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Enhanced handwriting proficiency in Latin-Arabic biscriptuals: an effect of fine motor skills or executive functions?
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Poster D126 in Poster Session D, Wednesday, October 25, 4:45 - 6:30 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port
Gaelle Alhaddad1, Mariama Dione1, Jeremy Danna2, François-Xavier Alario1, Jean-Luc Velay1, Jean-Claude Gilhodes1, Louise Honnorat1, Marieke Longcamp1; 1Aix-Marseille Université and CNRS, Marseille, France, 2Université Toulouse Jean-Jaurès, Toulouse, France
“Biscriptuality” is the ability to write in two scripts. Most biscriptuals are trained to write in both scripts at an early age. Compared to monoscriptual training, biscriptual training imposes stronger constraints on motor and executive functions. Such constraints could have long-term consequences on the neural circuits driving graphomotor behavior. In this context, Latin-Arabic biscriptuality is a relevant case, because Latin and Arabic alphabets involve opposite writing orientations and rotation directions. In a recent study (Alhaddad et al., 2023), we showed that Latin-Arabic biscriptuals display better graphomotor performance than Latin monoscriptuals in a loop tracing task, raising the possibility that biscriptuality is advantageous for handwriting. Two mechanisms could lead to the biscriptual advantage in this graphomotor task. Due to their extensive training and adaptation to the two scripts, biscriptuals could display either more efficient manual motor control or more efficient domain general executive control than monoscriptuals. The aim of the present study was to replicate the effect of biscriptuality on graphomotor coordination, to test whether this effect extends to a handwriting task in French and Arabic, and to disentangle the potential contributions of fine motor skills and executive functions. We measured graphomotor coordination dynamics in the loop tracing task and handwriting proficiency through standardized handwriting assessment scales in both French and Arabic in 33 Latin monoscriptual and 33 Latin-Arabic biscriptual participants. We also measured the participants’ fine motor skills (Purdue Pegboard, spatial tapping task) and executive functions (working memory, inhibition and flexibility). Preliminary results confirm that biscriptuals perform better than monoscriptuals in the loop tracing task. They further show that this biscriptual advantage extends to handwriting. Biscriptuals displayed more proficient fine motor skills than monoscriptuals, but the two groups did not significantly differ in their executive control. Fine motor skills also predicted several of the indexes of graphomotor coordination and of handwriting in both groups, while executive functioning did not. In sum, the biscriptual advantage in handwriting is mediated by enhanced motor control rather than enhanced executive functions.
Topic Areas: Writing and Spelling, Multilingualism