A Neural Scheme for Procedural Motor Learning of Handwriting

Handwriting analysis, which requires the detection and examination of distinctive features within the ink traces representing the words, provides a valuable help in several research's fields. In medical field, handwriting analysis provides an useful complement to other clinical investigations in diagnosing many movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. In forensics, the examination of particular characteristics of the ink trace allows the expert to evaluate the authenticity of an handwritten text. Handwriting recognition, which allows to optimize the handling of manuscript documents, requires the detection of distinguishing features for interpreting the characters the ink trace represents. Since any phenomenon can be better understood and analyzed when the generative process is known, investigating the process that underlies handwriting might give some guidelines for handwriting analysis. In this respect, we propose a neural scheme, envisaging that performing complex motor sequences, such as handwriting, requires the interaction among the Cortex, Basal Ganglia and Cerebellum.