Writing in the air: A visualization tool for written languages

Abstract

The present study investigated interactions between cognitive processes and finger actions called “kusho,” meaning “air-writing” in Japanese. Kanji-culture individuals often employ kusho behavior in which they move their fingers as a substitute for a pen to write mostly done when they are trying to recall the shape of a Kanji character or the spelling of an English word. To further examine the visualization role of kusho behavior on cognitive processing, we conducted a Kanji construction task in which a stimulus (i.e., sub-parts to be constructed) was simultaneously presented. In addition, we conducted a Kanji vocabulary test to reveal the relation between the kusho benefit and vocabulary size. The experiment provided two sets of novel findings. First, executing kusho behavior improved task performance (correct responses) as long as the participants watched their finger movements while solving the task. This result supports the idea that visual feedback of kusho behavior helps cognitive processing for the task. Second, task performance was positively correlated with the vocabulary score when stimuli were presented for a relatively long time, whereas the kusho benefits and vocabulary score were not correlated regardless of stimulus-presentation time. These results imply that a longer stimulus-presentation could allow participants to utilize their lexical resources for solving the task. The current findings together support the visualization role of kusho behavior, adding experimental evidence supporting the view that there are interactions between cognition and motor behavior.

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

“…In the kanji construction task, participants were asked to verbally identify a kanji character based on three kanji subparts presented on a computer display [6, 9, 10], which was about 50 cm away from the participants. Before stimulus presentation, a fixation cross appeared for 1 s on the center of the display.…”

“…We used three experimental conditions based on previous studies [9, 10] to test the facilitative effect of kūsho behavior on kanji construction task performance. In the kūsho condition, participants had to move their right index finger freely in a writing manner on a table.…”

“…Kūsho is 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 an English word; this behavior is mainly observed among people who use a Chinese character writing system (kanji) such as Chinese and Japanese people [6–8]. Based on a sample of Japanese young adults, previous studies found that visual feedback from kūsho behavior improved cognitive task performance for recalling the shapes of characters [9, 10]. Kūsho behavior has also shown some benefits for second-language learners of Japanese [11, 12].…”

“…We used a kanji construction task to investigate the existence of the facilitative effect of kūsho behavior in older adults. In this task, participants try to assemble three presented kanji subparts to form an actual existing kanji character [6, 9, 10]. Kanji characters usually consist of several subparts and therefore can be broken down into several units.…”

“…Even in experimental settings, the spontaneous use of this behavior is widely seen among Japanese university students [6, 9]. Previous work found that participants gave more correct responses in kanji construction tasks in the condition where they engaged in kūsho behavior (kūsho condition) compared to two other experimental conditions (i.e., rest and irrelevant movement conditions), as long as the visual feedback of their finger movements was available [9, 10]. In the present study, assuming the facilitative effect of kūsho behavior exists among older adults, we likewise used the kanji construction task and expected task performance in the kūsho condition to be better than in the other conditions.…”