Studies on the written characters orientation and its influence on digit reversal by children |
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| Authors: | Jean-Paul Fischer |
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| Institution: | InterPsy Laboratory, University Lorraine, Nancy, France |
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| Abstract: | Recent research has found that children reverse mainly the left-oriented characters when writing from memory (e.g. they write ? and ε instead of J and 3). In order to obtain an objective definition of the left-orientation of a character, the ratings of the level of left-orientation of all the asymmetrical capital letters and digits by 142 adult students was analysed in Study 1. Study 2, on 298 five–six-year-old children, examined an immediate prediction of Study 1, namely that the children reverse mainly the digits that the adult students have rated left-oriented. Other predictions, both of the posited representation of the writing during the reversal stage and the neurological process of mirror generalisation, were verified: the simplicity of the representation of the symmetrical digits 0 and 8 makes incorrect writings very rare; the mirror generalisation, which operates only in the left–right direction, makes other transformations (inversion or 180° rotation) very rare. Finally, the explanatory power of some putative individual factors of reversal (e.g. writing with the left hand) is shown to be far lower than that of the left-orientation of the characters. |
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| Keywords: | Mirror writing mirror generalisation reversal inversion rotation handedness |
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