Writing in the air: Facilitative effects of finger writing in older adults.

ABSTRACT: Kūsho, which refers to a behavior in which one moves the index finger as a substitute for a pen in the air or on a surface, mostly used when trying to recall the shape of a written character or the spelling of a word, has been known to facilitate cognitive task performance among kanji writing-system users. This study investigates whether the facilitative effect of kūsho, the existence of which has been exclusively confirmed in younger adults, is present in old age. Moreover, to further understand the interaction between finger movement and cognitive processing, we analyzed the correlation between the kūsho effect and factors such as age, mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score, and number of years of education. The kūsho effect was assessed by a task where participants mentally assemble

SUBMITTER: Itaguchi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6934278 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature