University of Jaen, Jaen, Spain.
St. Agustin Universitary Hospital, Linares, Jaen, Spain.
Nonlinear Dynamics Psychol Life Sci. 2021 Jan;25(1):1-18.
The analysis of handwriting has been used in several contexts. For example, handwriting has shown to be of value in the study of motor symptoms in neurological and mental disorders. In the present work, the geometric analysis of handwriting patterns is proposed as a tool to evaluate motor symptoms in psychotic disorders. Specifically, we have employed the lacunarity, a measure of the heterogeneity of a spatial structure. Forty-two patients with a psychotic disorder and 35 matched healthy controls participated in the study. Participants were asked to copy some patterns with a pen on a white paper. The results showed that lacunarity was significantly higher in handwritten patterns from patients than from controls. In addition, we found higher values of lacunarity in handwritten patterns from patients with severe motor symptoms in comparison with patients with mild or absent motor symptoms. Lacunarity of handwritten patterns was significantly correlated with clinical scores of rigidity. In conclusion we argue that the heterogeneity of handwritten patterns could be used as a simple and objective measure of motor symptoms.
笔迹分析已在多个领域得到应用。例如，笔迹分析在神经和精神障碍的运动症状研究中具有重要价值。在本研究中，我们提出了一种基于笔迹模式的几何分析方法，用于评估精神疾病中的运动症状。具体来说，我们采用了空隙度（lacunarity）作为衡量空间结构异质性的指标。42 名精神障碍患者和 35 名匹配的健康对照组参加了研究。参与者被要求用钢笔在白纸上复制一些图案。结果表明，患者的笔迹图案的空隙度明显高于对照组。此外，我们发现运动症状严重的患者的笔迹图案的空隙度值更高，而运动症状轻微或不存在的患者的空隙度值则较低。笔迹图案的空隙度与僵直的临床评分显著相关。总之，我们认为笔迹图案的异质性可以作为运动症状的一种简单、客观的测量方法。
