Rüdiger Seitz (Düsseldorf) p.65-82
2009 Issue 2/3
Writing as a cognitive tool. Research across disciplines.
Guest editor: Jens Loescher
Section I: Facts, models, and methods: empirical writing research
Abstract
Functional neuroimaging has been used to map the brain structures involved in the execution and guidance of arm and hand movements during writing, in the learning of writing movements and in relation to the linguistic components of written speech production. It was shown that handwriting, like other visuospatial motor tasks, involves motor and premotor cortical areas as well as dorsal stream areas of sensory processing, including the superior parietal cortex. In addition, ventral stream areas such as the left parieto-temporo-occipital junction were activated in relation to visual word forms as were the left inferior frontal gyrus and left inferior parietal cortex in relation to the production of symbolic characters. The neural correlates of designing a coherent text and elaborating a text by re-iterative modification, however, remain topics for future research.