SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF HANDWRITTEN TEXTS AS AN INDICATOR OF COGNITIVE CONTROL

We compared the heterogeneity of handwritten texts in tasks with different cognitive demands; transcription and exposition about an autobiographical episode. The heterogeneity of texts was analyzed with lacunarity, a non-linear measure of geometric patterns. Lacunarity of handwritten texts was significantly lower in transcription than in exposition. These effects were verified in a task that compared a veridical and a fictitious version of a personal event. Lacunarity was lower in veridical than fictitious texts. We contend that differences in lacunarity of handwritten texts reveal the degree of automaticity in handwriting.