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International audience; Multisensory learning to read involves, to a large extent, learning to write. A major problem in the initial teaching of handwriting is preventing children from producing reversed letters, especially when the reversed letters are identical to other letters. Torres et al. (2021) offer an efficient method for remediating this problem. Here, we analyze the reversals in their writing data, obtained on Brazilian first-graders (M age 6.0 years). Surprisingly, this analysis led to the observation that the first graders almost systematically reverse both the letters b and d in the particular copying conditions (the students look at one letter at a time for 3 s, then immediately after they had to write it while blindfolded). We first describe succinctly and discuss three models susceptible to account for reversal writing, with the aim to question their capacity of account for the curious observation just mentioned. The three models respectively attribute a major role to 1) initial (perceptive) mirror equivalence, 2) intra-hemispheric transfer, 3) orientation of the letters. Because none of the three models examined accounts convincingly for the observation, we accommodated and specified Model 2, adding also a major idea of Model 3. The resulting model assumes that the mirror-letter reversed image representation (b for d and vice-versa) is strongly activated in the right cerebral hemisphere, and that the top-down processes originating from this hemisphere were exacerbated by the eyes closed condition. Of course, this post-hoc and speculative model should be tested in other conditions and with other children.

Mirror-image confusions are common, especially in children and in some cases of neurological impairment. They can be a special impediment in activities such as reading and writing directional scripts, where mirror-image patterns (such as b and d) must be distinguished. Treating mirror images as equivalent, though, can also be adaptive in the natural world, which carries no systematic left-right bias and where the same object or event can appear in opposite viewpoints. Mirror-image equivalence and confusion are natural consequences of a bilaterally symmetrical brain. In the course of learning, mirror-image equivalence may be established through a process of symmetrization, achieved through homotopic interhemispheric exchange in the formation of memory circuits. Such circuits would not distinguish between mirror images. Learning to discriminate mirror-image discriminations may depend either on existing brain asymmetries, or on extensive learning overriding the symmetrization process. The balance between mirror-image equivalence and mirror-image discrimination may nevertheless be precarious, with spontaneous confusions or reversals, such as mirror writing, sometimes appearing naturally or as a manifestation of conditions like dyslexia.

Fischer Jean-Paul, Bocéréan Christine. Les modèles du développement numérique à l’épreuve de l’observation. In: Bulletin de psychologie, tome 57 n°470, 2004. pp. 191-202.

Directionality is a crucial perceptual-motor and culturally-based component of early writing acquisition. This research was aimed at providing empirical data and new theoretical insights on 1) its developmental evolution and, 2) its contribution to the production and the recognition of the shapes of letters. Five studies have been devised to fulfill the research objectives.The first study was aimed at investigating how print experience, as a cultural factor, influences directional tendencies in children’s drawing in the interplay with biomechanical, syntactic and semantic factors. Results showed a reinforcement of cultural influence on directional tendencies from 6 years onward. Older children were better able to disengage from a prevalent embodied behavior to meet contextual constraints. The second study examined the specific developmental evolution of writing directionality in children aged from 4 to 11 years while producing the same shapes in both writing and drawing tasks. The results suggested that universal and culture-specific features of writing appear concomitantly and early on in children’s productions. Another two studies were aimed to empirically test competing accounts of mirror writing in preliterate children. On-line productions of paired conventional and mirror writings revealed a predominant role of writing directionality and a kinematic invariance. Finally, a training study showed a contribution of writing directionality to the subsequent recall of the shapes of letters. Results are discussed in terms of embodiment and perspectives in educational settings., La directionnalité est une composante perceptivo-motrice et culturellement déterminée qui intervient de façon prééminente dans l’acquisition initiale de l’écriture. Cette thèse visait à apporter des données empiriques et des éclairages théoriques nouveaux sur 1) son évolution au cours du développement et, 2) sa contribution à la production et à la reconnaissance des formes de lettres. Ces deux axes de recherche ont été déclinés en cinq études. Une première étude investiguait le poids de l’influence culturelle sur la directionnalité graphique au long du développement. Elle permettait de comparer les performances de tracé chez des enfants âgés de 5 à 9 ans dans des conditions où des contraintes biomécaniques, syntaxiques et sémantiques variaient. Les résultats faisaient apparaître un renforcement de l’influence culturelle sur la directionnalité graphique à partir de 6 ans. Cependant, les enfants les plus âgés (9 ans) se montraient capables d’adopter des procédures plus flexibles et de se désengager de contraintes culturelles afin de satisfaire des contraintes contextuelles. La deuxième étude examinait l’évolution développementale de la directionnalité de l’écrit chez des enfants âgés de 4 à 11 ans en comparant la production de formes communes à l’écriture et au dessin. Les résultats obtenus mettaient en évidence une acquisition synchrone des invariants universels (i.e., l’écriture est uni-directionnelle) et des spécificités culturelles du système d’écriture (i.e., la langue est transcrite de gauche à droite). Dans le deuxième axe de recherche, deux études avaient pour objectif de mettre à l’épreuve des faits des hypothèses explicatives récentes de l’écriture en miroir dans l’acquisition initiale et typique de l’écrit. La comparaison de productions en temps réel et appariées d’écritures en miroir et d’écritures conventionnelles chez des enfants pré-lettrés révélait une implication majeure de la directionnalité de l’écrit et une invariance cinématique. Enfin, la dernière étude a permis de mettre en évidence, à l’aide d’un paradigme d’entrainement, une contribution de la directionnalité de l’écriture au rappel de l’orientation de lettres a été mise en évidence chez des enfants pré-lettrés. Les résultats obtenus sont discutés dans une approche incarnée de la cognition et des pistes pédagogiques sont amorcées.