The effect of task complexity on handwriting kinetics.

BACKGROUND.: Knowledge regarding the relationship between writing kinetics and the difference among writing tasks is limited.

PURPOSE.: This study examined the differences in handwriting performance when doing tasks with different levels of challenge from both temporal and kinetic perspectives among children in four different age groups.

METHOD.: The cross-sectional design introduced a force-acquisition pen to detect differences of pen grip and writing kinetics among 170 school-age children doing writing tasks at different difficulty levels. Data were obtained on the force information of the digits and pen tip and the kinetic parameters to examine the coordination-and-control mechanism between the digits and pen. Statistical analyzes were carried out to indicate the differences in writing performance among groups and tasks.

FINDINGS.: Statistical differences in the pen-grip forces, force fluctuation, and force ratio between grip and pen-tip forces were found when performing different writing tasks and among different age groups.

IMPLICATIONS.: The study provides an alternative method to explore how writing performance among school-age children can vary according to the difficulty of the writing tasks.