuki; Fujita, Chikako; Ohnishi, Masafumi; Takayanagi, Nobuya; Someki, Fumio; Nakajima, Syunji; Ohtake, Satoko; Mochizuki, Naoto; Tsujii, Masatsugu

    2013-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and developmental coordination disorder symptoms and writing performance in Japanese second grade students from regular classrooms. The second grade students (N=873) in Japanese public elementary schools participated in this study. We examined a variety of writing tasks, such as tracing, copying, handwriting (Hiragana and Katakana), and spelling (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji). We employed the Japanese version of the home form ADHD-rating scale (ADHD-RS) and the Japanese version of the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ-J) to assess the developmental characteristics of the participating children. Seven writing performance scores were submitted to a principal component analysis with a promax rotation, which yielded three composite scores (Spelling Accuracy, Tracing and Copying Accuracy, and Handwriting Fluency). A multiple regression analysis found that inattention predicted Spelling Accuracy and Handwriting Fluency and that hyperactive-impulsive predicted Handwriting Fluency. In addition, fine motor ability predicted Tracing and Copying Accuracy. The current study offered empirical evidence suggesting that developmental characteristics such as inattention and fine motor skill are related to writing difficulties in Japanese typical developing children. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Impaired Retention of Motor Learning of Writing Skills in Patients with Parkinson's Disease with Freezing of Gait.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elke Heremans

    Full Text Available Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD and freezing of gait (FOG suffer from more impaired motor and cognitive functioning than their non-freezing counterparts. This underlies an even higher need for targeted rehabilitation programs in this group. However, so far it is unclear whether FOG affects the ability for consolidation and generalization of motor learning and thus the efficacy of rehabilitation.To investigate the hallmarks of motor learning in people with FOG compared to those without by comparing the effects of an intensive motor learning program to improve handwriting.Thirty five patients with PD, including 19 without and 16 with FOG received six weeks of handwriting training consisting of exercises provided on paper and on a touch-sensitive writing tablet. Writing training was based on single- and dual-task writing and was supported by means of visual target zones. To investigate automatization, generalization and retention of learning, writing performance was assessed before and after training in the presence and absence of cues and dual tasking and after a six-week retention period. Writing amplitude was measured as primary outcome measure and variability of writing and dual-task accuracy as secondary outcomes.Significant learning effects were present on all outcome measures in both groups, both for writing under single- and dual-task conditions. However, the gains in writing amplitude were not retained after a retention period of six weeks without training in the patient group without FOG. Furthermore, patients with FOG were highly dependent on the visual target zones, reflecting reduced generalization of learning in this group.Although short-term learning effects were present in both groups, generalization and retention of motor learning were specifically impaired in patients with PD and FOG. The results of this study underscore the importance of individualized rehabilitation protocols.

  20. Impaired Retention of Motor Learning of Writing Skills in Patients with Parkinson's Disease with Freezing of Gait.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heremans, Elke; Nackaerts, Evelien; Vervoort, Griet; Broeder, Sanne; Swinnen, Stephan P; Nieuwboer, Alice

    2016-01-01

    Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and freezing of gait (FOG) suffer from more impaired motor and cognitive functioning than their non-freezing counterparts. This underlies an even higher need for targeted rehabilitation programs in this group. However, so far it is unclear whether FOG affects the ability for consolidation and generalization of motor learning and thus the efficacy of rehabilitation. To investigate the hallmarks of motor learning in people with FOG compared to those without by comparing the effects of an intensive motor learning program to improve handwriting. Thirty five patients with PD, including 19 without and 16 with FOG received six weeks of handwriting training consisting of exercises provided on paper and on a touch-sensitive writing tablet. Writing training was based on single- and dual-task writing and was supported by means of visual target zones. To investigate automatization, generalization and retention of learning, writing performance was assessed before and after training in the presence and absence of cues and dual tasking and after a six-week retention period. Writing amplitude was measured as primary outcome measure and variability of writing and dual-task accuracy as secondary outcomes. Significant learning effects were present on all outcome measures in both groups, both for writing under single- and dual-task conditions. However, the gains in writing amplitude were not retained after a retention period of six weeks without training in the patient group without FOG. Furthermore, patients with FOG were highly dependent on the visual target zones, reflecting reduced generalization of learning in this group. Although short-term learning effects were present in both groups, generalization and retention of motor learning were specifically impaired in patients with PD and FOG. The results of this study underscore the importance of individualized rehabilitation protocols.

  1. Consistency and Stability of Italian Children's Spelling in Dictation versus Composition Assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bigozzi, Lucia; Tarchi, Christian; Pinto, Giuliana

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate consistency in spelling skills across 2 different tasks of written production (dictation vs. composition) and stability of performance across 4 different grades. We assessed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders' spelling performance through 4 tasks: 2 dictation tasks (passage and sentences) and 2 composition…

  2. Chinese calligraphy handwriting (CCH: a case of rehabilitative awakening of a coma patient after stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kao HSR

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Henry SR Kao,1 Stewart PW Lam,2 Tin Tin Kao3,4 1Calligraphy Therapy Laboratory, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China; 2Research and Development Division, Calli-Health Society, 3Department of Geography, 4Department of Psychology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Introduction: This study investigated the efficacy of Chinese calligraphy handwriting (CCH for the awakening of patients under a vegetative state after stroke. The theories, the instrument, and the treatment protocols were reported. A single case of a severe stroke patient who was in a coma state for 2 years is presented in this study. The objectives were to apply finger writing as a new method to awaken a stroke patient in a coma state and to test the effect of this method in improving the patient’s vegetative states over time. Case presentation: A 55-year-old man suffered a severe stroke in 2004 which left him in a coma for 2 years without any systematic rehabilitation. A culture-based finger-writing method of visual-spatial intervention was then applied to improve his condition. The writing tasks involved aided viewing and finger tracing of sets of innovative characters with enriched visual-spatial and movement characteristics. Following regular treatment protocols involving diverse movement and sensory feedback, the patient was awakened after 12 months. As a consequence, the patient showed significant behavioral changes favoring enhanced focusing, alertness, visual scan, visual span, and quickened visual and motor responses. The treatment continued for another 12 months. As the treatment progressed, we gradually observed improvements in his attention span and mental concentration. His eye ball movements – the left eye in particular – were quickened and showed wider visual angularity in his focal vision. Currently, the patient can now watch television, engage in improved visual sighting, and focus on visual-spatial and cognitive-linguistic materials. Conclusion

  3. Typing is writing: Linguistic properties modulate typing execution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinet, Svetlana; Ziegler, Johannes C; Alario, F-Xavier

    2016-12-01

    Typing is becoming our preferred way of writing. Perhaps because of the relative recency of this change, very few studies have investigated typing from a psycholinguistic perspective. In addition, and despite obvious similarities between typing and handwriting, typing research has remained rather disconnected from handwriting research. The current study aimed at bridging this gap by evaluating how typing is affected by a number of psycholinguistic variables defined at the word, syllable, and letter levels. In a writing-to-dictation task, we assessed typing performance by measuring response accuracy, onset latencies - an index of response preparation and initiation - and interkeystroke intervals (IKIs) - an index of response execution processes. The lexical and sublexical factors revealed a composite pattern of effects. Lexical frequency improved response latencies and accuracy, while bigram frequency speeded up IKIs. Sound-spelling consistency improved latencies, but had an inhibitory effect on IKI. IKIs were also longer at syllable boundaries. Together, our findings can be fit within a framework for typed production that combines the previously developed theories of spelling and typing execution. At their interface, we highlight the need for an intermediate hierarchical stage, perhaps in the form of a graphemic buffer for typing.

  4. Task Uncertainty Can Account for Mixing and Switch Costs in Task-Switching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rennie, Jaime L.

    2015-01-01

    Cognitive control is required in situations that involve uncertainty or change, such as when resolving conflict, selecting responses and switching tasks. Recently, it has been suggested that cognitive control can be conceptualised as a mechanism which prioritises goal-relevant information to deal with uncertainty. This hypothesis has been supported using a paradigm that requires conflict resolution. In this study, we examine whether cognitive control during task switching is also consistent with this notion. We used information theory to quantify the level of uncertainty in different trial types during a cued task-switching paradigm. We test the hypothesis that differences in uncertainty between task repeat and task switch trials can account for typical behavioural effects in task-switching. Increasing uncertainty was associated with less efficient performance (i.e., slower and less accurate), particularly on switch trials and trials that afford little opportunity for advance preparation. Interestingly, both mixing and switch costs were associated with a common episodic control process. These results support the notion that cognitive control may be conceptualised as an information processor that serves to resolve uncertainty in the environment. PMID:26107646

  5. A new semantic vigilance task: vigilance decrement, workload, and sensitivity to dual-task costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epling, Samantha L; Russell, Paul N; Helton, William S

    2016-01-01

    Cognitive resource theory is a common explanation for both the performance decline in vigilance tasks, known as the vigilance decrement, and the limited ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. The limited supply of cognitive resources may be utilized faster than they are replenished resulting in a performance decrement, or may need to be allocated among multiple tasks with some performance cost. Researchers have proposed both domain-specific, for example spatial versus verbal processing resources, and domain general cognitive resources. One challenge in testing the domain specificity of cognitive resources in vigilance is the current lack of difficult semantic vigilance tasks which reliably produce a decrement. In the present research, we investigated whether the vigilance decrement was found in a new abbreviated semantic discrimination vigilance task, and whether there was a performance decrement in said vigilance task when paired with a word recall task, as opposed to performed individually. As hypothesized, a vigilance decrement in the semantic vigilance task was found in both the single-task and dual-task conditions, along with reduced vigilance performance in the dual-task condition and reduced word recall in the dual-task condition. This is consistent with cognitive resource theory. The abbreviated semantic vigilance task will be a useful tool for researchers interested in determining the specificity of cognitive resources utilized in vigilance tasks.

  6. Factorial validity and internal consistency of the motivational climate in physical education scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soini, Markus; Liukkonen, Jarmo; Watt, Anthony; Yli-Piipari, Sami; Jaakkola, Timo

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the study was to examine the construct validity and internal consistency of the Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale (MCPES). A key element of the development process of the scale was establishing a theoretical framework that integrated the dimensions of task- and ego involving climates in conjunction with autonomy, and social relatedness supporting climates. These constructs were adopted from the self-determination and achievement goal theories. A sample of Finnish Grade 9 students, comprising 2,594 girls and 1,803 boys, completed the 18-item MCPES during one physical education class. The results of the study demonstrated that participants had highest mean in task-involving climate and the lowest in autonomy climate and ego-involving climate. Additionally, autonomy, social relatedness, and task- involving climates were significantly and strongly correlated with each other, whereas the ego- involving climate had low or negligible correlations with the other climate dimensions.The construct validity of the MCPES was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. The statistical fit of the four-factor model consisting of motivational climate factors supporting perceived autonomy, social relatedness, task-involvement, and ego-involvement was satisfactory. The results of the reliability analysis showed acceptable internal consistencies for all four dimensions. The Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale can be considered as psychometrically valid tool to measure motivational climate in Finnish Grade 9 students. Key PointsThis study developed Motivational Climate in School Physical Education Scale (MCPES). During the development process of the scale, the theoretical framework using dimensions of task- and ego involving as well as autonomy, and social relatedness supporting climates was constructed. These constructs were adopted from the self-determination and achievement goal theories.The statistical fit of the four-factor model of the

  7. Beads task vs. box task: The specificity of the jumping to conclusions bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balzan, Ryan P; Ephraums, Rachel; Delfabbro, Paul; Andreou, Christina

    2017-09-01

    Previous research involving the probabilistic reasoning 'beads task' has consistently demonstrated a jumping-to-conclusions (JTC) bias, where individuals with delusions make decisions based on limited evidence. However, recent studies have suggested that miscomprehension may be confounding the beads task. The current study aimed to test the conventional beads task against a conceptually simpler probabilistic reasoning "box task" METHODS: One hundred non-clinical participants completed both the beads task and the box task, and the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI) to assess for delusion-proneness. The number of 'draws to decision' was assessed for both tasks. Additionally, the total amount of on-screen evidence was manipulated for the box task, and two new box task measures were assessed (i.e., 'proportion of evidence requested' and 'deviation from optimal solution'). Despite being conceptually similar, the two tasks did not correlate, and participants requested significantly less information on the beads task relative to the box task. High-delusion-prone participants did not demonstrate hastier decisions on either task; in fact, for box task, this group was observed to be significantly more conservative than low-delusion-prone group. Neither task was incentivized; results need replication with a clinical sample. Participants, and particularly those identified as high-delusion-prone, displayed a more conservative style of responding on the novel box task, relative to the beads task. The two tasks, whilst conceptually similar, appear to be tapping different cognitive processes. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the JTC bias and the theoretical mechanisms thought to underlie it. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Feature Set Evaluation for Offline Handwriting Recognition Systems: Application to the Recurrent Neural Network Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chherawala, Youssouf; Roy, Partha Pratim; Cheriet, Mohamed

    2016-12-01

    The performance of handwriting recognition systems is dependent on the features extracted from the word image. A large body of features exists in the literature, but no method has yet been proposed to identify the most promising of these, other than a straightforward comparison based on the recognition rate. In this paper, we propose a framework for feature set evaluation based on a collaborative setting. We use a weighted vote combination of recurrent neural network (RNN) classifiers, each trained with a particular feature set. This combination is modeled in a probabilistic framework as a mixture model and two methods for weight estimation are described. The main contribution of this paper is to quantify the importance of feature sets through the combination weights, which reflect their strength and complementarity. We chose the RNN classifier because of its state-of-the-art performance. Also, we provide the first feature set benchmark for this classifier. We evaluated several feature sets on the IFN/ENIT and RIMES databases of Arabic and Latin script, respectively. The resulting combination model is competitive with state-of-the-art systems.

  9. A comparison of 1D and 2D LSTM architectures for the recognition of handwritten Arabic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yousefi, Mohammad Reza; Soheili, Mohammad Reza; Breuel, Thomas M.; Stricker, Didier

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we present an Arabic handwriting recognition method based on recurrent neural network. We use the Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) architecture, that have proven successful in different printed and handwritten OCR tasks. Applications of LSTM for handwriting recognition employ the two-dimensional architecture to deal with the variations in both vertical and horizontal axis. However, we show that using a simple pre-processing step that normalizes the position and baseline of letters, we can make use of 1D LSTM, which is faster in learning and convergence, and yet achieve superior performance. In a series of experiments on IFN/ENIT database for Arabic handwriting recognition, we demonstrate that our proposed pipeline can outperform 2D LSTM networks. Furthermore, we provide comparisons with 1D LSTM networks trained with manually crafted features to show that the automatically learned features in a globally trained 1D LSTM network with our normalization step can even outperform such systems.

  10. Action-Effect Associations in Voluntary and Cued Task-Switching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sommer, Angelika; Lukas, Sarah

    2018-01-01

    The literature of action control claims that humans control their actions in two ways. In the stimulus-based approach, actions are triggered by external stimuli. In the ideomotor approach, actions are elicited endogenously and controlled by the intended goal. In the current study, our purpose was to investigate whether these two action control modes affect task-switching differently. We combined a classical task-switching paradigm with action-effect learning. Both experiments consisted of two experimental phases: an acquisition phase, in which associations between task, response and subsequent action effects were learned and a test phase, in which the effects of these associations were tested on task performance by presenting the former action effects as preceding effects, prior to the task (called practiced effects). Subjects either chose freely between tasks (ideomotor action control mode) or they were cued as to which task to perform (sensorimotor action control mode). We aimed to replicate the consistency effect (i.e., task is chosen according to the practiced task-effect association) and non-reversal advantage (i.e., better task performance when the practiced effect matches the previously learned task-effect association). Our results suggest that participants acquired stable action-effect associations independently of the learning mode. The consistency effect (Experiment 1) could be shown, independent of the learning mode, but only on the response-level. The non-reversal advantage (Experiment 2) was only evident in the error rates and only for participants who had practiced in the ideomotor action control mode. PMID:29387027

  11. Computer-Related Task Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Longstreet, Phil; Xiao, Xiao; Sarker, Saonee

    2016-01-01

    The existing information system (IS) literature has acknowledged computer self-efficacy (CSE) as an important factor contributing to enhancements in computer-related task performance. However, the empirical results of CSE on performance have not always been consistent, and increasing an individual......'s CSE is often a cumbersome process. Thus, we introduce the theoretical concept of self-prophecy (SP) and examine how this social influence strategy can be used to improve computer-related task performance. Two experiments are conducted to examine the influence of SP on task performance. Results show...... that SP and CSE interact to influence performance. Implications are then discussed in terms of organizations’ ability to increase performance....

  12. Secondary task for full flight simulation incorporating tasks that commonly cause pilot error: Time estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosch, E.

    1975-01-01

    The task of time estimation, an activity occasionally performed by pilots during actual flight, was investigated with the objective of providing human factors investigators with an unobtrusive and minimally loading additional task that is sensitive to differences in flying conditions and flight instrumentation associated with the main task of piloting an aircraft simulator. Previous research indicated that the duration and consistency of time estimates is associated with the cognitive, perceptual, and motor loads imposed by concurrent simple tasks. The relationships between the length and variability of time estimates and concurrent task variables under a more complex situation involving simulated flight were clarified. The wrap-around effect with respect to baseline duration, a consequence of mode switching at intermediate levels of concurrent task distraction, should contribute substantially to estimate variability and have a complex effect on the shape of the resulting distribution of estimates.

  13. Task uncertainty can account for mixing and switch costs in task-switching.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrick S Cooper

    Full Text Available Cognitive control is required in situations that involve uncertainty or change, such as when resolving conflict, selecting responses and switching tasks. Recently, it has been suggested that cognitive control can be conceptualised as a mechanism which prioritises goal-relevant information to deal with uncertainty. This hypothesis has been supported using a paradigm that requires conflict resolution. In this study, we examine whether cognitive control during task switching is also consistent with this notion. We used information theory to quantify the level of uncertainty in different trial types during a cued task-switching paradigm. We test the hypothesis that differences in uncertainty between task repeat and task switch trials can account for typical behavioural effects in task-switching. Increasing uncertainty was associated with less efficient performance (i.e., slower and less accurate, particularly on switch trials and trials that afford little opportunity for advance preparation. Interestingly, both mixing and switch costs were associated with a common episodic control process. These results support the notion that cognitive control may be conceptualised as an information processor that serves to resolve uncertainty in the environment.

  14. The functional neuroanatomy of multitasking: combining dual tasking with a short term memory task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deprez, Sabine; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu; Peeters, Ron; Emsell, Louise; Amant, Frederic; Sunaert, Stefan

    2013-09-01

    Insight into the neural architecture of multitasking is crucial when investigating the pathophysiology of multitasking deficits in clinical populations. Presently, little is known about how the brain combines dual-tasking with a concurrent short-term memory task, despite the relevance of this mental operation in daily life and the frequency of complaints related to this process, in disease. In this study we aimed to examine how the brain responds when a memory task is added to dual-tasking. Thirty-three right-handed healthy volunteers (20 females, mean age 39.9 ± 5.8) were examined with functional brain imaging (fMRI). The paradigm consisted of two cross-modal single tasks (a visual and auditory temporal same-different task with short delay), a dual-task combining both single tasks simultaneously and a multi-task condition, combining the dual-task with an additional short-term memory task (temporal same-different visual task with long delay). Dual-tasking compared to both individual visual and auditory single tasks activated a predominantly right-sided fronto-parietal network and the cerebellum. When adding the additional short-term memory task, a larger and more bilateral frontoparietal network was recruited. We found enhanced activity during multitasking in components of the network that were already involved in dual-tasking, suggesting increased working memory demands, as well as recruitment of multitask-specific components including areas that are likely to be involved in online holding of visual stimuli in short-term memory such as occipito-temporal cortex. These results confirm concurrent neural processing of a visual short-term memory task during dual-tasking and provide evidence for an effective fMRI multitasking paradigm. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. A design space of visualization tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulz, Hans-Jörg; Nocke, Thomas; Heitzler, Magnus; Schumann, Heidrun

    2013-12-01

    Knowledge about visualization tasks plays an important role in choosing or building suitable visual representations to pursue them. Yet, tasks are a multi-faceted concept and it is thus not surprising that the many existing task taxonomies and models all describe different aspects of tasks, depending on what these task descriptions aim to capture. This results in a clear need to bring these different aspects together under the common hood of a general design space of visualization tasks, which we propose in this paper. Our design space consists of five design dimensions that characterize the main aspects of tasks and that have so far been distributed across different task descriptions. We exemplify its concrete use by applying our design space in the domain of climate impact research. To this end, we propose interfaces to our design space for different user roles (developers, authors, and end users) that allow users of different levels of expertise to work with it.

  16. Improving multi-tasking ability through action videogames.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiappe, Dan; Conger, Mark; Liao, Janet; Caldwell, J Lynn; Vu, Kim-Phuong L

    2013-03-01

    The present study examined whether action videogames can improve multi-tasking in high workload environments. Two groups with no action videogame experience were pre-tested using the Multi-Attribute Task Battery (MATB). It consists of two primary tasks; tracking and fuel management, and two secondary tasks; systems monitoring and communication. One group served as a control group, while a second played action videogames a minimum of 5 h a week for 10 weeks. Both groups returned for a post-assessment on the MATB. We found the videogame treatment enhanced performance on secondary tasks, without interfering with the primary tasks. Our results demonstrate action videogames can increase people's ability to take on additional tasks by increasing attentional capacity. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  17. Performance in complex motor tasks deteriorates in hyperthermic humans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Piil, Jacob Feder; Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper; Trangmar, Steven J

    2017-01-01

    -motor tracking performance was reduced by 10.7 ± 6.5% following exercise-induced hyperthermia when integrated in the multipart protocol and 4.4 ± 5.7% when tested separately (bothP 1.3% (P math tasks...... of information or decision-making prior to responding. We hypothesized that divergences could relate to task complexity and developed a protocol consisting of 1) simple motor task [TARGET_pinch], 2) complex motor task [Visuo-motor tracking], 3) simple math task [MATH_type], 4) combined motor-math task [MATH...

  18. On the Use of the Humanoid Bioloid System for Robot-Assisted Transcription of Mexican Spanish Speech

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santiago-Omar Caballero-Morales

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Within the context of service robotics (SR, the development of assistive technologies has become an important research field. However, the accomplishment of assistive tasks requires precise and fine control of the mechanic systems that integrate the robotic entity. Among the most challenging tasks in robot control, the handwriting task (transcription is of particular interest due to the fine control required to draw single and multiple alphabet characters to express words and sentences. For language learning activities, robot-assisted speech transcription can motivate the student to practice pronunciation and writing tasks in a dynamic environment. Hence, this paper is aimed to provide the techniques and models to accomplish accurate robot-assisted transcription of Spanish speech. The transcriptor is integrated by a multi-user speech recognizer for continuous speech and the kinematic models for the Mexican Spanish alphabet characters. The Bioloid system with the standard humanoid configuration and no special modifications or tools was considered for implementation. Particularly, the proposed transcriptor could perform the handwriting task with the Bioloid’s two two DOF (degrees-of-freedom arms. This enabled writing of one-line short and long sentences with small alphabet characters (width <1.0 cm. It is expected that the technique and models that integrate the transcriptor can provide support for the development of robot-assisted language learning activities for children and young adults.

  19. Inter-Association Task Force Report on Image.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Special Libraries Association, Washington, DC.

    In 1988, the Board of Directors of the Special Libraries Association provided funding to a task force to gather data which would determine how certain segments of society perceive librarians, how librarians view themselves and their colleagues, and to provide recommendations for addressing the issue of image. The task force project consisted of…

  20. Method and Apparatus for Performance Optimization Through Physical Perturbation of Task Elements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prinzel, Lawrence J., III (Inventor); Pope, Alan T. (Inventor); Palsson, Olafur S. (Inventor); Turner, Marsha J. (Inventor)

    2016-01-01

    The invention is an apparatus and method of biofeedback training for attaining a physiological state optimally consistent with the successful performance of a task, wherein the probability of successfully completing the task is made is inversely proportional to a physiological difference value, computed as the absolute value of the difference between at least one physiological signal optimally consistent with the successful performance of the task and at least one corresponding measured physiological signal of a trainee performing the task. The probability of successfully completing the task is made inversely proportional to the physiological difference value by making one or more measurable physical attributes of the environment in which the task is performed, and upon which completion of the task depends, vary in inverse proportion to the physiological difference value.

  1. Computerized management of plant intervention tasks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Remacle, J.; Quoidbach, G.

    1993-01-01

    The concept of 'computerized management' of plant intervention tasks was developed by TRACTEBEL in 1983 for the Belgian power plants of ELECTRABEL. The main objective of the 'Computerized Management of Plant Intervention Tasks' is to help the staff of a nuclear or a conventional power plant in planning, organizing, and carrying out any (preventive or corrective) maintenance task. It consists of a group of interconnected functional modules acting on a unique and homogeneous data base. A short description of 3 modules is given, i.e., the 'User' Module, the 'Equipment' Module and the 'Periodic Procedure' Module. (Z.S.)

  2. Task-oriented control of Single-Master Multi-Slave Manipulator System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kosuge, Kazuhiro; Ishikawa, Jun; Furuta, Katsuhisa; Hariki, Kazuo; Sakai, Masaru.

    1994-01-01

    A master-slave manipulator system, in general, consists of a master arm manipulated by a human and a slave arm used for real tasks. Some tasks, such as manipulation of a heavy object, etc., require two or more slave arms operated simultaneously. A Single-Master Multi-Slave Manipulator System consists of a master arm with six degrees of freedom and two or more slave arms, each of which has six or more degrees of freedom. In this system, a master arm controls the task-oriented variables using Virtual Internal Model (VIM) based on the concept of 'Task-Oriented Control'. VIM is a reference model driven by sensory information and used to describe the desired relation between the motion of a master arm and task-oriented variables. The motion of slave arms are controlled based on the task oriented variables generated by VIM and tailors the system to meet specific tasks. A single-master multi-slave manipulator system, having two slave arms, is experimentally developed and illustrates the concept. (author)

  3. Factorial Validity and Internal Consistency of the Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Markus Soini

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to examine the construct validity and internal consistency of the Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale (MCPES. A key element of the development process of the scale was establishing a theoretical framework that integrated the dimensions of task- and ego involving climates in conjunction with autonomy, and social relatedness supporting climates. These constructs were adopted from the self-determination and achievement goal theories. A sample of Finnish Grade 9 students, comprising 2,594 girls and 1,803 boys, completed the 18-item MCPES during one physical education class. The results of the study demonstrated that participants had highest mean in task-involving climate and the lowest in autonomy climate and ego-involving climate. Additionally, autonomy, social relatedness, and task- involving climates were significantly and strongly correlated with each other, whereas the ego- involving climate had low or negligible correlations with the other climate dimensions.The construct validity of the MCPES was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. The statistical fit of the four-factor model consisting of motivational climate factors supporting perceived autonomy, social relatedness, task-involvement, and ego-involvement was satisfactory. The results of the reliability analysis showed acceptable internal consistencies for all four dimensions. The Motivational Climate in Physical Education Scale can be considered as psychometrically valid tool to measure motivational climate in Finnish Grade 9 students.

  4. Comparison of the Effectiveness of Two Intervention Methods of Neurofeedback Training (NFT and the Movement Program on the Handwriting Performance of 9-11 Years Old Children with Dysgraphia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saeid Arsham

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background: Learning disorders, especially dysgraphia, are among the students' educational disabilities. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two intervention methods of neurofeedback training and the movement program on the handwriting performance of 9-11 years old children with dysgraphia. Materials and Methods: This was a quasi-experimental comparative study with a pretest-posttest design. Thirty right-handed boy students aged 9 to 11 years old were selected from elementary and middle schools (district 4 in Karaj, based on the dysgraphia Fallahchai test. Participants were randomly divided into three groups each included 10 subjects. The movement program group did activities with emphasis on visual-motor coordination, fine motor control, visual-motor integrity, and eye-hand coordination 3 sessions per week, for 4 weeks (total of twelve sessions. The neurofeedback group did a training protocol (decreasing beta wave and increasing alpha wave at C3 zone in 4 weeks, 3 sessions per week each session for 20 minutes. The control group did not any training intervention. Results: The data analysis showed that there were significant differences between two groups of intervention and the control group. The two experimental groups had a significant improvement compared to the control group. Also, the results showed that the selected movement program is more effective than neurofeedback training intervention. Conclusion: Overall, the selected movement program was more effective than the neurofeedback training and control group. Therefore, it is suggested that the movement program intervention should be used to improve the handwriting performance of students with poor handwritten quality.

  5. A Comparative Study of Handwriting and Computer Typing in Note-taking by University Students = Análisis comparativo entre escritura manual y electrónica en la toma de apuntes de estudiantes universitarios

    OpenAIRE

    Aragón-Mendizábal, Estíbaliz; Delgado-Casas, Cándida; Navarro-Guzmán, José-I.; Menacho-Jiménez, Inmaculada; Romero-Oliva, Manuel-F.

    2016-01-01

    Taking notes is a common strategy among higher education students, and has been found to affect their academic performance. Nowadays, however, the use of computers is replacing the traditional pencil-and-paper methodology. The present study aims to identify the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of computer (typing) and pencil-and-paper (handwriting) for taking notes by college students. A total of 251 social and health science students participated in the study. Two experim...

  6. Real-life decision making in college students. I: Consistency across specific decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galotti, Kathleen M; Wiener, Hillary J D; Tandler, Jane M

    2014-01-01

    First-year undergraduates participated in a short-term longitudinal study of real-life decision making over their first 14 months of college. They were surveyed about 7 different decisions: choosing courses for an upcoming term (3 different terms), choosing an academic major (twice), planning for the upcoming summer, and planning for sophomore-year housing. Participants showed moderate levels of consistency in the options they considered and in the criteria they used to decide between options, with about half of the options or criteria being used at 2 different points on the decision repeatedly studied. Participants varied somewhat in structural consistency, the tendency to consider the same number of options or criteria across decisions. They also varied in the way they integrated information across decision-making tasks. We suggest that people attempt to keep the information demands of the task within workable limits, sometimes sacrificing consistency as a result.

  7. Gap Task Force

    CERN Multimedia

    Lissuaer, D

    One of the more congested areas in the ATLAS detector is the GAP region (the area between the Barrel Calorimeter and the End Cap calorimeter) where Inner Detector services, LAr Services and some Tile services all must co-habitat in a very limited area. It has been clear for some time that the space in the GAP region is not sufficient to accommodate all that is needed. In the last few month additional problems of routing all the services to Z=0 have been encountered due to the very limited space between the Tile Calorimeter and the first layer of Muon chambers. The Technical Management Board (TMB) and the Executive Board (EB) decided in the middle of March to establish a Task Force to look at this problem and come up with a solution within well-specified guidelines. The task force consisted of experts from the ID, Muon, Liquid Argon and Tile systems in addition to experts from the Technical Coordination team and the Physics coordinator. The task force held many meetings and in general there were some very l...

  8. Exploring the repetition bias in voluntary task switching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mittelstädt, Victor; Dignath, David; Schmidt-Ott, Magdalena; Kiesel, Andrea

    2018-01-01

    In the voluntary task-switching paradigm, participants are required to randomly select tasks. We reasoned that the consistent finding of a repetition bias (i.e., participants repeat tasks more often than expected by chance) reflects reasonable adaptive task selection behavior to balance the goal of random task selection with the goals to minimize the time and effort for task performance. We conducted two experiments in which participants were provided with variable amount of preview for the non-chosen task stimuli (i.e., potential switch stimuli). We assumed that switch stimuli would initiate some pre-processing resulting in improved performance in switch trials. Results showed that reduced switch costs due to extra-preview in advance of each trial were accompanied by more task switches. This finding is in line with the characteristics of rational adaptive behavior. However, participants were not biased to switch tasks more often than chance despite large switch benefits. We suggest that participants might avoid effortful additional control processes that modulate the effects of preview on task performance and task choice.

  9. Overall evaluation of the modelling of the TRUE-1 tracer tests - Task 4. The Aespoe Task Force on Modelling of Groundwater Flow and Transport of Solutes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marschall, Paul; Elert, Mark

    2003-09-01

    The Aespoe Task Force on Modelling of Groundwater Flow and Transport of Solutes is a forum for the international organisations supporting the Aespoe HRL Project. The purpose of the Task Force is to interact in the area of conceptual and numerical modelling of groundwater flow and solute transport in fractured rock. Task 4 of the Aespoe Modelling Task Force consists of modelling exercises in support of the TRUE-1 tracer tests. The task was carried out in 1995-2000 and consisted of several modelling exercises in support of the TRUE-1 tracer tests, including predictive modelling where experimental results were not available beforehand. This report presents an overall evaluation of the achievements of Task 4. The specific objectives of the overall evaluation were to highlight innovative and successful modelling approaches developed, to assess the stages of the task which proved most beneficial for conceptual understanding of transport processes at the TRUE-1 site and to assess the success of various steering tools. A concise summary of scientific achievements is given and conclusions drawn with respect to unresolved technical issues. Recommendations are presented that can optimise the management of future modelling tasks

  10. The influence of different doses of caffeine on visual task performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lorist, MM; Snel, J; Ruijter, J

    1999-01-01

    Tn this study the influence of caffeine as an energy-increasing substance on visual information processing was examined. Subjects were presented with a dual-task consisting of two choice reaction time tasks. In addition, one of the tasks was presented at two levels of difficulty, influencing the

  11. Using Public Speaking Tasks in English Language Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iberri-Shea, Gina

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions for using public speaking tasks in English language teaching (ELT) and to highlight some of their many advantages. For the purpose of this article, the author will focus on two types of these tasks: student presentations and debates. Student presentations may consist of either individual or…

  12. The Attentional Boost Effect: Transient increases in attention to one task enhance performance in a second task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swallow, Khena M; Jiang, Yuhong V

    2010-04-01

    Recent work on event perception suggests that perceptual processing increases when events change. An important question is how such changes influence the way other information is processed, particularly during dual-task performance. In this study, participants monitored a long series of distractor items for an occasional target as they simultaneously encoded unrelated background scenes. The appearance of an occasional target could have two opposite effects on the secondary task: It could draw attention away from the second task, or, as a change in the ongoing event, it could improve secondary task performance. Results were consistent with the second possibility. Memory for scenes presented simultaneously with the targets was better than memory for scenes that preceded or followed the targets. This effect was observed when the primary detection task involved visual feature oddball detection, auditory oddball detection, and visual color-shape conjunction detection. It was eliminated when the detection task was omitted, and when it required an arbitrary response mapping. The appearance of occasional, task-relevant events appears to trigger a temporal orienting response that facilitates processing of concurrently attended information (Attentional Boost Effect). Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Phonological similarity in working memory span tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chow, Michael; Macnamara, Brooke N; Conway, Andrew R A

    2016-08-01

    In a series of four experiments, we explored what conditions are sufficient to produce a phonological similarity facilitation effect in working memory span tasks. By using the same set of memoranda, but differing the secondary-task requirements across experiments, we showed that a phonological similarity facilitation effect is dependent upon the semantic relationship between the memoranda and the secondary-task stimuli, and is robust to changes in the representation, ordering, and pool size of the secondary-task stimuli. These findings are consistent with interference accounts of memory (Brown, Neath, & Chater, Psychological Review, 114, 539-576, 2007; Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Farrell, Jarrold, & Greaves, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 779-819, 2012), whereby rhyming stimuli provide a form of categorical similarity that allows distractors to be excluded from retrieval at recall.

  14. Honeywell's Working Parents Task Force. Final Report and Recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Honeywell, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.

    This publication provides a summary of the Honeywell Working Parent Task Force's recommendations on how to solve problems experienced by working parents. The Task Force consisted of three committees: the Employment Practices Committee (EPC); the Parent Education Committee (PEC); and the Child Care Facilities Committee (CCFC). After examining a…

  15. Handwriting Skills: Attention Co-varies with Graphic Pattern Stability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kostrubiec V.

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Attentional cost of graphic patterns generation was investigated using the classic dual-task procedure, in which a concurrent reaction time (RT task was used as an index of the attentional cost incurred by the motor task. Participants had to trace graphic patterns characterized by 0°, 45°, 90°, 135° and 180° relative phase, while responding by a keypress as fast as possible to an auditory signal. The results evidenced a strong and significant correlation between the stability of the produced pattern and the associated attentional cost measures. The size of minor and major axes of the ellipsoids, capturing the amplitude of graphic patterns, decreased as movement frequency increased, as expected by nonlinear models of pattern generation. In cursive writing, this decrease in amplitude with increasing movement frequency is at origin of most frequent letter malformation.

  16. A Heuristic Task Scheduling Algorithm for Heterogeneous Virtual Clusters

    OpenAIRE

    Weiwei Lin; Wentai Wu; James Z. Wang

    2016-01-01

    Cloud computing provides on-demand computing and storage services with high performance and high scalability. However, the rising energy consumption of cloud data centers has become a prominent problem. In this paper, we first introduce an energy-aware framework for task scheduling in virtual clusters. The framework consists of a task resource requirements prediction module, an energy estimate module, and a scheduler with a task buffer. Secondly, based on this framework, we propose a virtual ...

  17. The reliability and internal consistency of one-shot and flicker change detection for measuring individual differences in visual working memory capacity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pailian, Hrag; Halberda, Justin

    2015-04-01

    We investigated the psychometric properties of the one-shot change detection task for estimating visual working memory (VWM) storage capacity-and also introduced and tested an alternative flicker change detection task for estimating these limits. In three experiments, we found that the one-shot whole-display task returns estimates of VWM storage capacity (K) that are unreliable across set sizes-suggesting that the whole-display task is measuring different things at different set sizes. In two additional experiments, we found that the one-shot single-probe variant shows improvements in the reliability and consistency of K estimates. In another additional experiment, we found that a one-shot whole-display-with-click task (requiring target localization) also showed improvements in reliability and consistency. The latter results suggest that the one-shot task can return reliable and consistent estimates of VWM storage capacity (K), and they highlight the possibility that the requirement to localize the changed target is what engenders this enhancement. Through a final series of four experiments, we introduced and tested an alternative flicker change detection method that also requires the observer to localize the changing target and that generates, from response times, an estimate of VWM storage capacity (K). We found that estimates of K from the flicker task correlated with estimates from the traditional one-shot task and also had high reliability and consistency. We highlight the flicker method's ability to estimate executive functions as well as VWM storage capacity, and discuss the potential for measuring multiple abilities with the one-shot and flicker tasks.

  18. The ontogeny of visual-motor memory and its importance in handwriting and reading: a developing construct.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waterman, Amanda H; Havelka, Jelena; Culmer, Peter R; Hill, Liam J B; Mon-Williams, Mark

    2015-01-07

    Humans have evolved a remarkable ability to remember visual shapes and use these representations to generate motor activity (from Palaeolithic cave drawings through Jiahu symbols to cursive handwriting). The term visual-motor memory (VMM) describes this psychological ability, which must have conveyed an evolutionary advantage and remains critically important to humans (e.g. when learning to write). Surprisingly, little empirical investigation of this unique human ability exists--almost certainly because of the technological difficulties involved in measuring VMM. We deployed a novel technique for measuring this construct in 87 children (6-11 years old, 44 females). Children drew novel shapes presented briefly on a tablet laptop screen, drawing their responses from memory on the screen using a digitizer stylus. Sophisticated algorithms (using point-registration techniques) objectively quantified the accuracy of the children's reproductions. VMM improved with age and performance decreased with shape complexity, indicating that the measure captured meaningful developmental changes. The relationship between VMM and scores on nationally standardized writing assessments were explored with the results showing a clear relationship between these measures, even after controlling for age. Moreover, a relationship between VMM and the nationally standardized reading test was mediated via writing ability, suggesting VMM's wider importance within language development. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  19. Within-person relationship between self-efficacy and performance across trials. Effect of task objective and task type.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hepler, Teri J; Ritchie, Jason; Hill, Christopher R

    2017-07-05

    Self-efficacy has been shown to be a consistent, positive predictor of between-persons performance in sport. However, there have been equivocal results regarding the influence of self-efficacy on a person's performance over time. This study investigated the influence of self-efficacy on motor skill performance across trials with respect to two different task objectives and task types. Participants (N=84) performed 4 blocks of 10 trials of a dart throwing (closed skill) and a hitting (open skill) task under 2 different task objectives: competitive and goal-striving. For the goal-striving condition, success was defined as reaching a pre-determined performance level. The competitive condition involved competing against an opponent. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the influence of past performance and self-efficacy on the within-person performance across multiple trials. Previous performance was negatively related with subsequent performance on all conditions. Self-efficacy was not a significant predictor of performance on any of the conditions. While task objective and task type did not moderate the efficacy-performance relationship in the current study, it is important to consider the role of other moderators in future research.

  20. Relationships between Contextual and Task Performance and Interrater Agreement: Are There Any?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Díaz-Vilela, Luis F; Delgado Rodríguez, Naira; Isla-Díaz, Rosa; Díaz-Cabrera, Dolores; Hernández-Fernaud, Estefanía; Rosales-Sánchez, Christian

    2015-01-01

    Work performance is one of the most important dependent variables in Work and Organizational Psychology. The main objective of this paper was to explore the relationships between citizenship performance and task performance measures obtained from different appraisers and their consistency through a seldom-used methodology, intraclass correlation coefficients. Participants were 135 public employees, the total staff in a local government department. Jobs were clustered into job families through a work analysis based on standard questionnaires. A task description technique was used to develop a performance appraisal questionnaire for each job family, with three versions: self-, supervisor-, and peer-evaluation, in addition to a measure of citizenship performance. Only when the self-appraisal bias is controlled, significant correlations appeared between task performance rates. However, intraclass correlations analyses show that only self- (contextual and task) performance measures are consistent, while interrater agreement disappears. These results provide some interesting clues about the procedure of appraisal instrument development, the role of appraisers, and the importance of choosing adequate consistency analysis methods.

  1. The dependence of human reliability upon task information content

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hermanson, E.M.; Golay, M.W.

    1994-09-01

    The role of human error in safety mishaps is an important factor in system design. As systems become increasingly complex the capacity of the human to deal with the added complexity is diminished. It is therefore crucial to understand the relationship between system complexity and human reliability so that systems may be built in such a way as to minimize human error. One way of understanding this relationship is to quantify system complexity and then measure the human reaction in response to situations of varying complexity. The quantification of system complexity may be performed by determining the information content present in the tasks that the human must execute. The purpose of this work is therefore to build and perform a consistent experiment which will determine the extent to which human reliability depends upon task information content. Two main conclusions may be drawn from this work. The first is that human reliability depends upon task information content. Specifically, as the information content contained in a task increases, the capacity of a human to deal successfully with the task decreases monotonically. Here the definition of total success is the ability to complete the task at hand fully and correctly. Furthermore, there exists a value of information content below which a human can deal with the task successfully, but above which the success of an individual decreases monotonically with increasing information. These ideas should be generalizable to any model where system complexity can be clearly and consistently defined

  2. Validating a visual version of the metronome response task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laflamme, Patrick; Seli, Paul; Smilek, Daniel

    2018-02-12

    The metronome response task (MRT)-a sustained-attention task that requires participants to produce a response in synchrony with an audible metronome-was recently developed to index response variability in the context of studies on mind wandering. In the present studies, we report on the development and validation of a visual version of the MRT (the visual metronome response task; vMRT), which uses the rhythmic presentation of visual, rather than auditory, stimuli. Participants completed the vMRT (Studies 1 and 2) and the original (auditory-based) MRT (Study 2) while also responding to intermittent thought probes asking them to report the depth of their mind wandering. The results showed that (1) individual differences in response variability during the vMRT are highly reliable; (2) prior to thought probes, response variability increases with increasing depth of mind wandering; (3) response variability is highly consistent between the vMRT and the original MRT; and (4) both response variability and depth of mind wandering increase with increasing time on task. Our results indicate that the original MRT findings are consistent across the visual and auditory modalities, and that the response variability measured in both tasks indexes a non-modality-specific tendency toward behavioral variability. The vMRT will be useful in the place of the MRT in experimental contexts in which researchers' designs require a visual-based primary task.

  3. Reliabilities of mental rotation tasks: limits to the assessment of individual differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Thielsch, Meinald T; Zernikow, Boris

    2013-01-01

    Mental rotation tasks with objects and body parts as targets are widely used in cognitive neuropsychology. Even though these tasks are well established to study between-groups differences, the reliability on an individual level is largely unknown. We present a systematic study on the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of individual differences in mental rotation tasks comparing different target types and orders of presentations. In total n = 99 participants (n = 63 for the retest) completed the mental rotation tasks with hands, feet, faces, and cars as targets. Different target types were presented in either randomly mixed blocks or blocks of homogeneous targets. Across all target types, the consistency (split-half reliability) and stability (test-retest reliabilities) were good or acceptable both for intercepts and slopes. At the level of individual targets, only intercepts showed acceptable reliabilities. Blocked presentations resulted in significantly faster and numerically more consistent and stable responses. Mental rotation tasks-especially in blocked variants-can be used to reliably assess individual differences in global processing speed. However, the assessment of the theoretically important slope parameter for individual targets requires further adaptations to mental rotation tests.

  4. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TASK AVERSIVENESS AND ACADEMIC PROCRASTINATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magvirasari Lestari Linra

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Academic procrastination occurs when certain tasks are considered unpleasant, an unpleasant task and the usual delayed them is the task of writing, reading, studying for the exam, meetings, and administrative. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of the task aversiveness with academic procrastination. Subject of the study were 100 students out of a population of 516 students of the Faculty of Psychology class of 2012-2014. The method used in this research is quantitative by using Spearman rho as data analysis techniques. The research instrument consists of academic procrastination scale and the scale of the task aversiveness. Based on the results of correlation is known that there is a positive relationship between task aversiveness with academic procrastination with a correlation coefficient r = 0.508; p = 0.000. The results showed that of the 100 students of the Faculty of Psychology University of Makassar has a degree of relationship between task aversiveness with academic procrastination is on the very low category (25, 8%. Area / types of tasks delayed is not necessarily an unpleasant task and otherwise unpleasant task may not be postponed. Area task the highest level of aversive and delays are areas the task of writing and reading. This study illustrates that academic procrastination can be lowered by a change in the mindset of an unpleasant task.

  5. Learning and inference using complex generative models in a spatial localization task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bejjanki, Vikranth R; Knill, David C; Aslin, Richard N

    2016-01-01

    A large body of research has established that, under relatively simple task conditions, human observers integrate uncertain sensory information with learned prior knowledge in an approximately Bayes-optimal manner. However, in many natural tasks, observers must perform this sensory-plus-prior integration when the underlying generative model of the environment consists of multiple causes. Here we ask if the Bayes-optimal integration seen with simple tasks also applies to such natural tasks when the generative model is more complex, or whether observers rely instead on a less efficient set of heuristics that approximate ideal performance. Participants localized a "hidden" target whose position on a touch screen was sampled from a location-contingent bimodal generative model with different variances around each mode. Over repeated exposure to this task, participants learned the a priori locations of the target (i.e., the bimodal generative model), and integrated this learned knowledge with uncertain sensory information on a trial-by-trial basis in a manner consistent with the predictions of Bayes-optimal behavior. In particular, participants rapidly learned the locations of the two modes of the generative model, but the relative variances of the modes were learned much more slowly. Taken together, our results suggest that human performance in a more complex localization task, which requires the integration of sensory information with learned knowledge of a bimodal generative model, is consistent with the predictions of Bayes-optimal behavior, but involves a much longer time-course than in simpler tasks.

  6. Staying on Task: Age-Related Changes in the Relationship Between Executive Functioning and Response Time Consistency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasquez, Brandon P; Binns, Malcolm A; Anderson, Nicole D

    2016-03-01

    Little is known about the relationship of executive functioning with age-related increases in response time (RT) distribution indices (intraindividual standard deviation [ISD], and ex-Gaussian parameters mu, sigma, tau). The goals of this study were to (a) replicate findings of age-related changes in response time distribution indices during an engaging touch-screen RT task and (b) investigate age-related changes in the relationship between executive functioning and RT distribution indices. Healthy adults (24 young [aged 18-30], 24 young-old [aged 65-74], and 24 old-old [aged 75-85]) completed a touch-screen attention task and a battery of neuropsychological tests. The relationships between RT performance and executive functions were examined with structural equation modeling (SEM). ISD, mu, and tau, but not sigma, increased with age. SEM revealed tau as the most salient RT index associated with neuropsychological measures of executive functioning. Further analysis demonstrated that correlations between tau and a weighted executive function composite were significant only in the old-old group. Our results replicate findings of greater RT inconsistency in older adults and reveal that executive functioning is related to tau in adults aged 75-85. These results support literature identifying tau as a marker of cognitive control, which deteriorates in old age. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. From "rest" to language task: Task activation selects and prunes from broader resting-state network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doucet, Gaelle E; He, Xiaosong; Sperling, Michael R; Sharan, Ashwini; Tracy, Joseph I

    2017-05-01

    Resting-state networks (RSNs) show spatial patterns generally consistent with networks revealed during cognitive tasks. However, the exact degree of overlap between these networks has not been clearly quantified. Such an investigation shows promise for decoding altered functional connectivity (FC) related to abnormal language functioning in clinical populations such as temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). In this context, we investigated the network configurations during a language task and during resting state using FC. Twenty-four healthy controls, 24 right and 24 left TLE patients completed a verb generation (VG) task and a resting-state fMRI scan. We compared the language network revealed by the VG task with three FC-based networks (seeding the left inferior frontal cortex (IFC)/Broca): two from the task (ON, OFF blocks) and one from the resting state. We found that, for both left TLE patients and controls, the RSN recruited regions bilaterally, whereas both VG-on and VG-off conditions produced more left-lateralized FC networks, matching more closely with the activated language network. TLE brings with it variability in both task-dependent and task-independent networks, reflective of atypical language organization. Overall, our findings suggest that our RSN captured bilateral activity, reflecting a set of prepotent language regions. We propose that this relationship can be best understood by the notion of pruning or winnowing down of the larger language-ready RSN to carry out specific task demands. Our data suggest that multiple types of network analyses may be needed to decode the association between language deficits and the underlying functional mechanisms altered by disease. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2540-2552, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. The use of cognitive cues for anticipatory strategies in a dynamic postural control task - validation of a novel approach to dual-task testing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Læssøe, Uffe; Grarup, Bo; Bangshaab, Jette

    2016-01-01

    Introduction: Dual-task testing is relevant in the assessment of postural control. A combination of a primary (motor) and a secondary (distracting cognitive) tasks is most often used. It remains a challenge however, to standardize and monitor the cognitive task. In this study a new dual......-task testing approach with a facilitating, rather than distracting, cognitive component was evaluated. Methods: Thirty-one community-dwelling elderly and fifteen young people were tested with respect to their ability to use anticipatory postural control strategies. The motor task consisted of twenty...... two sessions. Conclusion: The dual-task test was sensitive enough to discriminate between elderly and young people. It revealed that the elderly did not utilize cognitive cues for their anticipatory postural control strategies as well as the young were able to. The test procedure was feasible...

  9. Comparing the subjective task difficulty of human operators with task description levels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Jin Kyun; Jung, Won Dea; Yang, Joon Eon

    2011-01-01

    Without the loss of generality, it is reasonable to say that an operating procedure consists of many steps including detailed descriptions that provide necessary information in conducting the required tasks safely and effectively. In this regard, since it is widely perceived that procedures are effective for reducing the occurrence of human performance related problems, the use of procedures is very popular in large process control systems including nuclear power plants (NPPs), commercial airplanes and railway systems. However, the secure of an operational safety by using an operating procedure can be accomplished only if human operators are able to effectively obtain necessary information from it. In other words, it is hard to expect the reduction of human performance related problems, if task descriptions are so ambiguous or incomplete that human operators feel an undue difficulty in identifying 'what have to be done' and 'how to do it' from procedures. Unfortunately, it seems that a systematic method that can be used to distinguish the proper level of task descriptions is rare. For this reason, Park et al. developed a decision chart that could be helpful for characterizing the level of task descriptions. In this study, in order to ensure the appropriateness of the suggested decision chart, more detailed investigations were conducted with the support of human operators who are working as the operating personnel of NPPs

  10. Real-time multi-task operators support system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang He; Peng Minjun; Wang Hao; Cheng Shouyu

    2005-01-01

    The development in computer software and hardware technology and information processing as well as the accumulation in the design and feedback from Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operation created a good opportunity to develop an integrated Operator Support System. The Real-time Multi-task Operator Support System (RMOSS) has been built to support the operator's decision making process during normal and abnormal operations. RMOSS consists of five system subtasks such as Data Collection and Validation Task (DCVT), Operation Monitoring Task (OMT), Fault Diagnostic Task (FDT), Operation Guideline Task (OGT) and Human Machine Interface Task (HMIT). RMOSS uses rule-based expert system and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The rule-based expert system is used to identify the predefined events in static conditions and track the operation guideline through data processing. In dynamic status, Back-Propagation Neural Network is adopted for fault diagnosis, which is trained with the Genetic Algorithm. Embedded real-time operation system VxWorks and its integrated environment Tornado II are used as the RMOSS software cross-development. VxGUI is used to design HMI. All of the task programs are designed in C language. The task tests and function evaluation of RMOSS have been done in one real-time full scope simulator. Evaluation results show that each task of RMOSS is capable of accomplishing its functions. (authors)

  11. Autonomous Navigation with Constrained Consistency for C-Ranger

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shujing Zhang

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs have become the most widely used tools for undertaking complex exploration tasks in marine environments. Their synthetic ability to carry out localization autonomously and build an environmental map concurrently, in other words, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM, are considered to be pivotal requirements for AUVs to have truly autonomous navigation. However, the consistency problem of the SLAM system has been greatly ignored during the past decades. In this paper, a consistency constrained extended Kalman filter (EKF SLAM algorithm, applying the idea of local consistency, is proposed and applied to the autonomous navigation of the C-Ranger AUV, which is developed as our experimental platform. The concept of local consistency (LC is introduced after an explicit theoretical derivation of the EKF-SLAM system. Then, we present a locally consistency-constrained EKF-SLAM design, LC-EKF, in which the landmark estimates used for linearization are fixed at the beginning of each local time period, rather than evaluated at the latest landmark estimates. Finally, our proposed LC-EKF algorithm is experimentally verified, both in simulations and sea trials. The experimental results show that the LC-EKF performs well with regard to consistency, accuracy and computational efficiency.

  12. Effects of dual-task conditions on cervical spine movement variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niederer, Daniel; Vogt, Lutz; Vogel, Johanna; Banzer, Winfried

    2017-09-22

    The potential to accurately perform cervical movements during more challenging tasks might be of importance to prevent dysfunctional motion characteristics. Although sensorimotor function during dual-task conditions are of increasing interest in biomedical and rehabilitation research, effects of such conditions on movement consistency of the neck have not yet been investigated. In this crossover MiSpEx(Medicine in Spine Exercise)-diagnostic study, we aimed to explore differences between single and dual-task conditions on cervical movement variability. Nineteen healthy participants (9 male; 24.5 ± 3.3 y) performed 10 repetitive maximal cervical movements in (1) flexion/extension and (2) lateral flexion, during one single- and during two dual-task test conditions (cognitive, motor) in a randomised and cross-over sequence. Latter consisted of a working memory n-back task (n= 2) and a repetitive ankle movement task. Range of motion (RoM) was assessed using an external three-dimensional ultrasonic movement analysis system. Coefficient of variation (CV) for repetitive RoM was analysed for differences between conditions and controlled for variances in intra-individual movement characteristics. Friedman and post-hoc Bonferroni-adjusted confidence intervals for differences from single- to dual-task values revealed changes in CV in flexion/extension from single-task to motor dual-task (+0.02 ± 0.02 (97.5%CI: 0.01; 0.03); pdual-task condition (+0.01 ± 0.02 (97.5%CI: 0.003; 0.02)) nor for lateral flexion (p> 0.05). Pearson regression analyses revealed a linear negative (pdual-task (R=2 0.55). Results for lateral flexion are comparable, baseline CV negatively impacts differences to cognitive (R=2 0.2) and motor dual-task performance (R=2 0.76; pdual-task conditions while participants with a higher variability remained almost stable or showed a decrease. The results point toward a complex interrelationship of motion patterns and adaptation processes during challenging tasks

  13. Intrinsic and task-evoked network architectures of the human brain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Michael W.; Bassett, Danielle S.; Power, Jonathan D.; Braver, Todd S.; Petersen, Steven E.

    2014-01-01

    Summary Many functional network properties of the human brain have been identified during rest and task states, yet it remains unclear how the two relate. We identified a whole-brain network architecture present across dozens of task states that was highly similar to the resting-state network architecture. The most frequent functional connectivity strengths across tasks closely matched the strengths observed at rest, suggesting this is an “intrinsic”, standard architecture of functional brain organization. Further, a set of small but consistent changes common across tasks suggests the existence of a task-general network architecture distinguishing task states from rest. These results indicate the brain’s functional network architecture during task performance is shaped primarily by an intrinsic network architecture that is also present during rest, and secondarily by evoked task-general and task-specific network changes. This establishes a strong relationship between resting-state functional connectivity and task-evoked functional connectivity – areas of neuroscientific inquiry typically considered separately. PMID:24991964

  14. Reliability of the Cooking Task in adults with acquired brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poncet, Frédérique; Swaine, Bonnie; Taillefer, Chantal; Lamoureux, Julie; Pradat-Diehl, Pascale; Chevignard, Mathilde

    2015-01-01

    Acquired brain injury (ABI) often leads to deficits in executive functioning (EF) responsible for severe and long-standing disabilities in daily life activities. The Cooking Task is an ecological and valid test of EF involving multi-tasking in a real environment. Given its complex scoring system, it is important to establish the tool's reliability. The objective of the study was to examine the reliability of the Cooking Task (internal consistency, inter-rater and test-retest reliability). A total of 160 patients with ABI (113 men, mean age 37 years, SD = 14.3) were tested using the Cooking Task. For test-retest reliability, patients were assessed by the same rater on two occasions (mean interval 11 days) while two raters independently and simultaneously observed and scored patients' performances to estimate inter-rater reliability. Internal consistency was high for the global scale (Cronbach α = .74). Inter-rater reliability (n = 66) for total errors was also high (ICC = .93), however the test-retest reliability (n = 11) was poor (ICC = .36). In general the Cooking Task appears to be a reliable tool. The low test-retest results were expected given the importance of EF in the performance of novel tasks.

  15. Effects of force reflection on servomanipulator task performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Draper, J.V.; Moore, W.E.; Herndon, J.N.; Weil, B.S.

    1986-01-01

    This paper reports results of a testing program that assessed the impact of force reflection on servomanipulator task performance. The testing program compared three force-reflection levels: 4 to 1 (four units of force on the slave produce one unit of force at the master controller), 1 to 1, and infinity to 1 (no force reflection). Time required to complete tasks, rate of occurrence of errors, the maximum force applied to task components, and variability in forces during completion of representative remote handling tasks were used as dependent variables. Operators exhibited lower error rates, lower peak forces, and more consistent application of forces using force reflection than they did without it. These data support the hypothesis that force reflection provides useful information for servomanipulator operators

  16. Sleep deprivation and time-on-task performance decrement in the rat psychomotor vigilance task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oonk, Marcella; Davis, Christopher J; Krueger, James M; Wisor, Jonathan P; Van Dongen, Hans P A

    2015-03-01

    The rat psychomotor vigilance task (rPVT) was developed as a rodent analog of the human psychomotor vigilance task (hPVT). We examined whether rPVT performance displays time-on-task effects similar to those observed on the hPVT. The rPVT requires rats to respond to a randomly presented light stimulus to obtain a water reward. Rats were water deprived for 22 h prior to each 30-min rPVT session to motivate performance. We analyzed rPVT performance over time on task and as a function of the response-stimulus interval, at baseline and after sleep deprivation. The study was conducted in an academic research vivarium. Male Long-Evans rats were trained to respond to a 0.5 sec stimulus light within 3 sec of stimulus onset. Complete data were available for n = 20 rats. Rats performed the rPVT for 30 min at baseline and after 24 h total sleep deprivation by gentle handling. Compared to baseline, sleep deprived rats displayed increased performance lapses and premature responses, similar to hPVT lapses of attention and false starts. However, in contrast to hPVT performance, the time-on-task performance decrement was not significantly enhanced by sleep deprivation. Moreover, following sleep deprivation, rPVT response times were not consistently increased after short response-stimulus intervals. The rPVT manifests similarities to the hPVT in global performance outcomes, but not in post-sleep deprivation effects of time on task and response-stimulus interval. © 2015 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

  17. Relationships between Contextual and Task Performance and Interrater Agreement: Are There Any?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis F Díaz-Vilela

    Full Text Available Work performance is one of the most important dependent variables in Work and Organizational Psychology. The main objective of this paper was to explore the relationships between citizenship performance and task performance measures obtained from different appraisers and their consistency through a seldom-used methodology, intraclass correlation coefficients. Participants were 135 public employees, the total staff in a local government department. Jobs were clustered into job families through a work analysis based on standard questionnaires. A task description technique was used to develop a performance appraisal questionnaire for each job family, with three versions: self-, supervisor-, and peer-evaluation, in addition to a measure of citizenship performance. Only when the self-appraisal bias is controlled, significant correlations appeared between task performance rates. However, intraclass correlations analyses show that only self- (contextual and task performance measures are consistent, while interrater agreement disappears. These results provide some interesting clues about the procedure of appraisal instrument development, the role of appraisers, and the importance of choosing adequate consistency analysis methods.

  18. 77 FR 74341 - Establishing the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-14

    ..., local, and tribal communities to improve the region's resilience, health, and prosperity by building for... Urban Development (Chair). (a) In addition to the Chair, the Task Force shall consist of the head of... offices related to the functions of the Task Force; and (iii) specifying the form and subject matter of...

  19. Task force on modelling of groundwater flow and transport of solutes. Task 5 Summary report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rhen, Ingvar; Smellie, John

    2003-02-01

    The Aespoe Hard Rock Laboratory is located in the Simpevarp area, southeast Sweden, some 35 km north of Oskarshamn. Construction of the underground laboratory commenced in 1990 and was completed in 1995, consisting of a 3.6 km. long tunnel excavated in crystalline rock to a depth of approximately 460 m. Prior to, during and subsequent to completion, research concerning the deep geological disposal of nuclear waste in fractured crystalline rock has been carried out. Central to this research has been the characterisation of the groundwater flow system and the chemistry of the groundwaters at Aespoe prior to excavation (Pre-investigation Phase) and subsequently to monitor changes in these parameters during the evolution of laboratory construction (Construction Phase). The principle aim of the Aespoe Task 5 modelling exercise has been to compare and ultimately integrate hydrogeochemistry and hydrogeology using the input data from the pre-investigation and construction phases. The main objectives were: to assess the consistency of groundwater-flow models and hydrogeochemical mixing-reaction models through integration and comparison of hydraulic and hydrogeochemical data obtained before and during tunnel construction, and to develop a procedure for integration of hydrological and hydrogeochemical information which could be used for disposal site assessments. Task 5 commenced in 1998 and was finalised in 2002. Participating modelling teams in the project represented ANDRA (France; three modelling teams - ANTEA, ITASCA, CEA), BMWi/BGR (Germany), ENRESA (Spain), JNC (Japan), CRIEPI (Japan), Posiva (Finland) and SKB (Sweden; two modelling teams - CFE and Intera (now GeoPoint)). Experience from Task 5 has highlighted several important aspects for site investigations facilitating the possibilities for mathematically integrated modelling and consistency checks that should be taken into account for future repository performance assessments. Equally important is that Task 5 has

  20. Task force on modelling of groundwater flow and transport of solutes. Task 5 Summary report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rhen, Ingvar [SWECO VIAK AB, Goeteborg (Sweden); Smellie, John [Conterra AB, Uppsala (Sweden)

    2003-02-01

    The Aespoe Hard Rock Laboratory is located in the Simpevarp area, southeast Sweden, some 35 km north of Oskarshamn. Construction of the underground laboratory commenced in 1990 and was completed in 1995, consisting of a 3.6 km. long tunnel excavated in crystalline rock to a depth of approximately 460 m. Prior to, during and subsequent to completion, research concerning the deep geological disposal of nuclear waste in fractured crystalline rock has been carried out. Central to this research has been the characterisation of the groundwater flow system and the chemistry of the groundwaters at Aespoe prior to excavation (Pre-investigation Phase) and subsequently to monitor changes in these parameters during the evolution of laboratory construction (Construction Phase). The principle aim of the Aespoe Task 5 modelling exercise has been to compare and ultimately integrate hydrogeochemistry and hydrogeology using the input data from the pre-investigation and construction phases. The main objectives were: to assess the consistency of groundwater-flow models and hydrogeochemical mixing-reaction models through integration and comparison of hydraulic and hydrogeochemical data obtained before and during tunnel construction, and to develop a procedure for integration of hydrological and hydrogeochemical information which could be used for disposal site assessments. Task 5 commenced in 1998 and was finalised in 2002. Participating modelling teams in the project represented ANDRA (France; three modelling teams - ANTEA, ITASCA, CEA), BMWi/BGR (Germany), ENRESA (Spain), JNC (Japan), CRIEPI (Japan), Posiva (Finland) and SKB (Sweden; two modelling teams - CFE and Intera (now GeoPoint)). Experience from Task 5 has highlighted several important aspects for site investigations facilitating the possibilities for mathematically integrated modelling and consistency checks that should be taken into account for future repository performance assessments. Equally important is that Task 5 has

  1. A chain-retrieval model for voluntary task switching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandierendonck, André; Demanet, Jelle; Liefooghe, Baptist; Verbruggen, Frederick

    2012-09-01

    To account for the findings obtained in voluntary task switching, this article describes and tests the chain-retrieval model. This model postulates that voluntary task selection involves retrieval of task information from long-term memory, which is then used to guide task selection and task execution. The model assumes that the retrieved information consists of acquired sequences (or chains) of tasks, that selection may be biased towards chains containing more task repetitions and that bottom-up triggered repetitions may overrule the intended task. To test this model, four experiments are reported. In Studies 1 and 2, sequences of task choices and the corresponding transition sequences (task repetitions or switches) were analyzed with the help of dependency statistics. The free parameters of the chain-retrieval model were estimated on the observed task sequences and these estimates were used to predict autocorrelations of tasks and transitions. In Studies 3 and 4, sequences of hand choices and their transitions were analyzed similarly. In all studies, the chain-retrieval model yielded better fits and predictions than statistical models of event choice. In applications to voluntary task switching (Studies 1 and 2), all three parameters of the model were needed to account for the data. When no task switching was required (Studies 3 and 4), the chain-retrieval model could account for the data with one or two parameters clamped to a neutral value. Implications for our understanding of voluntary task selection and broader theoretical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. The effects of environmental support and secondary tasks on visuospatial working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lilienthal, Lindsey; Hale, Sandra; Myerson, Joel

    2014-10-01

    In the present experiments, we examined the effects of environmental support on participants' ability to rehearse locations and the role of such support in the effects of secondary tasks on memory span. In Experiment 1, the duration of interitem intervals and the presence of environmental support for visuospatial rehearsal (i.e., the array of possible memory locations) during the interitem intervals were both manipulated across four tasks. When support was provided, memory spans increased as the interitem interval durations increased, consistent with the hypothesis that environmental support facilitates rehearsal. In contrast, when environmental support was not provided, spans decreased as the duration of the interitem intervals increased, consistent with the hypothesis that visuospatial memory representations decay when rehearsal is impeded. In Experiment 2, the ratio of interitem interval duration to intertrial interval duration was kept the same on all four tasks, in order to hold temporal distinctiveness constant, yet forgetting was still observed in the absence of environmental support, consistent with the decay hypothesis. In Experiment 3, the effects of impeding rehearsal were compared to the effects of verbal and visuospatial secondary processing tasks. Forgetting of locations was greater when presentation of to-be-remembered locations alternated with the performance of a secondary task than when rehearsal was impeded by the absence of environmental support. The greatest forgetting occurred when a secondary task required the processing visuospatial information, suggesting that in addition to decay, both domain-specific and domain-general effects contribute to forgetting on visuospatial working memory tasks.

  3. Using complex networks to quantify consistency in the use of words

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amancio, D R; Oliveira Jr, O N; Costa, L da F

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we have quantified the consistency of word usage in written texts represented by complex networks, where words were taken as nodes, by measuring the degree of preservation of the node neighborhood. Words were considered highly consistent if the authors used them with the same neighborhood. When ranked according to the consistency of use, the words obeyed a log-normal distribution, in contrast to Zipf's law that applies to the frequency of use. Consistency correlated positively with the familiarity and frequency of use, and negatively with ambiguity and age of acquisition. An inspection of some highly consistent words confirmed that they are used in very limited semantic contexts. A comparison of consistency indices for eight authors indicated that these indices may be employed for author recognition. Indeed, as expected, authors of novels could be distinguished from those who wrote scientific texts. Our analysis demonstrated the suitability of the consistency indices, which can now be applied in other tasks, such as emotion recognition

  4. How do task characteristics affect learning and performance? The roles of variably mapped and dynamic tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macnamara, Brooke N; Frank, David J

    2018-05-01

    For well over a century, scientists have investigated individual differences in performance. The majority of studies have focused on either differences in practice, or differences in cognitive resources. However, the predictive ability of either practice or cognitive resources varies considerably across tasks. We are the first to examine task characteristics' impact on learning and performance in a complex task while controlling for other task characteristics. In 2 experiments we test key theoretical task characteristic thought to moderate the relationship between practice, cognitive resources, and performance. We devised a task where each of several key task characteristics can be manipulated independently. Participants played 5 rounds of a game similar to the popular tower defense videogame Plants vs. Zombies where both cognitive load and game characteristics were manipulated. In Experiment 1, participants either played a consistently mapped version-the stimuli and the associated meaning of their properties were constant across the 5 rounds-or played a variably mapped version-the stimuli and the associated meaning of their properties changed every few minutes. In Experiment 2, participants either played a static version-that is, turn taking with no time pressure-or played a dynamic version-that is, the stimuli moved regardless of participants' response rates. In Experiment 1, participants' accuracy and efficiency were substantially hindered in the variably mapped conditions. In Experiment 2, learning and performance accuracy were hindered in the dynamic conditions, especially when under cognitive load. Our results suggest that task characteristics impact the relative importance of cognitive resources and practice on predicting learning and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Effects of visual and verbal interference tasks on olfactory memory: the role of task complexity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annett, J M; Leslie, J C

    1996-08-01

    Recent studies have demonstrated that visual and verbal suppression tasks interfere with olfactory memory in a manner which is partially consistent with a dual coding interpretation. However, it has been suggested that total task complexity rather than modality specificity of the suppression tasks might account for the observed pattern of results. This study addressed the issue of whether or not the level of difficulty and complexity of suppression tasks could explain the apparent modality effects noted in earlier experiments. A total of 608 participants were each allocated to one of 19 experimental conditions involving interference tasks which varied suppression type (visual or verbal), nature of complexity (single, double or mixed) and level of difficulty (easy, optimal or difficult) and presented with 13 target odours. Either recognition of the odours or free recall of the odour names was tested on one occasion, either within 15 minutes of presentation or one week later. Both recognition and recall performance showed an overall effect for suppression nature, suppression level and time of testing with no effect for suppression type. The results lend only limited support to Paivio's (1986) dual coding theory, but have a number of characteristics which suggest that an adequate account of olfactory memory may be broadly similar to current theories of face and object recognition. All of these phenomena might be dealt with by an appropriately modified version of dual coding theory.

  6. A Computerized Tablet with Visual Feedback of Hand Position for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahta eKarimpoor

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Neuropsychological tests - behavioral tasks that very commonly involve handwriting and drawing - are widely used in the clinic to detect abnormal brain function. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI may be useful in increasing the specificity of such tests. However, performing complex pen-and-paper tests during fMRI involves engineering challenges. Previously, we developed an fMRI-compatible, computerized tablet system to address this issue. However, the tablet did not include visual feedback of hand position (VFHP, a human factors component that may be important for fMRI of certain patient populations. A real-time system was thus developed to provide VFHP and integrated with the tablet in an augmented reality display. The effectiveness of the system was initially tested in young healthy adults who performed various handwriting tasks in front of a computer display with and without VFHP. Pilot fMRI of writing tasks were performed by two representative individuals with and without VFHP. Quantitative analysis of the behavioral results indicated improved writing performance with VFHP. The pilot fMRI results suggest that writing with VFHP requires less neural resources compared to the without VFHP condition, to maintain similar behavior. Thus, the tablet system with VFHP is recommended for future fMRI studies involving patients with impaired brain function and where ecologically valid behavior is important.

  7. A computerized tablet with visual feedback of hand position for functional magnetic resonance imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karimpoor, Mahta; Tam, Fred; Strother, Stephen C.; Fischer, Corinne E.; Schweizer, Tom A.; Graham, Simon J.

    2015-01-01

    Neuropsychological tests behavioral tasks that very commonly involve handwriting and drawing are widely used in the clinic to detect abnormal brain function. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) may be useful in increasing the specificity of such tests. However, performing complex pen-and-paper tests during fMRI involves engineering challenges. Previously, we developed an fMRI-compatible, computerized tablet system to address this issue. However, the tablet did not include visual feedback of hand position (VFHP), a human factors component that may be important for fMRI of certain patient populations. A real-time system was thus developed to provide VFHP and integrated with the tablet in an augmented reality display. The effectiveness of the system was initially tested in young healthy adults who performed various handwriting tasks in front of a computer display with and without VFHP. Pilot fMRI of writing tasks were performed by two representative individuals with and without VFHP. Quantitative analysis of the behavioral results indicated improved writing performance with VFHP. The pilot fMRI results suggest that writing with VFHP requires less neural resources compared to the without VFHP condition, to maintain similar behavior. Thus, the tablet system with VFHP is recommended for future fMRI studies involving patients with impaired brain function and where ecologically valid behavior is important. PMID:25859201

  8. A model for the pilot's use of motion cues in roll-axis tracking tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levison, W. H.; Junker, A. M.

    1977-01-01

    Simulated target-following and disturbance-regulation tasks were explored with subjects using visual-only and combined visual and motion cues. The effects of motion cues on task performance and pilot response behavior were appreciably different for the two task configurations and were consistent with data reported in earlier studies for similar task configurations. The optimal-control model for pilot/vehicle systems provided a task-independent framework for accounting for the pilot's use of motion cues. Specifically, the availability of motion cues was modeled by augmenting the set of perceptual variables to include position, rate, acceleration, and accleration-rate of the motion simulator, and results were consistent with the hypothesis of attention-sharing between visual and motion variables. This straightforward informational model allowed accurate model predictions of the effects of motion cues on a variety of response measures for both the target-following and disturbance-regulation tasks.

  9. Brain Stimulation Reward Supports More Consistent and Accurate Rodent Decision-Making than Food Reward.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMurray, Matthew S; Conway, Sineadh M; Roitman, Jamie D

    2017-01-01

    Animal models of decision-making rely on an animal's motivation to decide and its ability to detect differences among various alternatives. Food reinforcement, although commonly used, is associated with problematic confounds, especially satiety. Here, we examined the use of brain stimulation reward (BSR) as an alternative reinforcer in rodent models of decision-making and compared it with the effectiveness of sugar pellets. The discriminability of various BSR frequencies was compared to differing numbers of sugar pellets in separate free-choice tasks. We found that BSR was more discriminable and motivated greater task engagement and more consistent preference for the larger reward. We then investigated whether rats prefer BSR of varying frequencies over sugar pellets. We found that animals showed either a clear preference for sugar reward or no preference between reward modalities, depending on the frequency of the BSR alternative and the size of the sugar reward. Overall, these results suggest that BSR is an effective reinforcer in rodent decision-making tasks, removing food-related confounds and resulting in more accurate, consistent, and reliable metrics of choice.

  10. Task Listings Resulting from the Vocational Competency Measures Project. Memorandum Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, CA.

    This memorandum report consists of 14 task listings resulting from the Vocational Competency Measures Project. (The Vocational Competency Measures Project was a test development project that involved the writing and verification of task listings for 14 vocational occupational areas through over 225 interviews conducted in 27 states.) Provided in…

  11. Postural adjustments are modulated by manual task complexity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Augusto Teixeira

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Daily life activities of humans are characterized by dual tasks, in which a manual task is performed concomitantly with a postural task. Based on the assumption that both manual and postural tasks require attentional resources, no consensus exists as to how the central nervous system modulates postural adjustments in dual tasks. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of a manual task requiring attentional resources on shoulder and ankle adjustments as a function of the direction and predictability of postural perturbation. The participants (n=6 were evaluated during the performance of a simple and a complex manual task, while the base of support was moved backward or forward. Latency of activation of the tibialis anterior and gastroc-nemius muscles and angular acceleration of the shoulder were analyzed. The results showed that execution of the complex manual task delayed postural adjustment. Moreover, this delay occurred differently depending on the direction of postural perturbation. The delay in postural adjustment occurred proximally in the case of anterior displacement of the platform, and distally in the case of posterior displacement. Postural adjustments were more affected by the attentional task than by the predictability of platform displacement. These results are consistent with the concept of an integrated control between manual actions and the maintenance of static posture.

  12. Facial Mimicry and Emotion Consistency: Influences of Memory and Context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirkham, Alexander J; Hayes, Amy E; Pawling, Ralph; Tipper, Steven P

    2015-01-01

    This study investigates whether mimicry of facial emotions is a stable response or can instead be modulated and influenced by memory of the context in which the emotion was initially observed, and therefore the meaning of the expression. The study manipulated emotion consistency implicitly, where a face expressing smiles or frowns was irrelevant and to be ignored while participants categorised target scenes. Some face identities always expressed emotions consistent with the scene (e.g., smiling with a positive scene), whilst others were always inconsistent (e.g., frowning with a positive scene). During this implicit learning of face identity and emotion consistency there was evidence for encoding of face-scene emotion consistency, with slower RTs, a reduction in trust, and inhibited facial EMG for faces expressing incompatible emotions. However, in a later task where the faces were subsequently viewed expressing emotions with no additional context, there was no evidence for retrieval of prior emotion consistency, as mimicry of emotion was similar for consistent and inconsistent individuals. We conclude that facial mimicry can be influenced by current emotion context, but there is little evidence of learning, as subsequent mimicry of emotionally consistent and inconsistent faces is similar.

  13. Facial Mimicry and Emotion Consistency: Influences of Memory and Context.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander J Kirkham

    Full Text Available This study investigates whether mimicry of facial emotions is a stable response or can instead be modulated and influenced by memory of the context in which the emotion was initially observed, and therefore the meaning of the expression. The study manipulated emotion consistency implicitly, where a face expressing smiles or frowns was irrelevant and to be ignored while participants categorised target scenes. Some face identities always expressed emotions consistent with the scene (e.g., smiling with a positive scene, whilst others were always inconsistent (e.g., frowning with a positive scene. During this implicit learning of face identity and emotion consistency there was evidence for encoding of face-scene emotion consistency, with slower RTs, a reduction in trust, and inhibited facial EMG for faces expressing incompatible emotions. However, in a later task where the faces were subsequently viewed expressing emotions with no additional context, there was no evidence for retrieval of prior emotion consistency, as mimicry of emotion was similar for consistent and inconsistent individuals. We conclude that facial mimicry can be influenced by current emotion context, but there is little evidence of learning, as subsequent mimicry of emotionally consistent and inconsistent faces is similar.

  14. Task conflicts and exclusive professionalism in nursing in South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Minsoo

    2014-01-01

    Task conflicts among medical professions are essential problems to be solved in health care organizations. This study examined job conflicts between practical nurses (PNs) and registered nurses (RNs) in their duties and tasks with representative panelists from South Korea. This qualitative study used the Dacum Task Analysis process. Subject-matter experts in practical nursing were recruited utilizing stratified sampling: Ten experts developed job descriptions of PNs, and 20 validated the descriptions. The on-site tasks and duties of the PNs were measured by means of Dacum, and the results were reviewed by RNs using 3 focus-group interviews. The job description of PNs consisted of 10 duties and 117 tasks, overlapping with some tasks of RNs. Core tasks performed by PNs, such as invasive activities, led to task conflicts between the 2 groups, as these activities were regarded as the inherent duty of nursing professions. Thus, the RNs did not concede the expanded job scope of the PNs in terms of exclusive professionalism. To reduce task conflict, there is a need for the balanced development of nursing professionalism.

  15. Automated Linguistic Personality Description and Recognition Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danylyuk Illya

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: The relevance of our research, above all, is theoretically motivated by the development of extraordinary scientific and practical interest in the possibilities of language processing of huge amount of data generated by people in everyday professional and personal life in the electronic forms of communication (e-mail, sms, voice, audio and video blogs, social networks, etc.. Purpose: The purpose of the article is to describe the theoretical and practical framework of the project "Communicative-pragmatic and discourse-grammatical lingvopersonology: structuring linguistic identity and computer modeling". The description of key techniques is given, such as machine learning for language modeling, speech synthesis, handwriting simulation. Results: Lingvopersonology developed some great theoretical foundations, its methods, tools, and significant achievements let us predict that the newest promising trend is a linguistic identity modeling by means of information technology, including language. We see three aspects of the modeling: 1 modeling the semantic level of linguistic identity – by means of the use of corpus linguistics; 2 sound level formal modeling of linguistic identity – with the help of speech synthesis; 3 formal graphic level modeling of linguistic identity – with the help of image synthesis (handwriting. For the first case, we suppose to use machine learning technics and vector-space (word2vec algorithm for textual speech modeling. Hybrid CUTE method for personality speech modeling will be applied to the second case. Finally, trained with the person handwriting images neural network can be an instrument for the last case. Discussion: The project "Communicative-pragmatic, discourse, and grammatical lingvopersonology: structuring linguistic identity and computer modeling", which is implementing by the Department of General and Applied Linguistics and Slavonic philology, selected a task to model Yuriy Shevelyov (Sherekh

  16. Classroom planning and organizing as tasks for the home economics teacher at secondary schools / Lesley Ann Greyvenstein

    OpenAIRE

    Greyvenstein, Lesley Ann

    1986-01-01

    Classroom management, as part-discipline of Educational Management, is a function of the teacher in his role of teacher-manager, consisting of the specific regulative tasks or actions performed by the teacher to facilitate the achievement of effective education within the classroom. The four major classroom managerial tasks for the teacher are the planning, organizing, leading and controlling actions, each consisting of numerous sub-tasks, which, although researched as separ...

  17. Structural Consistency, Consistency, and Sequential Rationality.

    OpenAIRE

    Kreps, David M; Ramey, Garey

    1987-01-01

    Sequential equilibria comprise consistent beliefs and a sequentially ra tional strategy profile. Consistent beliefs are limits of Bayes ratio nal beliefs for sequences of strategies that approach the equilibrium strategy. Beliefs are structurally consistent if they are rationaliz ed by some single conjecture concerning opponents' strategies. Consis tent beliefs are not necessarily structurally consistent, notwithstan ding a claim by Kreps and Robert Wilson (1982). Moreover, the spirit of stru...

  18. A Validated Task Analysis of the Single Pilot Operations Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolter, Cynthia A.; Gore, Brian F.

    2015-01-01

    The current day flight deck operational environment consists of a two-person Captain/First Officer crew. A concept of operations (ConOps) to reduce the commercial cockpit to a single pilot from the current two pilot crew is termed Single Pilot Operations (SPO). This concept has been under study by researchers in the Flight Deck Display Research Laboratory (FDDRL) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Ames (Johnson, Comerford, Lachter, Battiste, Feary, and Mogford, 2012) and researchers from Langley Research Centers (Schutte et al., 2007). Transitioning from a two pilot crew to a single pilot crew will undoubtedly require changes in operational procedures, crew coordination, use of automation, and in how the roles and responsibilities of the flight deck and ATC are conceptualized in order to maintain the high levels of safety expected of the US National Airspace System. These modifications will affect the roles and the subsequent tasks that are required of the various operators in the NextGen environment. The current report outlines the process taken to identify and document the tasks required by the crew according to a number of operational scenarios studied by the FDDRL between the years 2012-2014. A baseline task decomposition has been refined to represent the tasks consistent with a new set of entities, tasks, roles, and responsibilities being explored by the FDDRL as the move is made towards SPO. Information from Subject Matter Expert interviews, participation in FDDRL experimental design meetings, and study observation was used to populate and refine task sets that were developed as part of the SPO task analyses. The task analysis is based upon the proposed ConOps for the third FDDRL SPO study. This experiment possessed nine different entities operating in six scenarios using a variety of SPO-related automation and procedural activities required to guide safe and efficient aircraft operations. The task analysis presents the roles and

  19. The Reduction of Directed Cyclic Graph for Task Assignment Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ariffin W.N.M.

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a directed cyclic graph (DCG is proposed as the task graph. It is undesirable and impossible to complete the task according to the constraints if the cycle exists. Therefore, an effort should be done in order to eliminate the cycle to obtain a directed acyclic graph (DAG, so that the minimum amount of time required for the entire task can be found. The technique of reducing the complexity of the directed cyclic graph to a directed acyclic graph by reversing the orientation of the path is the main contribution of this study. The algorithm was coded using Java programming and consistently produced good assignment and task schedule.

  20. Measuring listening effort: driving simulator versus simple dual-task paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yu-Hsiang; Aksan, Nazan; Rizzo, Matthew; Stangl, Elizabeth; Zhang, Xuyang; Bentler, Ruth

    2014-01-01

    consistent with literature that evaluated younger (approximately 20 years old), normal hearing adults. Because of this, a follow-up study was conducted. In the follow-up study, the visual reaction-time dual-task experiment using the same speech materials and road noises was repeated on younger adults with normal hearing. Contrary to findings with older participants, the results indicated that the directional technology significantly improved performance in both speech recognition and visual reaction-time tasks. Adding a speech listening task to driving undermined driving performance. Hearing aid technologies significantly improved speech recognition while driving, but did not significantly reduce listening effort. Listening effort measured by dual-task experiments using a simulated real-world driving task and a conventional laboratory-style task was generally consistent. For a given listening environment, the benefit of hearing aid technologies on listening effort measured from younger adults with normal hearing may not be fully translated to older listeners with hearing impairment.

  1. Task exposures in an office environment: a comparison of methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Eerd, Dwayne; Hogg-Johnson, Sheilah; Mazumder, Anjali; Cole, Donald; Wells, Richard; Moore, Anne

    2009-10-01

    Task-related factors such as frequency and duration are associated with musculoskeletal disorders in office settings. The primary objective was to compare various task recording methods as measures of exposure in an office workplace. A total of 41 workers from different jobs were recruited from a large urban newspaper (71% female, mean age 41 years SD 9.6). Questionnaire, task diaries, direct observation and video methods were used to record tasks. A common set of task codes was used across methods. Different estimates of task duration, number of tasks and task transitions arose from the different methods. Self-report methods did not consistently result in longer task duration estimates. Methodological issues could explain some of the differences in estimates seen between methods observed. It was concluded that different task recording methods result in different estimates of exposure likely due to different exposure constructs. This work addresses issues of exposure measurement in office environments. It is of relevance to ergonomists/researchers interested in how to best assess the risk of injury among office workers. The paper discusses the trade-offs between precision, accuracy and burden in the collection of computer task-based exposure measures and different underlying constructs captures in each method.

  2. Task-dependent enhancement of facial expression and identity representations in human cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dobs, Katharina; Schultz, Johannes; Bülthoff, Isabelle; Gardner, Justin L

    2018-05-15

    What cortical mechanisms allow humans to easily discern the expression or identity of a face? Subjects detected changes in expression or identity of a stream of dynamic faces while we measured BOLD responses from topographically and functionally defined areas throughout the visual hierarchy. Responses in dorsal areas increased during the expression task, whereas responses in ventral areas increased during the identity task, consistent with previous studies. Similar to ventral areas, early visual areas showed increased activity during the identity task. If visual responses are weighted by perceptual mechanisms according to their magnitude, these increased responses would lead to improved attentional selection of the task-appropriate facial aspect. Alternatively, increased responses could be a signature of a sensitivity enhancement mechanism that improves representations of the attended facial aspect. Consistent with the latter sensitivity enhancement mechanism, attending to expression led to enhanced decoding of exemplars of expression both in early visual and dorsal areas relative to attending identity. Similarly, decoding identity exemplars when attending to identity was improved in dorsal and ventral areas. We conclude that attending to expression or identity of dynamic faces is associated with increased selectivity in representations consistent with sensitivity enhancement. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. A Heuristic Task Scheduling Algorithm for Heterogeneous Virtual Clusters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weiwei Lin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Cloud computing provides on-demand computing and storage services with high performance and high scalability. However, the rising energy consumption of cloud data centers has become a prominent problem. In this paper, we first introduce an energy-aware framework for task scheduling in virtual clusters. The framework consists of a task resource requirements prediction module, an energy estimate module, and a scheduler with a task buffer. Secondly, based on this framework, we propose a virtual machine power efficiency-aware greedy scheduling algorithm (VPEGS. As a heuristic algorithm, VPEGS estimates task energy by considering factors including task resource demands, VM power efficiency, and server workload before scheduling tasks in a greedy manner. We simulated a heterogeneous VM cluster and conducted experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of VPEGS. Simulation results show that VPEGS effectively reduced total energy consumption by more than 20% without producing large scheduling overheads. With the similar heuristic ideology, it outperformed Min-Min and RASA with respect to energy saving by about 29% and 28%, respectively.

  4. Task distribution mechanism for effective collaboration in virtual environments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khalid, S.; Ullah, S.; Alam, A.

    2016-01-01

    Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) are computer generated worlds where two or more users can simultaneously interact with synthetic objects to perform a task. User performance is one of the main issues caused by either loose coordination, less awareness or communication among collaborating users. In this paper, a new model for task distribution is proposed, in which task distribution strategy among multiple users in CVEs is defined. The model assigns the task to collaborating users in CVEs either on static or dynamic basis. In static distribution there exists loose dependency and requires less communication during task realization whereas in dynamic distribution users are more dependent on each other and thus require more communication. In order to study the effect of static and dynamic task distribution strategies on user's performance in CVEs, a collaborative virtual environment is developed where twenty four (24) teams (each consists of two users) perform a task in collaboration under both strategies (static and dynamic). Results reveal that static distribution is more effective and increases users performance in CVEs. The outcome of this work will help the development of effective CVEs in the field of virtual assembly, repair, education and entertainment. (author)

  5. Effects of noise and task loading on a communication task loading on a communication task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orrell, Dean H., II

    Previous research had shown the effect of noise on a single communication task. This research has been criticized as not being representative of a real world situation since subjects allocated all of their attention to only one task. In the present study, the effect of adding a loading task to a standard noise-communication paradigm was investigated. Subjects performed both a communication task (Modified Rhyme Test; House et al. 1965) and a short term memory task (Sternberg, 1969) in simulated levels of aircraft noise (95, 105 and 115 dB overall sound pressure level (OASPL)). Task loading was varied with Sternberg's task by requiring subjects to memorize one, four, or six alphanumeric characters. Simulated aircraft noise was varied between levels of 95, 105 and 115 dB OASPL using a pink noise source. Results show that the addition of Sternberg's task and little effect on the intelligibility of the communication task while response time for the communication task increased.

  6. Who multi-tasks and why? Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanbonmatsu, David M; Strayer, David L; Medeiros-Ward, Nathan; Watson, Jason M

    2013-01-01

    The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are not the persons who are most likely to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. To the contrary, multi-tasking activity as measured by the Media Multitasking Inventory and self-reported cell phone usage while driving were negatively correlated with actual multi-tasking ability. Multi-tasking was positively correlated with participants' perceived ability to multi-task ability which was found to be significantly inflated. Participants with a strong approach orientation and a weak avoidance orientation--high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking--reported greater multi-tasking behavior. Finally, the findings suggest that people often engage in multi-tasking because they are less able to block out distractions and focus on a singular task. Participants with less executive control--low scorers on the Operation Span task and persons high in impulsivity--tended to report higher levels of multi-tasking activity.

  7. Who multi-tasks and why? Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David M Sanbonmatsu

    Full Text Available The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are not the persons who are most likely to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. To the contrary, multi-tasking activity as measured by the Media Multitasking Inventory and self-reported cell phone usage while driving were negatively correlated with actual multi-tasking ability. Multi-tasking was positively correlated with participants' perceived ability to multi-task ability which was found to be significantly inflated. Participants with a strong approach orientation and a weak avoidance orientation--high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking--reported greater multi-tasking behavior. Finally, the findings suggest that people often engage in multi-tasking because they are less able to block out distractions and focus on a singular task. Participants with less executive control--low scorers on the Operation Span task and persons high in impulsivity--tended to report higher levels of multi-tasking activity.

  8. Who Multi-Tasks and Why? Multi-Tasking Ability, Perceived Multi-Tasking Ability, Impulsivity, and Sensation Seeking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanbonmatsu, David M.; Strayer, David L.; Medeiros-Ward, Nathan; Watson, Jason M.

    2013-01-01

    The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are not the persons who are most likely to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. To the contrary, multi-tasking activity as measured by the Media Multitasking Inventory and self-reported cell phone usage while driving were negatively correlated with actual multi-tasking ability. Multi-tasking was positively correlated with participants’ perceived ability to multi-task ability which was found to be significantly inflated. Participants with a strong approach orientation and a weak avoidance orientation – high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking – reported greater multi-tasking behavior. Finally, the findings suggest that people often engage in multi-tasking because they are less able to block out distractions and focus on a singular task. Participants with less executive control - low scorers on the Operation Span task and persons high in impulsivity - tended to report higher levels of multi-tasking activity. PMID:23372720

  9. Task demand, task management, and teamwork

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Braarud, Per Oeivind; Brendryen, Haavar

    2001-03-15

    The current approach to mental workload assessment in process control was evaluated in 3 previous HAMMLAB studies, by analysing the relationship between workload related measures and performance. The results showed that subjective task complexity rating was related to team's control room performance, that mental effort (NASA-TLX) was weakly related to performance, and that overall activity level was unrelated to performance. The results support the argument that general cognitive measures, i.e., mental workload, are weakly related to performance in the process control domain. This implies that other workload concepts than general mental workload are needed for valid assessment of human reliability and for valid assessment of control room configurations. An assessment of task load in process control suggested that how effort is used to handle task demand is more important then the level of effort invested to solve the task. The report suggests two main workload related concepts with a potential as performance predictors in process control: task requirements, and the work style describing how effort is invested to solve the task. The task requirements are seen as composed of individual task demand and team demand. In a similar way work style are seen as composed of individual task management and teamwork style. A framework for the development of the concepts is suggested based on a literature review and experiences from HAMMLAB research. It is suggested that operational definitions of workload concepts should be based on observable control room behaviour, to assure a potential for developing performance-shaping factors. Finally an explorative analysis of teamwork measures and performance in one study indicated that teamwork concepts are related to performance. This lends support to the suggested development of team demand and teamwork style as elements of a framework for the analysis of workload in process control. (Author)

  10. Single-task fMRI overlap predicts concurrent multitasking interference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nijboer, Menno; Borst, Jelmer; van Rijn, Hedderik; Taatgen, Niels

    2014-10-15

    There is no consensus regarding the origin of behavioral interference that occurs during concurrent multitasking. Some evidence points toward a multitasking locus in the brain, while other results imply that interference is the consequence of task interactions in several brain regions. To investigate this issue, we conducted a functional MRI (fMRI) study consisting of three component tasks, which were performed both separately and in combination. The results indicated that no specific multitasking area exists. Instead, different patterns of activation across conditions could be explained by assuming that the interference is a result of task interactions. Additionally, similarity in single-task activation patterns correlated with a decrease in accuracy during dual-task conditions. Taken together, these results support the view that multitasking interference is not due to a bottleneck in a single "multitasking" brain region, but is a result of interactions between concurrently running processes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. The task-to-task communication between computers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin Shuzi; Zhang Bingyun; Zhao Weiren

    1992-01-01

    The task-to-task communication is used in the Institute of High Energy Physics. The BES (Beijing Spectrometer) uses the communication mode to take some of the BEPC (Beijing Electron Positron Collider) running parameters needed by BES experiments in a periodic time. The authors describe the principle of transparent task-to-task communication and how to use it in BES on-line data acquisition system

  12. How specialized are writing-specific brain regions? An fMRI study of writing, drawing and oral spelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Planton, Samuel; Longcamp, Marieke; Péran, Patrice; Démonet, Jean-François; Jucla, Mélanie

    2017-03-01

    Several brain imaging studies identified brain regions that are consistently involved in writing tasks; the left premotor and superior parietal cortices have been associated with the peripheral components of writing performance as opposed to other regions that support the central, orthographic components. Based on a meta-analysis by Planton, Jucla, Roux, and Demonet (2013), we focused on five such writing areas and questioned the task-specificity and hemispheric lateralization profile of the brain response in an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment where 16 right-handed participants wrote down, spelled out orally object names, and drew shapes from object pictures. All writing-related areas were activated by drawing, and some of them by oral spelling, thus questioning their specialization for written production. The graphemic/motor frontal area (GMFA), a subpart of the superior premotor cortex close to Exner's area (Roux et al., 2009), was the only area with a writing-specific lateralization profile, that is, clear left lateralization during handwriting, and bilateral activity during drawing. Furthermore, the relative lateralization and levels of activation in the superior parietal cortex, ventral premotor cortex, ventral occipitotemporal cortex and right cerebellum across the three tasks brought out new evidence regarding their respective contributions to the writing processes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. A Study of Students’ Assessment in Writing Skills of the English Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Javed

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses to evaluate and assess the students’ competency in writing skills at Secondary school level in the English Language focusing five major content areas: word completion, sentence making/syntax, comprehension, tenses/ grammar and handwriting. The target population was the male and female students of grade 10 of urban and rural Secondary schools from public and private sector. Forty (40 Secondary schools of District Bahawalnagar, Pakistan were taken using stratified sampling. A sample consisting of 440 students (11students from each school was randomly selected using a table of random numbers. An achievement test consisting of different items was developed to assess the students’ competency and capability in sub-skills of writing such as word completion, sentence making/syntax, comprehension, tenses/grammar and handwriting. Mean score and standard deviation were used to analyze the students’ proficiency in each sub-skill. The t-test was applied to make the comparison on the bases of gender, density and public and private sector. The overall performance of all the students was better in comprehension as compared to other sub-skills namely word completion, sentence making/syntax, tenses/grammar and handwriting. The analysis, based on t-value, revealed no significant difference between the performance of male and female students and the students of public and private schools, whereas there was a significant difference between the performance of urban and rural students.

  14. Task analysis and support for problem solving tasks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bainbridge, L.

    1987-01-01

    This paper is concerned with Task Analysis as the basis for ergonomic design to reduce human error rates, rather than for predicting human error rates. Task Analysis techniques usually provide a set of categories for describing sub tasks, and a framework describing the relations between sub-tasks. Both the task type categories and their organisation have implications for optimum interface and training design. In this paper, the framework needed for considering the most complex tasks faced by operators in process industries is discussed such as fault management in unexpected situations, and what is likely to minimise human error in these circumstances. (author)

  15. Age-related emotional bias in processing two emotionally valenced tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Philip A; Lien, Mei-Ching; Jardin, Elliott

    2017-01-01

    Previous studies suggest that older adults process positive emotions more efficiently than negative emotions, whereas younger adults show the reverse effect. We examined whether this age-related difference in emotional bias still occurs when attention is engaged in two emotional tasks. We used a psychological refractory period paradigm and varied the emotional valence of Task 1 and Task 2. In both experiments, Task 1 was emotional face discrimination (happy vs. angry faces) and Task 2 was sound discrimination (laugh, punch, vs. cork pop in Experiment 1 and laugh vs. scream in Experiment 2). The backward emotional correspondence effect for positively and negatively valenced Task 2 on Task 1 was measured. In both experiments, younger adults showed a backward correspondence effect from a negatively valenced Task 2, suggesting parallel processing of negatively valenced stimuli. Older adults showed similar negativity bias in Experiment 2 with a more salient negative sound ("scream" relative to "punch"). These results are consistent with an arousal-bias competition model [Mather and Sutherland (Perspectives in Psychological Sciences 6:114-133, 2011)], suggesting that emotional arousal modulates top-down attentional control settings (emotional regulation) with age.

  16. Reward, Task Motivation, Creativity and Teaching: Towards a Cross-Cultural Examination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hennessey, Beth A.

    2015-01-01

    Background: Extrinsic incentives and constraints to learning, such as the promise of a reward or the expectation of an evaluation, have long been used by educators to motivate students. Previous research has consistently found that expected reward consistently undermines intrinsic task motivation and creativity of products and performance in…

  17. Analysis of Skeletal Muscle Metrics as Predictors of Functional Task Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryder, Jeffrey W.; Buxton, Roxanne E.; Redd, Elizabeth; Scott-Pandorf, Melissa; Hackney, Kyle J.; Fiedler, James; Ploutz-Snyder, Robert J.; Bloomberg, Jacob J.; Ploutz-Snyder, Lori L.

    2010-01-01

    PURPOSE: The ability to predict task performance using physiological performance metrics is vital to ensure that astronauts can execute their jobs safely and effectively. This investigation used a weighted suit to evaluate task performance at various ratios of strength, power, and endurance to body weight. METHODS: Twenty subjects completed muscle performance tests and functional tasks representative of those that would be required of astronauts during planetary exploration (see table for specific tests/tasks). Subjects performed functional tasks while wearing a weighted suit with additional loads ranging from 0-120% of initial body weight. Performance metrics were time to completion for all tasks except hatch opening, which consisted of total work. Task performance metrics were plotted against muscle metrics normalized to "body weight" (subject weight + external load; BW) for each trial. Fractional polynomial regression was used to model the relationship between muscle and task performance. CONCLUSION: LPMIF/BW is the best predictor of performance for predominantly lower-body tasks that are ambulatory and of short duration. LPMIF/BW is a very practical predictor of occupational task performance as it is quick and relatively safe to perform. Accordingly, bench press work best predicts hatch-opening work performance.

  18. An empirically derived figure of merit for the quality of overall task performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemay, Moira

    1989-01-01

    The need to develop an operationally relevant figure of merit for the quality of performance of a complex system such as an aircraft cockpit stems from a hypothesized dissociation between measures of performance and those of workload. Performance can be measured in terms of time, errors, or a combination of these. In most tasks performed by expert operators, errors are relatively rare and often corrected in time to avoid consequences. Moreover, perfect performance is seldom necessary to accomplish a particular task. Moreover, how well an expert performs a complex task consisting of a series of discrete cognitive tasks superimposed on a continuous task, such as flying an aircraft, does not depend on how well each discrete task is performed, but on their smooth sequencing. This makes the amount of time spent on each subtask of paramount importance in measuring overall performance, since smooth sequencing requires a minimum amount of time spent on each task. Quality consists in getting tasks done within a crucial time interval while maintaining acceptable continuous task performance. Thus, a figure of merit for overall quality of performance should be primarily a measure of time to perform discrete subtasks combined with a measure of basic vehicle control. Thus, the proposed figure of merit requires doing a task analysis on a series of performance, or runs, of a particular task, listing each discrete task and its associated time, and calculating the mean and standard deviation of these times, along with the mean and standard deviation of tracking error for the whole task. A set of simulator data on 30 runs of a landing task was obtained and a figure of merit will be calculated for each run. The figure of merit will be compared for voice and data link, so that the impact of this technology on total crew performance (not just communication performance) can be assessed. The effect of data link communication on other cockpit tasks will also be considered.

  19. Maintaining consistency in distributed systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birman, Kenneth P.

    1991-01-01

    In systems designed as assemblies of independently developed components, concurrent access to data or data structures normally arises within individual programs, and is controlled using mutual exclusion constructs, such as semaphores and monitors. Where data is persistent and/or sets of operation are related to one another, transactions or linearizability may be more appropriate. Systems that incorporate cooperative styles of distributed execution often replicate or distribute data within groups of components. In these cases, group oriented consistency properties must be maintained, and tools based on the virtual synchrony execution model greatly simplify the task confronting an application developer. All three styles of distributed computing are likely to be seen in future systems - often, within the same application. This leads us to propose an integrated approach that permits applications that use virtual synchrony with concurrent objects that respect a linearizability constraint, and vice versa. Transactional subsystems are treated as a special case of linearizability.

  20. Generic cognitive adaptations to task interference in task switching

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poljac, E.; Bekkering, H.

    2009-01-01

    The present study investigated how the activation of previous tasks interferes with the execution of future tasks as a result of temporal manipulations. Color and shape matching tasks were organized in runs of two trials each. The tasks were specified by a cue presented before a task run, cueing

  1. PWR FLECHT SEASET 21-rod bundle flow blockage task. Task plan report. FLECHT SEASET Program report No. 5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hochreiter, L.E.; Basel, R.A.; Dennis, R.J.; Lee, N.; Massie, H.W. Jr.; Loftus, M.J.; Rosal, E.R.; Valkovic, M.M.

    1980-10-01

    This report presents a descriptive plan of tests for the 21-Rod Bundle Flow Blockage Task of the Full-Length Emergency Cooling Heat Transfer Separate Effects and Systems Effects Test Program (FLECHT SEASET). This task will consist of forced and gravity reflooding tests utilizing electrical heater rods to simulate PWR nuclear core fuel rod arrays. All tests will be performed with a cosine axial power profile. These tests are planned to be used to determine effects of various flow blockage configurations (shapes and distributions) on reflooding behavior, to aid in development/assessment of computational models in predicting reflooding behavior of flow blockage configurations, and to screen flow blockage configurations for future 161-rod flow blockage bundle tests

  2. Longitudinal tDCS: Consistency across Working Memory Training Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marian E. Berryhill

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available There is great interest in enhancing and maintaining cognitive function. In recent years, advances in noninvasive brain stimulation devices, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS, have targeted working memory in particular. Despite controversy surrounding outcomes of single-session studies, a growing field of working memory training studies incorporate multiple sessions of tDCS. It is useful to take stock of these findings because there is a diversity of paradigms employed and the outcomes observed between research groups. This will be important in assessing cognitive training programs paired with stimulation techniques and identifying the more useful and less effective approaches. Here, we treat the tDCS+ working memory training field as a case example, but also survey training benefits in other neuromodulatory techniques (e.g., tRNS, tACS. There are challenges associated with the broad parameter space including: individual differences, stimulation intensity, duration, montage, session number, session spacing, training task selection, timing of follow up testing, near and far transfer tasks. In summary, although the field of assisted cognitive training is young, some design choices are more favorable than others. By way of heuristic, the current evidence supports including more training/tDCS sessions (5+, applying anodal tDCS targeting prefrontal regions, including follow up testing on trained and transfer tasks after a period of no contact. What remains unclear, but important for future translational value is continuing work to pinpoint optimal values for the tDCS parameters on a per cognitive task basis. Importantly the emerging literature shows notable consistency in the application of tDCS for WM across various participant populations compared to single session experimental designs.

  3. Task Switching in a Hierarchical Task Structure: Evidence for the Fragility of the Task Repetition Benefit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lien, Mei-Ching; Ruthruff, Eric

    2004-01-01

    This study examined how task switching is affected by hierarchical task organization. Traditional task-switching studies, which use a constant temporal and spatial distance between each task element (defined as a stimulus requiring a response), promote a flat task structure. Using this approach, Experiment 1 revealed a large switch cost of 238 ms.…

  4. Interference between a fast-paced spatial puzzle task and verbal memory demands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epling, Samantha L; Blakely, Megan J; Russell, Paul N; Helton, William S

    2017-06-01

    Research continues to provide evidence that people are poor multi-taskers. Cognitive resource theory is a common explanation for the inability to efficiently perform multiple tasks at the same time. This theory proposes that one's limited supply of cognitive resources can be utilized faster than it is replenished, which results in a performance decline, particularly when these limited resources must be allocated among multiple tasks. Researchers have proposed both domain-specific, for example, spatial versus verbal processing resources, and domain general cognitive resources. In the present research, we investigated whether a spatial puzzle task performed simultaneously with a verbal recall task would impair performance in either task or both tasks, compared to performance on the tasks individually. As hypothesized, a reduction in word recall was found when dual-tasking, though performance on the puzzle task did not significantly differ between the single- and dual-task conditions. This is consistent, in part, with both a general resource theory and a Multiple Resource Theory, but further work is required to better understand the cognitive processing system. The employment of the recall task in the dual-task paradigm with a variety of secondary tasks will help to continue mapping out the specificity (or lack thereof) of cognitive resources utilized in various mental and physical tasks.

  5. Aplikasi MATLAB untuk Mengenali Karakter Tulisan Tangan

    OpenAIRE

    ali mahmudi

    2017-01-01

    Handwriting recognition is one of the very interesting research object in the field of image processing, artificial intelligence and computer vision. This is due to the handwritten characters is varied in every individual. The style, size and orientation of handwriting characters has made every body’s is different, hence handwriting recognition is a very interesting research object. Handwriting recognition application has been used in quite many applications, such as reading the bank deposits...

  6. Assessing visuospatial abilities in healthy aging: A novel visuomotor task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalie eDe Bruin

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the efficacy of a novel reaching-and-grasping task in determining visuospatial abilities across adulthood. The task required male and female young (18-25 years and older adults (60-82 years to replicate a series of complex models by locating and retrieving the appropriate building blocks from an array. The task allows visuospatial complexity to be manipulated independently from the visuomotor demands. Mental rotation and spatial visualisation abilities were assessed. The results showed that the time taken to complete the tasks increased with increased mental rotation complexity. Patterns of hand use were also influenced by the complexity of the models being constructed with right hand use being greater for the less complex models. In addition, although older adults consistently performed the visuomotor tasks slower than the younger adults, their performance was comparable when expressed as the percent change in task demands. This is suggestive that spatial abilities are preserved in older adults. Given the ecologically validity, the described task is an excellent candidate for investigating (1 developmental, (2 sex-based and (3 pathology-based differences in spatial abilities in the visuomotor domain.

  7. Task-set inertia and memory-consolidation bottleneck in dual tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, Iring; Rumiati, Raffaella I

    2006-11-01

    Three dual-task experiments examined the influence of processing a briefly presented visual object for deferred verbal report on performance in an unrelated auditory-manual reaction time (RT) task. RT was increased at short stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs) relative to long SOAs, showing that memory consolidation processes can produce a functional processing bottleneck in dual-task performance. In addition, the experiments manipulated the spatial compatibility of the orientation of the visual object and the side of the speeded manual response. This cross-task compatibility produced relative RT benefits only when the instruction for the visual task emphasized overlap at the level of response codes across the task sets (Experiment 1). However, once the effective task set was in place, it continued to produce cross-task compatibility effects even in single-task situations ("ignore" trials in Experiment 2) and when instructions for the visual task did not explicitly require spatial coding of object orientation (Experiment 3). Taken together, the data suggest a considerable degree of task-set inertia in dual-task performance, which is also reinforced by finding costs of switching task sequences (e.g., AC --> BC vs. BC --> BC) in Experiment 3.

  8. Decision Making in Concurrent Multitasking: Do People Adapt to Task Interference?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nijboer, Menno; Taatgen, Niels A.; Brands, Annelies; Borst, Jelmer P.; van Rijn, Hedderik

    2013-01-01

    While multitasking has received a great deal of attention from researchers, we still know little about how well people adapt their behavior to multitasking demands. In three experiments, participants were presented with a multicolumn subtraction task, which required working memory in half of the trials. This primary task had to be combined with a secondary task requiring either working memory or visual attention, resulting in different types of interference. Before each trial, participants were asked to choose which secondary task they wanted to perform concurrently with the primary task. We predicted that if people seek to maximize performance or minimize effort required to perform the dual task, they choose task combinations that minimize interference. While performance data showed that the predicted optimal task combinations indeed resulted in minimal interference between tasks, the preferential choice data showed that a third of participants did not show any adaptation, and for the remainder it took a considerable number of trials before the optimal task combinations were chosen consistently. On the basis of these results we argue that, while in principle people are able to adapt their behavior according to multitasking demands, selection of the most efficient combination of strategies is not an automatic process. PMID:24244527

  9. Decision making in concurrent multitasking: do people adapt to task interference?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Menno Nijboer

    Full Text Available While multitasking has received a great deal of attention from researchers, we still know little about how well people adapt their behavior to multitasking demands. In three experiments, participants were presented with a multicolumn subtraction task, which required working memory in half of the trials. This primary task had to be combined with a secondary task requiring either working memory or visual attention, resulting in different types of interference. Before each trial, participants were asked to choose which secondary task they wanted to perform concurrently with the primary task. We predicted that if people seek to maximize performance or minimize effort required to perform the dual task, they choose task combinations that minimize interference. While performance data showed that the predicted optimal task combinations indeed resulted in minimal interference between tasks, the preferential choice data showed that a third of participants did not show any adaptation, and for the remainder it took a considerable number of trials before the optimal task combinations were chosen consistently. On the basis of these results we argue that, while in principle people are able to adapt their behavior according to multitasking demands, selection of the most efficient combination of strategies is not an automatic process.

  10. Opening the Frey/Osborne Black Box: Which Tasks of a Job are Susceptible to Computerization?

    OpenAIRE

    Brandes, Philipp; Wattenhofer, Roger

    2016-01-01

    In their seminal paper, Frey and Osborne quantified the automation of jobs, by assigning each job in the O*NET database a probability to be automated. In this paper, we refine their results in the following way: Every O*NET job consists of a set of tasks, and these tasks can be related. We use a linear program to assign probabilities to tasks, such that related tasks have a similar probability and the tasks can explain the computerization probability of a job. Analyzing jobs on the level of t...

  11. Spatial Programming for Industrial Robots through Task Demonstration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jens Lambrecht

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract We present an intuitive system for the programming of industrial robots using markerless gesture recognition and mobile augmented reality in terms of programming by demonstration. The approach covers gesture-based task definition and adaption by human demonstration, as well as task evaluation through augmented reality. A 3D motion tracking system and a handheld device establish the basis for the presented spatial programming system. In this publication, we present a prototype toward the programming of an assembly sequence consisting of several pick-and-place tasks. A scene reconstruction provides pose estimation of known objects with the help of the 2D camera of the handheld. Therefore, the programmer is able to define the program through natural bare-hand manipulation of these objects with the help of direct visual feedback in the augmented reality application. The program can be adapted by gestures and transmitted subsequently to an arbitrary industrial robot controller using a unified interface. Finally, we discuss an application of the presented spatial programming approach toward robot-based welding tasks.

  12. Consistent Performance Differences between Children and Adults Despite Manipulation of Cue-Target Variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessie-Raye Bauer

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Two behavioral experiments assessed the plasticity and short-term improvement of task switching in 215 children and adults. Specifically, we studied manipulations of cued attention to different features of a target stimulus as a way to assess the development of cognitive flexibility. Each experiment had multiple levels of difficulty via manipulation of number of cued features (2–4 and number of response options (2 or 4. Working memory demand was manipulated across the two experiments. Impact of memory demand and task level manipulations on task accuracy and response times were measured. There were three overall goals: First, these task manipulations (number of cued features, response choices, and working memory load were tested to assess the stability of group differences in performance between children ages 6–16 years and adults 18–27 years, with the goal of reducing age group differences. Second, age-related transitions to adult-level performance were examined within subgroups of the child sample. Third, short-term improvement from the beginning to the end of the study session was measured to probe whether children can improve with task experience. Attempts to use task manipulations to reduce age differences in cued task switching performance were unsuccessful: children performed consistently worse and were more susceptible to task manipulations than adults. However, across both studies, adult-like performance was observed around mid-adolescence, by ages 13-16 years. Certain task manipulations, especially increasing number of response options when working memory demand was low, produced differences from adults even in the oldest children. Interestingly, there was similar performance improvement with practice for both child and adult groups. The higher memory demand version of the task (Experiment 2 prompted greater short-term improvement in accuracy and response times than the lower memory demand version (Experiment 1. These results

  13. Who Multi-Tasks and Why? Multi-Tasking Ability, Perceived Multi-Tasking Ability, Impulsivity, and Sensation Seeking

    OpenAIRE

    Sanbonmatsu, David M.; Strayer, David L.; Medeiros-Ward, Nathan; Watson, Jason M.

    2013-01-01

    The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are ...

  14. Task-dependent vestibular feedback responses in reaching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keyser, Johannes; Medendorp, W Pieter; Selen, Luc P J

    2017-07-01

    When reaching for an earth-fixed object during self-rotation, the motor system should appropriately integrate vestibular signals and sensory predictions to compensate for the intervening motion and its induced inertial forces. While it is well established that this integration occurs rapidly, it is unknown whether vestibular feedback is specifically processed dependent on the behavioral goal. Here, we studied whether vestibular signals evoke fixed responses with the aim to preserve the hand trajectory in space or are processed more flexibly, correcting trajectories only in task-relevant spatial dimensions. We used galvanic vestibular stimulation to perturb reaching movements toward a narrow or a wide target. Results show that the same vestibular stimulation led to smaller trajectory corrections to the wide than the narrow target. We interpret this reduced compensation as a task-dependent modulation of vestibular feedback responses, tuned to minimally intervene with the task-irrelevant dimension of the reach. These task-dependent vestibular feedback corrections are in accordance with a central prediction of optimal feedback control theory and mirror the sophistication seen in feedback responses to mechanical and visual perturbations of the upper limb. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Correcting limb movements for external perturbations is a hallmark of flexible sensorimotor behavior. While visual and mechanical perturbations are corrected in a task-dependent manner, it is unclear whether a vestibular perturbation, naturally arising when the body moves, is selectively processed in reach control. We show, using galvanic vestibular stimulation, that reach corrections to vestibular perturbations are task dependent, consistent with a prediction of optimal feedback control theory. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  15. Aplikasi MATLAB untuk Mengenali Karakter Tulisan Tangan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ali mahmudi

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Handwriting recognition is one of the very interesting research object in the field of image processing, artificial intelligence and computer vision. This is due to the handwritten characters is varied in every individual. The style, size and orientation of handwriting characters has made every body’s is different, hence handwriting recognition is a very interesting research object. Handwriting recognition application has been used in quite many applications, such as reading the bank deposits, reading the postal code in letters, and helping peolple in managing documents. This paper presents a handwriting recognition application using Matlab. Matlab toolbox that is used in this research are Image Processing and Neural Network Toolbox.

  16. An Exploratory Study into Perceived Task Complexity, Topic Specificity and Usefulness for Integrated Search

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ingwersen, Peter; Lioma, Christina; Larsen, Birger

    2012-01-01

    We investigate the relations between user perceptions of work task complexity, topic specificity, and usefulness of retrieved results. 23 academic researchers submitted detailed descriptions of 65 real-life work tasks in the physics domain, and assessed documents retrieved from an integrated...... collection consisting of full text research articles in PDF, abstracts, and bibliographic records [6]. Bibliographic records were found to be more precise than full text PDFs, regardless of task complexity and topic specificity. PDFs were found to be more useful. Overall, for higher task complexity and topic...

  17. Fine motor deficiencies in children diagnosed as DCD based on poor grapho-motor ability

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smits-Engelsman, BCM; Niemeijer, AS; van Galen, GP

    A sample of 125 children from grades 4 and 5 of two normal Dutch primary schools were investigated regarding the incidence of handwriting problems and other fine motor disabilities. Handwriting quality was assessed with the concise assessment method for children's handwriting (BHK) and the school

  18. Engineering Task Plan for Routine Engineering Support for Core Sampler System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    BOGER, R.M.

    1999-01-01

    Routine engineering support is required during normal operation of the core sampler trucks and associated ancillary equipment. This engineering support consists of, but is not limited to, troubleshooting operation problems, correcting minor design problems, assistance with work package preparation, assistance with procurement, fabrication shop support, planning of engineering tasks and preparation of associated Engineering Task Plans (ETP) and Engineering Service Requests (ESR). This ETP is the management plan document for implementing routine engineering support. Any additional changes to the scope of this ETP shall require a Letter of Instruction from Lockheed Martin Hanford Corp (LMHC). This document will also be the Work Planning Document for Development Control (HNF 1999a). The scope of this task will be to provide routine engineering support for Characterization equipment as required to support Characterization Operations. A task by task decision will be made by management to determine which tasks will be done per this ETP and if additional ETPs and/or ESRs are required. Due to the unique nature of this task, the only identifiable deliverable is to provide support as requested. Deliverables will be recorded in a task logbook as activities are identified. ESRs will be generated for tasks that require more than 40 person hours to complete, per Characterization Engineering Desk Instructions (DI 1999a)

  19. Design and implementation of an interface supporting information navigation tasks using hyperbolic visualization technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, J. K.; Choi, I. K.; Jun, S. H.; Park, K. O.; Seo, Y. S.; Seo, S. M.; Koo, I. S.; Jang, M. H.

    2001-01-01

    Visualization techniques can be used to support operator's information navigation tasks on the system especially consisting of an enormous volume of information, such as operating information display system and computerized operating procedure system in advanced control room of nuclear power plants. By offering an easy understanding environment of hierarchially structured information, these techniques can reduce the operator's supplementary navigation task load. As a result of that, operators can pay more attention on the primary tasks and ultimately improve the cognitive task performance, in this thesis, an interface was designed and implemented using hyperbolic visualization technique, which is expected to be applied as a means of optimizing operator's information navigation tasks

  20. Do detour tasks provide accurate assays of inhibitory control?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whiteside, Mark A.; Laker, Philippa R.; Beardsworth, Christine E.

    2018-01-01

    Transparent Cylinder and Barrier tasks are used to purportedly assess inhibitory control in a variety of animals. However, we suspect that performances on these detour tasks are influenced by non-cognitive traits, which may result in inaccurate assays of inhibitory control. We therefore reared pheasants under standardized conditions and presented each bird with two sets of similar tasks commonly used to measure inhibitory control. We recorded the number of times subjects incorrectly attempted to access a reward through transparent barriers, and their latencies to solve each task. Such measures are commonly used to infer the differential expression of inhibitory control. We found little evidence that their performances were consistent across the two different Putative Inhibitory Control Tasks (PICTs). Improvements in performance across trials showed that pheasants learned the affordances of each specific task. Critically, prior experience of transparent tasks, either Barrier or Cylinder, also improved subsequent inhibitory control performance on a novel task, suggesting that they also learned the general properties of transparent obstacles. Individual measures of persistence, assayed in a third task, were positively related to their frequency of incorrect attempts to solve the transparent inhibitory control tasks. Neophobia, Sex and Body Condition had no influence on individual performance. Contrary to previous studies of primates, pheasants with poor performance on PICTs had a wider dietary breadth assayed using a free-choice task. Our results demonstrate that in systems or taxa where prior experience and differences in development cannot be accounted for, individual differences in performance on commonly used detour-dependent PICTS may reveal more about an individual's prior experience of transparent objects, or their motivation to acquire food, than providing a reliable measure of their inhibitory control. PMID:29593115

  1. Dynamics of the central bottleneck: dual-task and task uncertainty.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariano Sigman

    2006-07-01

    Full Text Available Why is the human brain fundamentally limited when attempting to execute two tasks at the same time or in close succession? Two classical paradigms, psychological refractory period (PRP and task switching, have independently approached this issue, making significant advances in our understanding of the architecture of cognition. Yet, there is an apparent contradiction between the conclusions derived from these two paradigms. The PRP paradigm, on the one hand, suggests that the simultaneous execution of two tasks is limited solely by a passive structural bottleneck in which the tasks are executed on a first-come, first-served basis. The task-switching paradigm, on the other hand, argues that switching back and forth between task configurations must be actively controlled by a central executive system (the system controlling voluntary, planned, and flexible action. Here we have explicitly designed an experiment mixing the essential ingredients of both paradigms: task uncertainty and task simultaneity. In addition to a central bottleneck, we obtain evidence for active processes of task setting (planning of the appropriate sequence of actions and task disengaging (suppression of the plan set for the first task in order to proceed with the next one. Our results clarify the chronometric relations between these central components of dual-task processing, and in particular whether they operate serially or in parallel. On this basis, we propose a hierarchical model of cognitive architecture that provides a synthesis of task-switching and PRP paradigms.

  2. Program Manager: The Journal of the Defense Systems Management College. Volume 13, Number 2, March-April 1984,

    Science.gov (United States)

    1984-04-01

    are "safe" markets consisting of local con- form can engender price competition between two sources sumers or brand loyalists. Considering only a...of line are the indicate legibility of either handwrit Any undesired disturbance in a primary factors in readability of ing or typography , ease of

  3. Monitoring supports performance in a dual-task paradigm involving a risky decision-making task and a working memory task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bettina eGathmann

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Performing two cognitively demanding tasks at the same time is known to decrease performance. The current study investigates the underlying executive functions of a dual-tasking situation involving the simultaneous performance of decision making under explicit risk and a working memory task. It is suggested that making a decision and performing a working memory task at the same time should particularly require monitoring - an executive control process supervising behavior and the state of processing on two tasks. To test the role of a supervisory/monitoring function in such a dual-tasking situation we investigated 122 participants with the Game of Dice Task plus 2-back task (GDT plus 2-back task. This dual task requires participants to make decisions under risk and to perform a 2-back working memory task at the same time. Furthermore, a task measuring a set of several executive functions gathered in the term concept formation (Modified Card Sorting Test, MCST and the newly developed Balanced Switching Task (BST, measuring monitoring in particular, were used. The results demonstrate that concept formation and monitoring are involved in the simultaneous performance of decision making under risk and a working memory task. In particular, the mediation analysis revealed that BST performance partially mediates the influence of MCST performance on the GDT plus 2-back task. These findings suggest that monitoring is one important subfunction for superior performance in a dual-tasking situation including decision making under risk and a working memory task.

  4. Monitoring supports performance in a dual-task paradigm involving a risky decision-making task and a working memory task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gathmann, Bettina; Schiebener, Johannes; Wolf, Oliver T.; Brand, Matthias

    2015-01-01

    Performing two cognitively demanding tasks at the same time is known to decrease performance. The current study investigates the underlying executive functions of a dual-tasking situation involving the simultaneous performance of decision making under explicit risk and a working memory task. It is suggested that making a decision and performing a working memory task at the same time should particularly require monitoring—an executive control process supervising behavior and the state of processing on two tasks. To test the role of a supervisory/monitoring function in such a dual-tasking situation we investigated 122 participants with the Game of Dice Task plus 2-back task (GDT plus 2-back task). This dual task requires participants to make decisions under risk and to perform a 2-back working memory task at the same time. Furthermore, a task measuring a set of several executive functions gathered in the term concept formation (Modified Card Sorting Test, MCST) and the newly developed Balanced Switching Task (BST), measuring monitoring in particular, were used. The results demonstrate that concept formation and monitoring are involved in the simultaneous performance of decision making under risk and a working memory task. In particular, the mediation analysis revealed that BST performance partially mediates the influence of MCST performance on the GDT plus 2-back task. These findings suggest that monitoring is one important subfunction for superior performance in a dual-tasking situation including decision making under risk and a working memory task. PMID:25741308

  5. The effects of stimulus modality and task integrality: Predicting dual-task performance and workload from single-task levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, S. G.; Shively, R. J.; Vidulich, M. A.; Miller, R. C.

    1986-01-01

    The influence of stimulus modality and task difficulty on workload and performance was investigated. The goal was to quantify the cost (in terms of response time and experienced workload) incurred when essentially serial task components shared common elements (e.g., the response to one initiated the other) which could be accomplished in parallel. The experimental tasks were based on the Fittsberg paradigm; the solution to a SternBERG-type memory task determines which of two identical FITTS targets are acquired. Previous research suggested that such functionally integrated dual tasks are performed with substantially less workload and faster response times than would be predicted by suming single-task components when both are presented in the same stimulus modality (visual). The physical integration of task elements was varied (although their functional relationship remained the same) to determine whether dual-task facilitation would persist if task components were presented in different sensory modalities. Again, it was found that the cost of performing the two-stage task was considerably less than the sum of component single-task levels when both were presented visually. Less facilitation was found when task elements were presented in different sensory modalities. These results suggest the importance of distinguishing between concurrent tasks that complete for limited resources from those that beneficially share common resources when selecting the stimulus modalities for information displays.

  6. Task versus relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction: a meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Dreu, Carsten K W; Weingart, Laurie R

    2003-08-01

    This study provides a meta-analysis of research on the associations between relationship conflict, task conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction. Consistent with past theorizing, results revealed strong and negative correlations between relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction. In contrast to what has been suggested in both academic research and introductory textbooks, however, results also revealed strong and negative (instead of the predicted positive) correlations between task conflict team performance, and team member satisfaction. As predicted, conflict had stronger negative relations with team performance in highly complex (decision making, project, mixed) than in less complex (production) tasks. Finally, task conflict was less negatively related to team performance when task conflict and relationship conflict were weakly, rather than strongly, correlated.

  7. Resolving task rule incongruence during task switching by competitor rule suppression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meiran, Nachshon; Hsieh, Shulan; Dimov, Eduard

    2010-07-01

    Task switching requires maintaining readiness to execute any task of a given set of tasks. However, when tasks switch, the readiness to execute the now-irrelevant task generates interference, as seen in the task rule incongruence effect. Overcoming such interference requires fine-tuned inhibition that impairs task readiness only minimally. In an experiment involving 2 object classification tasks and 2 location classification tasks, the authors show that irrelevant task rules that generate response conflicts are inhibited. This competitor rule suppression (CRS) is seen in response slowing in subsequent trials, when the competing rules become relevant. CRS is shown to operate on specific rules without affecting similar rules. CRS and backward inhibition, which is another inhibitory phenomenon, produced additive effects on reaction time, suggesting their mutual independence. Implications for current formal theories of task switching as well as for conflict monitoring theories are discussed. (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved

  8. Developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing in task-switching situations: the impact of task practice and task-sequencing demands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kray, Jutta; Gaspard, Hanna; Karbach, Julia; Blaye, Agnès

    2013-01-01

    In this study we examined whether developmental changes in using verbal self-cueing for task-goal maintenance are dependent on the amount of task practice and task-sequencing demands. To measure task-goal maintenance we applied a switching paradigm in which children either performed only task A or B in single-task blocks or switched between them on every second trial in mixed-task blocks. Task-goal maintenance was determined by comparing the performance between both blocks (mixing costs). The influence of verbal self-cueing was measured by instructing children to either name the next task aloud or not to verbalize during task preparation. Task-sequencing demands were varied between groups whereas one group received spatial task cues to support keeping track of the task sequence, while the other group did not. We also varied by the amount of prior practice in task switching while one group of participants practiced task switching first, before performing the task naming in addition, and the other group did it vice versa. Results of our study investigating younger (8–10 years) and older children (11–13 years) revealed no age differences in beneficial effects of verbal self-cueing. In line with previous findings, children showed reduced mixing costs under task-naming instructions and under conditions of low task-sequence demands (with the presence of spatial task cues). Our results also indicated that these benefits were only obtained for those groups of children that first received practice in task switching alone with no additional verbalization instruction. These findings suggest that internal task-cueing strategies can be efficiently used in children but only if they received prior practice in the underlying task so that demands on keeping and coordinating various instructions are reduced. Moreover, children benefitted from spatial task cues for better task-goal maintenance only if no verbal task-cueing strategy was introduced first. PMID:24381566

  9. Operational testing of a figure of merit for overall task performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemay, Moira

    1990-01-01

    An overall indicator or figure of merit (FOM), for the quality of pilot performance is needed to define optimal workload levels, predict system failure, measure the impact of new automation in the cockpit, and define the relative contributions of subtasks to overall task performance. A normative FOM was developed based on the calculation of a standard score for each component of a complex task. It reflected some effects, detailed in an earlier study, of the introduction of new data link technology into the cockpit. Since the technique showed promise, further testing was done. A new set of data was obtained using the recently developed Multi-Attribute Task Battery. This is a complex battery consisting of four tasks which can be varied in task demand, and on which performance measures can be obtained. This battery was presented to 12 subjects in a 20 minute trial at each of three levels of workload or task demand, and performance measures collected on all four tasks. The NASA-TLX workload rating scale was presented at minutes 6, 12, and 18, of each trial. A figure of merit was then obtained for each run of the battery by calculating a mean, SD, and standard score for each task. Each task contributed its own proportion to the overall FOM, and relative contributions changed with increasing workload. Thus, the FOM shows the effect of task changes, not only on the individual task that is changed, but also on the performance of other tasks and of the whole task. The cost to other tasks of maintaining constant performance on an individual task can be quantified.

  10. The RADAR Test Methodology: Evaluating a Multi-Task Machine Learning System with Humans in the Loop

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-10-01

    details, static websites, and an ecommerce vendor portal. The “corpus” consists of the email and world state content. The latter consists of facts...learned fact variation, and the opportunity to induce a substantial crisis workload. The conference itself was a 4-day, multi-track technical conference...General 1. I am confident I completed the task well. 2. The task was difficult to complete. 3. I could have done as good of a job without the

  11. Load Balancing in Cloud Computing Environment Using Improved Weighted Round Robin Algorithm for Nonpreemptive Dependent Tasks

    OpenAIRE

    Devi, D. Chitra; Uthariaraj, V. Rhymend

    2016-01-01

    Cloud computing uses the concepts of scheduling and load balancing to migrate tasks to underutilized VMs for effectively sharing the resources. The scheduling of the nonpreemptive tasks in the cloud computing environment is an irrecoverable restraint and hence it has to be assigned to the most appropriate VMs at the initial placement itself. Practically, the arrived jobs consist of multiple interdependent tasks and they may execute the independent tasks in multiple VMs or in the same VM’s mul...

  12. Task Force Report 4. Report of the Task Force on Marketing and Communications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dickinson, John C.; Evans, Kenneth L.; Carter, Jan; Burke, Kevin

    2004-01-01

    BACKGROUND To ensure the success of the proposed New Model of family medicine and to create a better understanding of the nature and role of family medicine, an effective communications plan must be developed and implemented. This Future of Family Medicine task force report proposes strategies for communicating the role of family physicians within medicine, as well as to purchasers, consumers, and other entities. METHODS After reviewing the findings from the research conducted for the Future of Family Medicine project, the task force presents a preliminary brand-positioning strategy for family medicine messages. Based on this strategy, the task force identifies 5 major audiences to which family medicine communications should be directed. A consistent method was used to determine optimum strategies to address each audience: defining the audience, assessing the literature and other pertinent evidence, identifying the communication objectives, determining the key messages, developing brand promises, and proposing strategies and tactics to support the messages and objectives. Preliminary communications plans are then presented for each of the 5 target audiences. MAJOR FINDINGS It is important that the organizations involved in family medicine make a multiyear commitment of resources to implement and support an aggressive communications strategy, which is based on key messages to target audiences. A concerted effort is particularly needed to address the declining interest among medical students in the specialty. Implementing a comprehensive family medicine career development program may be one effective strategy to reverse this trend. To help eliminate the current confusion among the public regarding family medicine and to promote clarity and consistency in terminology, the specialty should replace the name family practice with family medicine and a new graphic symbol for the discipline of family medicine should be developed. CONCLUSION As a discipline, family medicine

  13. Categorization difficulty modulates the mediated route for response selection in task switching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Darryl W

    2017-12-22

    Conflict during response selection in task switching is indicated by the response congruency effect: worse performance for incongruent targets (requiring different responses across tasks) than for congruent targets (requiring the same response). The effect can be explained by dual-task processing in a mediated route for response selection, whereby targets are categorized with respect to both tasks. In the present study, the author tested predictions for the modulation of response congruency effects by categorization difficulty derived from a relative-speed-of-processing hypothesis. Categorization difficulty was manipulated for the relevant and irrelevant task dimensions in a novel spatial task-switching paradigm that involved judging the locations of target dots in a grid, without repetition of dot configurations. Response congruency effects were observed and they varied systematically with categorization difficulty (e.g., being larger when irrelevant categorization was easy than when it was hard). These results are consistent with the relative-speed-of-processing hypothesis and suggest that task-switching models that implement variations of the mediated route for response selection need to address the time course of categorization.

  14. Nuclear power plant control room crew task analysis database: SEEK system. Users manual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burgy, D.; Schroeder, L.

    1984-05-01

    The Crew Task Analysis SEEK Users Manual was prepared for the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It is designed for use with the existing computerized Control Room Crew Task Analysis Database. The SEEK system consists of a PR1ME computer with its associated peripherals and software augmented by General Physics Corporation SEEK database management software. The SEEK software programs provide the Crew Task Database user with rapid access to any number of records desired. The software uses English-like sentences to allow the user to construct logical sorts and outputs of the task data. Given the multiple-associative nature of the database, users can directly access the data at the plant, operating sequence, task or element level - or any combination of these levels. A complete description of the crew task data contained in the database is presented in NUREG/CR-3371, Task Analysis of Nuclear Power Plant Control Room Crews (Volumes 1 and 2)

  15. Selection of spatial reference frames depends on task's demands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Greeshma Sharma

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Spatial reference frames (SRF are the means of representing spatial relations or locations either in an egocentric coordinate system (centred on navigator or in an allocentric coordinate system (Centred on object. It is necessary to understand when and how spatial representation switches between allocentric and egocentric reference frames in context to spatial tasks. The objective of this study was to explore if the elementary spatial representation does exist, whether it would remain consistent or change under the influence of a task's demand. Also, we explored how the SRF would assist if the environment is enriched with landmarks, having multiple routes for wayfinding. The results showed that the switching of SRF depends not only on the default representation but also on a task's demand. They also demonstrated that participants who were using allocentric representation performed better in the presence of landmarks.

  16. A novel task for the investigation of action acquisition.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom Stafford

    Full Text Available We present a behavioural task designed for the investigation of how novel instrumental actions are discovered and learnt. The task consists of free movement with a manipulandum, during which the full range of possible movements can be explored by the participant and recorded. A subset of these movements, the 'target', is set to trigger a reinforcing signal. The task is to discover what movements of the manipulandum evoke the reinforcement signal. Targets can be defined in spatial, temporal, or kinematic terms, can be a combination of these aspects, or can represent the concatenation of actions into a larger gesture. The task allows the study of how the specific elements of behaviour which cause the reinforcing signal are identified, refined and stored by the participant. The task provides a paradigm where the exploratory motive drives learning and as such we view it as in the tradition of Thorndike [1]. Most importantly it allows for repeated measures, since when a novel action is acquired the criterion for triggering reinforcement can be changed requiring a new action to be discovered. Here, we present data using both humans and rats as subjects, showing that our task is easily scalable in difficulty, adaptable across species, and produces a rich set of behavioural measures offering new and valuable insight into the action learning process.

  17. Preschool children adapt grasping movements to upcoming object manipulations: Evidence from a dial rotation task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herbort, Oliver; Büschelberger, Juliane; Janczyk, Markus

    2018-03-01

    In adults, the motor plans for object-directed grasping movements reflects the anticipated requirements of intended future object manipulations. This prospective mode of planning has been termed second-order planning. Surprisingly, second-order planning is thought to be fully developed only by 10 years of age, when children master seemingly more complex motor skills. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that already 5- and 6-year-old children consistently use second-order planning but that this ability does not become apparent in tasks that are traditionally used to probe it. We asked 5- and 6-year-olds and adults to grasp and rotate a circular dial in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Although children's grasp selections were less consistent on an intra- and inter-individual level than adults' grasp selections, all children adjusted their grasps to the upcoming dial rotations. By contrast, in an also administered bar rotation task, only a subset of children adjusted their grasps to different bar rotations, thereby replicating previous results. The results indicate that 5- and 6-year-olds consistently use second-order planning in a dial rotation task, although this ability does not become apparent in bar rotation tasks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Contaminated sediment research task: SHC Task 3.61.3

    Science.gov (United States)

    A poster presentation for the SHC BOSC review will summarize the research efforts under Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program (SHC) in the Contaminated Sediment Task within the Contaminated Sites Project. For the Task, Problem Summary & Decision Context; Task O...

  19. The Effects of 10 Communication Modes on the Behavior of Teams During Co-Operative Problem-Solving

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ochsman, Richard B.; Chapanis, Alphonse

    1974-01-01

    Sixty teams of two college students each solved credible "real world" problems co-operatively. Conversations were carried on in one of 10 modes of communication: (1) typewriting only, (2) handwriting only, (3) handwriting and typewriting, (4) typewriting and video, (5) handwriting and video, (6) voice only, (7) voice and typewriting, (8) voice and…

  20. Exploring decoy effects on computerized task preferences in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Audrey E. Parrish

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The asymmetric dominance effect or decoy effect emerges when a third inferior option is introduced to a choice set. The decoy option, although typically not chosen, impacts relative preference for the original two options. This decisional bias stands in contrast with rational choice theory, which dictates that choice behavior should remain consistent for the original options with the addition of different alternatives to a choice set such as the decoy. In the current study, we assessed the decoy effect in rhesus monkeys using a computerized task battery that introduced two different computerized tasks, including a matching-to-sample task and a psychomotor task called PURSUIT. Decoy tasks were designed such that they were inferior versions of these original task options, requiring longer time to completion (via slowed cursor speeds and subsequently reduced reinforcement rates. Monkeys learned to associate unique icons for each task (including for decoy tasks, and used these icons to select their preferred task from a choice set of two to three task options. Monkeys learned to perform all tasks, but did not show evidence of the decoy effect using this task preference paradigm. We discuss the role of initial task preference (and task biases, task type (symbolic vs. perceptual, and decoy effect sizes in light of these findings. We contrast the current results to previous findings of the decoy effect in rhesus monkeys using a perceptual paradigm as well as to other evidence of the decoy effect in non-primate animal species.

  1. Executive function in high-functioning autism: Decision-making consistency as a characteristic gambling behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Hsuan-Chen; White, Sarah; Rees, Geraint; Burgess, Paul W

    2018-02-02

    Restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviours, interests, or activities are a critical diagnostic criterion for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous studies using gambling paradigms with ASD populations have identified that, unlike typically developed control participants, people with a diagnosis of ASD tend to maintain particular response patterns regardless of the magnitude of potential outcomes to uncertain gains or losses. Here we designed a gambling test that permitted calculation of the response consistency in gambling choices in situations that presented varying expected outcomes in terms of gains or losses. The task was administered to 33 adults with a diagnosis of ASDs and compared to a group of 47 typically-developed (TD) control participants who were matched for age and IQ. When presented with choices where participants could either make a risky gamble or a safe choice in terms of gains or losses (e.g., 20% chance of winning £5 vs. 100% chance of winning £1), the ASD participants did not differ from the TDs in their overall risk-taking behaviour. However, they were more consistent in their individual choices from trial to trial. Furthermore, the proportion of participants who either implemented an invariate response strategy (e.g., either always choosing the most risky or most "safe" option) was significantly higher in the ASD group compared with the controls. Additionally, while the ASD group were slower to make their responses in the win frame and the first half of the lose frame, by the end of the task their decision times were the same as the TD controls. These findings suggest that the ASD tendency towards repetitive behaviour may demonstrate itself even in high-level decision-making tasks, which needs to be understood if we are to be sure what such tasks are measuring. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  2. Task conflict and relationship conflict in top management teams: the pivotal role of intragroup trust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simons, T L; Peterson, R S

    2000-02-01

    Task conflict is usually associated with effective decisions, and relationship conflict is associated with poor decisions. The 2 conflict types are typically correlated in ongoing groups, however, which creates a prescriptive dilemma. Three explanations might account for this relationship--misattribution of task conflict as relationship conflict, harsh task conflict tactics triggering relationship conflict, and misattribution of relationship conflict as task conflict. The authors found that intragroup trust moderates the relationship between task conflict and relationship conflict in 70 top management teams. This result supports the "misattribution of task conflict" explanation. The authors also found a weak effect that is consistent with the argument that tactical choices drive the association between the 2 conflict types. We infer that trust is a key to gaining the benefits of task conflict without suffering the costs of relationship conflict.

  3. The facilitative effects of glucose ingestion on memory retrieval in younger and older adults: is task difficulty or task domain critical?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riby, Leigh M; McMurtrie, Hazel; Smallwood, Jonathan; Ballantyne, Carrie; Meikle, Andrew; Smith, Emily

    2006-02-01

    The ingestion of a glucose-containing drink has been shown to improve cognitive performance, particularly memory functioning. However, it remains unclear as to the extent to which task domain and task difficulty moderate the glucose enhancement effect. The aim of this research was to determine whether boosts in performance are restricted to particular classes of memory (episodic v. semantic) or to tasks of considerable cognitive load. A repeated measures (25 g glucose v. saccharin), counterbalanced, double-blind design was used with younger and older adults. Participants performed a battery of episodic (e.g. paired associate learning) and semantic memory (e.g. category verification) tasks under low and high cognitive load. Electrophysiological measures (heart rate and galvanic skin response) of arousal and mental effort were also gathered. The results indicated that whilst glucose appeared to aid episodic remembering, cognitive load did not exaggerate the facilitative effect. For semantic memory, there was little evidence to suggest that glucose can boost semantic memory retrieval even when the load was manipulated. One exception was that glucose facilitated performance during the difficult category fluency task. Regardless, the present findings are consistent with the domain-specific account in which glucose acts primarily on the hippocampal region, which is known to support episodic memory. The possible contribution of the hippocampus in semantic memory processing is also discussed.

  4. Aespoe Task Force on modelling of groundwater flow and transport of solutes. Review of Task 6C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Black, John; Hodgkinson, David

    2005-03-01

    Scale test behaviour is desired. Overall, when compared to the results from the TRUE Block Scale test, the hydrostructural model seems to be too well connected. In this context, it is not clear whether the Task 6C model has been checked for consistency with the hydraulic testing results from the TRUE Block. Scale test area. Whilst it is not the purpose of the Task 6C model to represent the TRUE Block Scale area as accurately as possible, the construction of a model, broadly based on the TRUE Block Scale area, but with too much connectivity, could have the unfortunate result that in Tasks 6D and 6E solutes do not have sufficient time to interact with the rock pore spaces

  5. Utilizing Gaze Behavior for Inferring Task Transitions Using Abstract Hidden Markov Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Fernando Tello Gamarra

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available We demonstrate an improved method for utilizing observed gaze behavior and show that it is useful in inferring hand movement intent during goal directed tasks. The task dynamics and the relationship between hand and gaze behavior are learned using an Abstract Hidden Markov Model (AHMM. We show that the predicted hand movement transitions occur consistently earlier in AHMM models with gaze than those models that do not include gaze observations.

  6. Matching cue size and task properties in exogenous attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burnett, Katherine E; d'Avossa, Giovanni; Sapir, Ayelet

    2013-01-01

    Exogenous attention is an involuntary, reflexive orienting response that results in enhanced processing at the attended location. The standard view is that this enhancement generalizes across visual properties of a stimulus. We test whether the size of an exogenous cue sets the attentional field and whether this leads to different effects on stimuli with different visual properties. In a dual task with a random-dot kinematogram (RDK) in each quadrant of the screen, participants discriminated the direction of moving dots in one RDK and localized one red dot. Precues were uninformative and consisted of either a large or a small luminance-change frame. The motion discrimination task showed attentional effects following both large and small exogenous cues. The red dot probe localization task showed attentional effects following a small cue, but not a large cue. Two additional experiments showed that the different effects on localization were not due to reduced spatial uncertainty or suppression of RDK dots in the surround. These results indicate that the effects of exogenous attention depend on the size of the cue and the properties of the task, suggesting the involvement of receptive fields with different sizes in different tasks. These attentional effects are likely to be driven by bottom-up mechanisms in early visual areas.

  7. Self-assessment: Strategy for higher standards, consistency, and performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ide, W.E.

    1996-01-01

    In late 1994, Palo Verde operations underwent a transformation from a unitized structure to a single functional unit. It was necessary to build consistency in watchstanding practices and create a shared mission. Because there was a lack of focus on actual plant operations and because personnel were deeply involved with administrative tasks, command and control of evolutions were weak. Improvement was needed. Consistent performance standards have been set for all three operating units. These expectation focus on nuclear, radiological, and industrial safety. Straightforward descriptions of watchstanding and monitoring practices have been provided to all department personnel. The desired professional and leadership qualities for employee conduct have been defined and communicated thoroughly. A healthy and competitive atmosphere developed with the successful implementation of these standards. Overall performance improved. The auxiliary operators demonstrated increased pride and ownership in the performance of their work activities. In addition, their morale improved. Crew teamwork improved as well as the quality of shift briefs. There was a decrease in the noise level and the administrative functions in the control room. The use of self-assessment helped to anchor and define higher and more consistent standards. The proof of Palo Verde's success was evident when an Institute of Nuclear Power Operations finding was turned into a strength within 1 yr

  8. Marginal Consistency: Upper-Bounding Partition Functions over Commutative Semirings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werner, Tomás

    2015-07-01

    Many inference tasks in pattern recognition and artificial intelligence lead to partition functions in which addition and multiplication are abstract binary operations forming a commutative semiring. By generalizing max-sum diffusion (one of convergent message passing algorithms for approximate MAP inference in graphical models), we propose an iterative algorithm to upper bound such partition functions over commutative semirings. The iteration of the algorithm is remarkably simple: change any two factors of the partition function such that their product remains the same and their overlapping marginals become equal. In many commutative semirings, repeating this iteration for different pairs of factors converges to a fixed point when the overlapping marginals of every pair of factors coincide. We call this state marginal consistency. During that, an upper bound on the partition function monotonically decreases. This abstract algorithm unifies several existing algorithms, including max-sum diffusion and basic constraint propagation (or local consistency) algorithms in constraint programming. We further construct a hierarchy of marginal consistencies of increasingly higher levels and show than any such level can be enforced by adding identity factors of higher arity (order). Finally, we discuss instances of the framework for several semirings, including the distributive lattice and the max-sum and sum-product semirings.

  9. Attention Deficit ِDuring Dual-Task Performance in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamid Salehi

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: The aims of the present investigation was the evaluation of divided attention deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD patients by using dual-task paradigm in order to ascertain whether this method can be useful in the early diagnosis of AD or not.  Methods & Materials: A total of 23 elderly individuals (11 females and 12 males voluntarily participated in the investigation: 13 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD and 10 healthy elderly individuals. The experimental setup consisted of (a single -task and (b dual-task trials at two levels of difficulty. In singletask condition, the participants were asked to recite the months of the year continuously with normal order (easy and backward (difficult. They also performed a computerized visuospatial/motor tracking task. The participants then performed the tracking task in conjunction with each of the months reciting tasks as dual-task condition. Results: The results showed a significant interaction (disease×level of difficulty effect. So that, the performance impairment on combine performance in two simultaneous tasks was related to task difficulty, but the elderly control group did not differ in the easy and difficult conditions. Conclusion: These findings not only increase our understanding of the attention deficits in AD patients, but also have implications for the mediating effect of cognitive load in using dual-task paradigm for studying attention mechanisms of cognitively suffered individuals.

  10. [Delegation of medico-administrative tasks : what do medical interns and secretaries think?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castioni, Julien; Hagenbuch, Angélique; Tâche, Johann; Cappai, Milva; Jovanovic, Milica; Sartori, Claudio

    2017-11-22

    The hospital activity of physicians in training mainly consists in direct contacts with patients, tasks indirectly linked to patients such as administration, as well as clinical and theoretical training. In our era of digitalization, an important administrative work load without any added medical value fills their daily chores. In parallel activities of medical secretaries are getting more partitioned, with their desks situated far from physicians' and tasks often limited to finalizing discharge letters. Added to multiple overtime, this reduces physicians' and secretaries' work satisfaction. This article describes the context and development of delegating medico-administrative tasks to secretaries in our department of internal medicine.

  11. Cognitive task analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schraagen, J.M.C.

    2000-01-01

    Cognitive task analysis is defined as the extension of traditional task analysis techniques to yield information about the knowledge, thought processes and goal structures that underlie observable task performance. Cognitive task analyses are conducted for a wide variety of purposes, including the

  12. An intention driven hand functions task training robotic system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, K Y; Ho, S K; Pang, P K; Hu, X L; Tam, W K; Fung, K L; Wei, X J; Chen, P N; Chen, M

    2010-01-01

    A novel design of a hand functions task training robotic system was developed for the stroke rehabilitation. It detects the intention of hand opening or hand closing from the stroke person using the electromyography (EMG) signals measured from the hemiplegic side. This training system consists of an embedded controller and a robotic hand module. Each hand robot has 5 individual finger assemblies capable to drive 2 degrees of freedom (DOFs) of each finger at the same time. Powered by the linear actuator, the finger assembly achieves 55 degree range of motion (ROM) at the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint and 65 degree range of motion (ROM) at the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint. Each finger assembly can also be adjusted to fit for different finger length. With this task training system, stroke subject can open and close their impaired hand using their own intention to carry out some of the daily living tasks.

  13. Children's Task Engagement during Challenging Puzzle Tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Feihong; Algina, James; Snyder, Patricia; Cox, Martha

    2017-01-01

    We examined children's task engagement during a challenging puzzle task in the presence of their primary caregivers by using a representative sample of rural children from six high-poverty counties across two states. Weighted longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to identify a task engagement factor…

  14. The role of attention during retrieval in working-memory span: a dual-task study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Healey, M Karl; Miyake, Akira

    2009-04-01

    We tested the hypothesis that retrieving target words in operation span (OSpan) involves attention-demanding processes. Participants completed the standard OSpan task and a modified version in which all equations preceded all target words. Recall took place under either full attention or easy versus hard divided-attention conditions. Recall suffered under divided attention with the recall decrement being greater for the hard secondary task. Moreover, secondary-task performance was disrupted more by the standard OSpan task than by the modified version with the hard secondary task showing the larger decrement. Finally, the time taken to start recalling the first word was considerably longer for the standard version than for the modified version. These results are consistent with the proposal that successful OSpan task performance in part involves the attention-demanding retrieval of targets from long-term memory.

  15. Are prescription drug insurance choices consistent with expected utility theory?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bundorf, M Kate; Mata, Rui; Schoenbaum, Michael; Bhattacharya, Jay

    2013-09-01

    To determine the extent to which people make choices inconsistent with expected utility theory when choosing among prescription drug insurance plans and whether tabular or graphical presentation format influences the consistency of their choices. Members of an Internet-enabled panel chose between two Medicare prescription drug plans. The "low variance" plan required higher out-of-pocket payments for the drugs respondents usually took but lower out-of-pocket payments for the drugs they might need if they developed a new health condition than the "high variance" plan. The probability of a change in health varied within subjects and the presentation format (text vs. graphical) and the affective salience of the clinical condition (abstract vs. risk related to specific clinical condition) varied between subjects. Respondents were classified based on whether they consistently chose either the low or high variance plan. Logistic regression models were estimated to examine the relationship between decision outcomes and task characteristics. The majority of respondents consistently chose either the low or high variance plan, consistent with expected utility theory. Half of respondents consistently chose the low variance plan. Respondents were less likely to make discrepant choices when information was presented in graphical format. Many people, although not all, make choices consistent with expected utility theory when they have information on differences among plans in the variance of out-of-pocket spending. Medicare beneficiaries would benefit from information on the extent to which prescription drug plans provide risk protection. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  16. The modality effect of ego depletion: Auditory task modality reduces ego depletion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qiong; Wang, Zhenhong

    2016-08-01

    An initial act of self-control that impairs subsequent acts of self-control is called ego depletion. The ego depletion phenomenon has been observed consistently. The modality effect refers to the effect of the presentation modality on the processing of stimuli. The modality effect was also robustly found in a large body of research. However, no study to date has examined the modality effects of ego depletion. This issue was addressed in the current study. In Experiment 1, after all participants completed a handgrip task, one group's participants completed a visual attention regulation task and the other group's participants completed an auditory attention regulation task, and then all participants again completed a handgrip task. The ego depletion phenomenon was observed in both the visual and the auditory attention regulation task. Moreover, participants who completed the visual task performed worse on the handgrip task than participants who completed the auditory task, which indicated that there was high ego depletion in the visual task condition. In Experiment 2, participants completed an initial task that either did or did not deplete self-control resources, and then they completed a second visual or auditory attention control task. The results indicated that depleted participants performed better on the auditory attention control task than the visual attention control task. These findings suggest that altering task modality may reduce ego depletion. © 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Heart rate variability and cognitive processing: The autonomic response to task demands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luque-Casado, Antonio; Perales, José C; Cárdenas, David; Sanabria, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated variations in heart rate variability (HRV) as a function of cognitive demands. Participants completed an execution condition including the psychomotor vigilance task, a working memory task and a duration discrimination task. The control condition consisted of oddball versions (participants had to detect the rare event) of the tasks from the execution condition, designed to control for the effect of the task parameters (stimulus duration and stimulus rate) on HRV. The NASA-TLX questionnaire was used as a subjective measure of cognitive workload across tasks and conditions. Three major findings emerged from this study. First, HRV varied as a function of task demands (with the lowest values in the working memory task). Second, and crucially, we found similar HRV values when comparing each of the tasks with its oddball control equivalent, and a significant decrement in HRV as a function of time-on-task. Finally, the NASA-TLX results showed larger cognitive workload in the execution condition than in the oddball control condition, and scores variations as a function of task. Taken together, our results suggest that HRV is highly sensitive to overall demands of sustained attention over and above the influence of other cognitive processes suggested by previous literature. In addition, our study highlights a potential dissociation between objective and subjective measures of mental workload, with important implications in applied settings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. How well do elderly people cope with uncertainty in a learning task?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chasseigne, G; Grau, S; Mullet, E; Cama, V

    1999-11-01

    The relation between age, task complexity and learning performance in a Multiple Cue Probability Learning task was studied by systematically varying the level of uncertainty present in the task, keeping constant the direction of relationships. Four age groups were constituted: young adults (mean age = 21), middle-aged adults (45), elderly people (69) and very elderly people (81). Five uncertainty levels were considered: predictability = 0.96, 0.80, 0.64, 0.48, and 0.32. All relationships involved were direct ones. A strong effect of uncertainty on 'control', a measure of the subject's consistency with respect to a linear model, was found. This effect was essentially a linear one. To each decrement in predictability of the task corresponded an equal decrement in participants' level of control. This level of decrement was the same, regardless of the age of the participant. It can be concluded that elderly people cope with uncertainty in probability learning tasks as well as young adults.

  19. Central as well as peripheral attentional bottlenecks in dual-task performance activate lateral prefrontal cortices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andre J Szameitat

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Human information processing suffers from severe limitations in parallel processing. In particular, when required to respond to two stimuli in rapid succession, processing bottlenecks may appear at central and peripheral stages of task processing. Importantly, it has been suggested that executive functions are needed to resolve the interference arising at such bottlenecks. The aims of the present study were to test whether central attentional limitations (i.e., bottleneck at the decisional response selection stage as well as peripheral limitations (i.e., bottleneck at response initiation both demand executive functions located in the lateral prefrontal cortex. For this, we re-analysed two previous studies, in which a total of 33 participants performed a dual-task according to the paradigm of the psychological refractory period (PRP during fMRI. In one study (N=17, the PRP task consisted of two two-choice response tasks known to suffer from a central bottleneck (CB group. In the other study (N=16, the PRP task consisted of two simple-response tasks known to suffer from a peripheral bottleneck (PB group. Both groups showed considerable dual-task costs in form of slowing of the second response in the dual-task (PRP effect. Imaging results are based on the subtraction of both single-tasks from the dual-task within each group. In the CB group, the bilateral middle frontal gyri and inferior frontal gyri were activated. Higher activation in these areas was associated with lower dual-task costs. In the PB group, the right middle frontal and inferior frontal gyrus were activated. Here, higher activation was associated with higher dual-task costs. In conclusion we suggest that central and peripheral bottlenecks both demand executive functions located in lateral prefrontal cortices. Differences between the CB and PB groups with respect to the exact prefrontal areas activated and the correlational patterns suggest that the executive functions resolving

  20. Task control signals in pediatric Tourette syndrome show evidence of immature and anomalous functional activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica A Church

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Tourette Syndrome (TS is a pediatric movement disorder that may affect control signaling in the brain. Previous work has proposed a dual-networks architecture of control processing involving a task-maintenance network and an adaptive control network (Dosenbach et al., 2008. A prior resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI analysis in TS has revealed functional immaturity in both putative control networks, with “anomalous” correlations (i.e. correlations outside the typical developmental range limited to the adaptive control network (Church et al., 2009. The present study used functional MRI (fMRI to study brain activity related to adaptive control (by studying start-cues signals, and to task-maintenance (by studying signals sustained across a task set. Two hypotheses from the previous rs-fcMRI results were tested. First, adaptive control (i.e., start-cue activity will be altered in TS, including activity inconsistent with typical development (“anomalous”. Second, group differences found in task maintenance (i.e., sustained activity will be consistent with functional immaturity in TS. We examined regions found through a direct comparison of adolescents with and without TS, as well as regions derived from a previous investigation that showed differences between unaffected children and adults. The TS group showed decreased start-cue signal magnitude in regions where start-cue activity is unchanged over typical development, consistent with anomalous adaptive control. The TS group also had higher magnitude sustained signals in frontal cortex regions that overlapped with regions showing differences over typical development, consistent with immature task maintenance in TS. The results demonstrate task-related fMRI signal differences anticipated by the atypical functional connectivity found previously in adolescents with TS, strengthening the evidence for functional immaturity and anomalous signaling in control networks in adolescents

  1. Application of robotic systems to nuclear power plant maintenance tasks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kok, K.D.; Bartilson, B.M.; Rosen, K.L.; Renner, G.F.; Law, T.M.

    1984-01-01

    Robotics technology has developed to where it can provide consistent performance of well-defined tasks. Although nuclear power plant maintenance tasks are characteristically unique, there are some common subtasks which have the consistency required for robots. Several maintenance activities were selected for further study. Concepts for robotic devices and rough scenarios for their use were developed and analyzed for their effect on maintenance costs. The results of the analysis, which was performed using a 10-year life and conservative estimates and procedures, indicate cost savings ranging from $100,000 to $1.5 M in net present value per robot. Projected purchase prices for the robots were less than $200,000. Although the robot concepts used commercially available technology, they are unlike any products either in use or widely required. Robot manufacturers are concentrating on mainstream applications in production, and are unlikely to develop such specialized products. The potential for cost savings indicates that developments should be funded by the nuclear industry

  2. The role of task interference and exposure duration in judging noise annoyance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmer, Karin; Ghani, Jody; Ellermeier, Wolfgang

    2008-04-01

    To determine whether the amount of performance disruption by a noise has an effect on the annoyance that noise evokes, a laboratory situation was created in which the participants rated a number of sounds before, after, and while performing a cognitively demanding memory task. The task consisted of memorizing, and later reproducing, a visually presented sequence of digits while being exposed to irrelevant sound chosen to produce different degrees of disruption. In two experiments, participants assessed these background sounds (frequency-modulated tones, broadband noise and speech) on a rating scale consisting of thirteen categories ranging from 'not annoying at all' to 'extremely annoying.' The judgments were collected immediately before, after, and concomitant to, the memory task. The results of the first experiment (N=24) showed that the annoyance assessments were indeed altered by the experience of disruption, most strongly during, and to a lesser extent after task completion, whereas ratings of the non-disruptive sounds remained largely unaffected. In the second experiment (N=25), participants were exposed to the same sounds, but for longer intervals at a time: 10 min as opposed to 14 s in the first experiment. The longer exposure resulted in increased annoyance in all noise conditions, but did not alter the differential effect of disruption on annoyance, which was replicated. The results of these laboratory experiments support the notion that annoyance cannot be conceived of as a purely perceptual sound property; rather, it is influenced by the degree of interference with the task at hand.

  3. Ego Depletion in Real-Time: An Examination of the Sequential-Task Paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arber, Madeleine M; Ireland, Michael J; Feger, Roy; Marrington, Jessica; Tehan, Joshua; Tehan, Gerald

    2017-01-01

    Current research into self-control that is based on the sequential task methodology is currently at an impasse. The sequential task methodology involves completing a task that is designed to tax self-control resources which in turn has carry-over effects on a second, unrelated task. The current impasse is in large part due to the lack of empirical research that tests explicit assumptions regarding the initial task. Five studies test one key, untested assumption underpinning strength (finite resource) models of self-regulation: Performance will decline over time on a task that depletes self-regulatory resources. In the aftermath of high profile replication failures using a popular letter-crossing task and subsequent criticisms of that task, the current studies examined whether depletion effects would occur in real time using letter-crossing tasks that did not invoke habit-forming and breaking, and whether these effects were moderated by administration type (paper and pencil vs. computer administration). Sample makeup and sizes as well as response formats were also varied across the studies. The five studies yielded a clear and consistent pattern of increasing performance deficits (errors) as a function of time spent on task with generally large effects and in the fifth study the strength of negative transfer effects to a working memory task were related to individual differences in depletion. These results demonstrate that some form of depletion is occurring on letter-crossing tasks though whether an internal regulatory resource reservoir or some other factor is changing across time remains an important question for future research.

  4. Ego Depletion in Real-Time: An Examination of the Sequential-Task Paradigm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Madeleine M. Arber

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Current research into self-control that is based on the sequential task methodology is currently at an impasse. The sequential task methodology involves completing a task that is designed to tax self-control resources which in turn has carry-over effects on a second, unrelated task. The current impasse is in large part due to the lack of empirical research that tests explicit assumptions regarding the initial task. Five studies test one key, untested assumption underpinning strength (finite resource models of self-regulation: Performance will decline over time on a task that depletes self-regulatory resources. In the aftermath of high profile replication failures using a popular letter-crossing task and subsequent criticisms of that task, the current studies examined whether depletion effects would occur in real time using letter-crossing tasks that did not invoke habit-forming and breaking, and whether these effects were moderated by administration type (paper and pencil vs. computer administration. Sample makeup and sizes as well as response formats were also varied across the studies. The five studies yielded a clear and consistent pattern of increasing performance deficits (errors as a function of time spent on task with generally large effects and in the fifth study the strength of negative transfer effects to a working memory task were related to individual differences in depletion. These results demonstrate that some form of depletion is occurring on letter-crossing tasks though whether an internal regulatory resource reservoir or some other factor is changing across time remains an important question for future research.

  5. Parsing a cognitive task: a characterization of the mind's bottleneck.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariano Sigman

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available Parsing a mental operation into components, characterizing the parallel or serial nature of this flow, and understanding what each process ultimately contributes to response time are fundamental questions in cognitive neuroscience. Here we show how a simple theoretical model leads to an extended set of predictions concerning the distribution of response time and its alteration by simultaneous performance of another task. The model provides a synthesis of psychological refractory period and random-walk models of response time. It merely assumes that a task consists of three consecutive stages-perception, decision based on noisy integration of evidence, and response-and that the perceptual and motor stages can operate simultaneously with stages of another task, while the central decision process constitutes a bottleneck. We designed a number-comparison task that provided a thorough test of the model by allowing independent variations in number notation, numerical distance, response complexity, and temporal asynchrony relative to an interfering probe task of tone discrimination. The results revealed a parsing of the comparison task in which each variable affects only one stage. Numerical distance affects the integration process, which is the only step that cannot proceed in parallel and has a major contribution to response time variability. The other stages, mapping the numeral to an internal quantity and executing the motor response, can be carried out in parallel with another task. Changing the duration of these processes has no significant effect on the variance.

  6. A problem with problem solving: motivational traits, but not cognition, predict success on novel operant foraging tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Horik, Jayden O; Madden, Joah R

    2016-04-01

    Rates of innovative foraging behaviours and success on problem-solving tasks are often used to assay differences in cognition, both within and across species. Yet the cognitive features of some problem-solving tasks can be unclear. As such, explanations that attribute cognitive mechanisms to individual variation in problem-solving performance have revealed conflicting results. We investigated individual consistency in problem-solving performances in captive-reared pheasant chicks, Phasianus colchicus , and addressed whether success depends on cognitive processes, such as trial-and-error associative learning, or whether performances may be driven solely via noncognitive motivational mechanisms, revealed through subjects' willingness to approach, engage with and persist in their interactions with an apparatus, or via physiological traits such as body condition. While subjects' participation and success were consistent within the same problems and across similar tasks, their performances were inconsistent across different types of task. Moreover, subjects' latencies to approach each test apparatus and their attempts to access the reward were not repeatable across trials. Successful individuals did not improve their performances with experience, nor were they consistent in their techniques in repeated presentations of a task. However, individuals that were highly motivated to enter the experimental chamber were more likely to participate. Successful individuals were also faster to approach each test apparatus and more persistent in their attempts to solve the tasks than unsuccessful individuals. Our findings therefore suggest that individual differences in problem-solving success can arise from inherent motivational differences alone and hence be achieved without inferring more complex cognitive processes.

  7. Effects of Task Complexity, Task Conditions, and Task Difficulty on the Grammatical Accuracy of EFL Learners in Written Discourse

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saeideh Ahangari

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Different methods of language teaching have tried to help EFL learners to develop good language skills based on their various perspectives. Research findings have underscored the effect of using task types in promoting language skills in terms of accuracy in written discourse. Therefore, this study set out to investigate whether there is an evidence of correct use of simple past tense (Accuracy based on Task Complexity (Task type :Here-and now & There-and-then,Task Conditions (Gender: Male & Female, and Task Difficulty (Proficiency: Lower-intermediate & Intermediate. Sixty Iranian English learners in a language institute participated in the study and were assigned to four groups of lower-intermediate male, lower-intermediate female, intermediate male and intermediate female. Initial homogeneity of the groups was verified using two general proficiency tests; KET for lower-intermediate and PET for intermediate. All groups in here-and-now task type were asked to write a story using simple past based on a picture strip while for there-and-then task type the participants were supposed to write about their last birthday. The results from paired samples t-test, independent samples t-test and two-way ANOVA analysis of the written data revealed significant differences in performing task types, at different proficiency levels and interaction between them. The findings have significant pedagogical implications for EFL learners to understand the relationship among Task Complexity,Task Conditions, Task Difficulty and L2 written production leading to various degrees of Accuracy.

  8. Finance Students' Experiences of Lecture-Based Active Learning Tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCullough, Kerry; Munro, Nicholas

    2018-01-01

    Consistent with current higher education concerns with student engagement and the student experience, this study explored third-year undergraduate Finance students' experiences of lecture-based active learning tasks. Finance students from the 2012 and 2014 cohorts from a South African university were invited to complete an anonymous questionnaire…

  9. Does Listening to Slow Tempo Classical Music During Independent Writing Affect Children's On-Task Performance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKnight, Rosemary

    This project explored the effects of slow tempo classical music on children's on-task performance during independent writing. The project sample consisted of 24 students from a first grade classroom in the New York City Public School System. The students' on-task behavior was observed with and without use of slow tempo classical music playing, and…

  10. Walking modality, but not task difficulty, influences the control of dual-task walking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wrightson, J G; Smeeton, N J

    2017-10-01

    During dual-task gait, changes in the stride-to-stride variability of stride time (STV) are suggested to represent the allocation of cognitive control to walking [1]. However, contrasting effects have been reported for overground and treadmill walking, which may be due to differences in the relative difficulty of the dual task. Here we compared the effect of overground and treadmill dual-task walking on STV in 18 healthy adults. Participants walked overground and on a treadmill for 120s during single-task (walking only) and dual-task (walking whilst performing serial subtractions in sevens) conditions. Dual-task effects on STV, cognitive task (serial subtraction) performance and perceived task difficulty were compared between walking modalities. STV was increased during overground dual-task walking, but was unchanged during treadmill dual-task walking. There were no differences in cognitive task performance or perceived task difficulty. These results show that gait is controlled differently during overground and treadmill dual-task walking. However, these differences are not solely due to differences in task difficulty, and may instead represent modality dependent control strategies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Data-driven management using quantitative metric and automatic auditing program (QMAP) improves consistency of radiation oncology processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Naichang; Xia, Ping; Mastroianni, Anthony; Kolar, Matthew D; Chao, Samuel T; Greskovich, John F; Suh, John H

    Process consistency in planning and delivery of radiation therapy is essential to maintain patient safety and treatment quality and efficiency. Ensuring the timely completion of each critical clinical task is one aspect of process consistency. The purpose of this work is to report our experience in implementing a quantitative metric and automatic auditing program (QMAP) with a goal of improving the timely completion of critical clinical tasks. Based on our clinical electronic medical records system, we developed a software program to automatically capture the completion timestamp of each critical clinical task while providing frequent alerts of potential delinquency. These alerts were directed to designated triage teams within a time window that would offer an opportunity to mitigate the potential for late completion. Since July 2011, 18 metrics were introduced in our clinical workflow. We compared the delinquency rates for 4 selected metrics before the implementation of the metric with the delinquency rate of 2016. One-tailed Student t test was used for statistical analysis RESULTS: With an average of 150 daily patients on treatment at our main campus, the late treatment plan completion rate and late weekly physics check were reduced from 18.2% and 8.9% in 2011 to 4.2% and 0.1% in 2016, respectively (P < .01). The late weekly on-treatment physician visit rate was reduced from 7.2% in 2012 to <1.6% in 2016. The yearly late cone beam computed tomography review rate was reduced from 1.6% in 2011 to <0.1% in 2016. QMAP is effective in reducing late completions of critical tasks, which can positively impact treatment quality and patient safety by reducing the potential for errors resulting from distractions, interruptions, and rush in completion of critical tasks. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Radiation Oncology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. 78 FR 2996 - Meeting of the Community Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-15

    ... Community Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force) AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... Services Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force is independent and nonfederal. Its members are nationally.... The Task Force was convened in 1996 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to assess the...

  13. 77 FR 56845 - Meeting of the Community Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-09-14

    ... Community Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force) AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... Services Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force is independent and nonfederal. Its members are nationally.... The Task Force was convened in 1996 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to assess the...

  14. 78 FR 27969 - Meeting of the Community Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-13

    ... Community Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force) AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... Services Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force is independent and nonfederal. Its members are nationally.... The Task Force was convened in 1996 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to assess the...

  15. Arabic Handwriting Recognition Using Neural Network Classifier

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    pc

    2018-03-05

    Mar 5, 2018 ... an OCR using Neural Network classifier preceded by a set of preprocessing .... Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), which we adopt in this research, consist of ... advantage and disadvantages of each technique. In [9],. Khemiri ...

  16. Automatic Retrieval of Newly Instructed Cue-Task Associations Seen in Task-Conflict Effects in the First Trial after Cue-Task Instructions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meiran, Nachshon; Pereg, Maayan

    2017-01-01

    Novel stimulus-response associations are retrieved automatically even without prior practice. Is this true for novel cue-task associations? The experiment involved miniblocks comprising three phases and task switching. In the INSTRUCTION phase, two new stimuli (or familiar cues) were arbitrarily assigned as cues for up-down/right-left tasks performed on placeholder locations. In the UNIVALENT phase, there was no task cue since placeholder's location afforded one task but the placeholders were the stimuli that we assigned as task cues for the following BIVALENT phase (involving target locations affording both tasks). Thus, participants held the novel cue-task associations in memory while executing the UNIVALENT phase. Results show poorer performance in the first univalent trial when the placeholder was associated with the opposite task (incompatible) than when it was compatible, an effect that was numerically larger with newly instructed cues than with familiar cues. These results indicate automatic retrieval of newly instructed cue-task associations.

  17. Writing and the 'Subject'

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Greve, Charlotte

    /page. It is, moreover, an index pointing to the painting/writing subject; it is a special deictic mode of painting/writing. The handwriting of the Russian avant-garde books, the poetics of handwriting, and the way handwriting is represented in poetry emphasize the way the subject (the speaking and the viewing...... in the early as well as the contemporary avant-garde, it becomes clear that the ‘subject’ is an unstable category that can be exposed to manipulation and play. Handwriting is performing as a signature (as an index), but is at the same time similar to the signature of a subject (an icon) and a verbal construct...

  18. Contrasting brain patterns of writing-related DTI parameters, fMRI connectivity, and DTI–fMRI connectivity correlations in children with and without dysgraphia or dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, T.L.; Grabowski, T.J.; Boord, P.; Yagle, K.; Askren, M.; Mestre, Z.; Robinson, P.; Welker, O.; Gulliford, D.; Nagy, W.; Berninger, V.

    2015-01-01

    Based on comprehensive testing and educational history, children in grades 4–9 (on average 12 years) were diagnosed with dysgraphia (persisting handwriting impairment) or dyslexia (persisting word spelling/reading impairment) or as typical writers and readers (controls). The dysgraphia group (n = 14) and dyslexia group (n = 17) were each compared to the control group (n = 9) and to each other in separate analyses. Four brain region seed points (left occipital temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, precuneus, and inferior frontal gyrus) were used in these analyses which were shown in a metaanalysis to be related to written word production on four indicators of white matter integrity and fMRI functional connectivity for four tasks (self-guided mind wandering during resting state, writing letter that follows a visually displayed letter in alphabet, writing missing letter to create a correctly spelled real word, and planning for composing after scanning on topic specified by researcher). For those DTI indicators on which the dysgraphic group or dyslexic group differed from the control group (fractional anisotropy, relative anisotropy, axial diffusivity but not radial diffusivity), correlations were computed between the DTI parameter and fMRI functional connectivity for the two writing tasks (alphabet and spelling) by seed points. Analyses, controlled for multiple comparisons, showed that (a) the control group exhibited more white matter integrity than either the dysgraphic or dyslexic group; (b) the dysgraphic and dyslexic groups showed more functional connectivity than the control group but differed in patterns of functional connectivity for task and seed point; and (c) the dysgraphic and dyslexic groups showed different patterns of significant DTI–fMRI connectivity correlations for specific seed points and written language tasks. Thus, dysgraphia and dyslexia differ in white matter integrity, fMRI functional connectivity, and white matter–gray matter

  19. Contrasting brain patterns of writing-related DTI parameters, fMRI connectivity, and DTI–fMRI connectivity correlations in children with and without dysgraphia or dyslexia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T.L. Richards

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Based on comprehensive testing and educational history, children in grades 4–9 (on average 12 years were diagnosed with dysgraphia (persisting handwriting impairment or dyslexia (persisting word spelling/reading impairment or as typical writers and readers (controls. The dysgraphia group (n = 14 and dyslexia group (n = 17 were each compared to the control group (n = 9 and to each other in separate analyses. Four brain region seed points (left occipital temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, precuneus, and inferior frontal gyrus were used in these analyses which were shown in a metaanalysis to be related to written word production on four indicators of white matter integrity and fMRI functional connectivity for four tasks (self-guided mind wandering during resting state, writing letter that follows a visually displayed letter in alphabet, writing missing letter to create a correctly spelled real word, and planning for composing after scanning on topic specified by researcher. For those DTI indicators on which the dysgraphic group or dyslexic group differed from the control group (fractional anisotropy, relative anisotropy, axial diffusivity but not radial diffusivity, correlations were computed between the DTI parameter and fMRI functional connectivity for the two writing tasks (alphabet and spelling by seed points. Analyses, controlled for multiple comparisons, showed that (a the control group exhibited more white matter integrity than either the dysgraphic or dyslexic group; (b the dysgraphic and dyslexic groups showed more functional connectivity than the control group but differed in patterns of functional connectivity for task and seed point; and (c the dysgraphic and dyslexic groups showed different patterns of significant DTI–fMRI connectivity correlations for specific seed points and written language tasks. Thus, dysgraphia and dyslexia differ in white matter integrity, fMRI functional connectivity, and white matter–gray matter

  20. The BOLD Response during Stroop Task-Like Inhibition Paradigms: Effects of Task Difficulty and Task-Relevant Modality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Rachel L. C.

    2005-01-01

    Previous studies of the Stroop task propose two key mediators: the prefrontal and cingulate cortices but hints exist of functional specialization within these regions. This study aimed to examine the effect of task modality upon the prefrontal and cingulate response by examining the response to colour, number, and shape Stroop tasks whilst BOLD…