Detecting Anticipatory Events in Handwriting Movements

We investigated how visual processes exploit specific anticipatory movements observed in handwriting gestures. Previous research has shown that the kinematic information contained in the downstroke of an l is exploited to predict the identity of the forthcoming letter. Here, we determined the moment at which prediction takes place. Two between-letter effects were examined: changes in size (ll vs le) and changes in rotation direction (le vs ln). Results show that with only 75% of the l downstroke trajectory (or 60% of the downstroke time) subjects are already capable of predicting the identity of the letter following the l, that is well before the end of the downstroke. Analysis also reveals that identification takes place after the presentation of the movement acceleration phase. The visual perception of motor anticipation seems to involve the detection of motor events.