Neurophysiological mechanisms of optimized graphomotor performance in biscriptuals.

Overview

Authors: Yitong Zuo¹, Gaëlle Alhaddad¹, Víctor J. López-Madrona², Laure Spieser¹, Antonella Iannotta^1,3,4, Jean-Claude Gilhodes¹, Benjamin Morillon², Marieke Longcamp¹

ORCID iDs: Yitong Zuo, Antonella Iannotta

Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, CRPN, Centre de Recherche en Psychologie et Neurosciences, Marseille, France
Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, INS, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France
Laboratory of Functional Anatomy, Faculty of Human Motor Sciences, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
Laboratoire de Neuroanatomie et Neuroimagerie translationnelles, UNI – ULB Neuroscience Institute, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France); Aix-Marseille Université (France); Centre de Recherche en Psychologie et Neurosciences (France); Inserm (France); Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes (France); Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)

Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), volume 4, article IMAG.a.1265

Dates: received 5 January 2026; accepted 8 May 2026; published online 5 June 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1162/imag.a.1265 · PMID 42266202 · PMCID PMC13245215 · OpenAlex W7161550942

Open access: diamond, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: code on request

Categories: EEG (modality), human (organism)

Methods: Preprocessing, Physiology & signal measures

Keywords: EEG, neural oscillations, predictive coding, biscriptuality, handwriting, graphomotor control

Topic: Writing and Handwriting Education (Education, Social Sciences), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-23-CE28-0025, ANR-17-EURE-0029, ANR-16-CONV-0002); Initiative d’Excellence d’Aix-Marseille Université (AMX-19-IET-004); France 2030 Investment Plan (ANR-16-CONV000X/ANR-17-EURE-0029); Ampiric pilot center of research in education; NeuroMarseille ICR grant

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 102 references in the paper

Abstract

Many literate adults master two writing systems: a phenomenon termed biscriptuality. Biscriptuals do not just juggle two scripts—their graphomotor coordination also generally outperforms that of monoscriptuals, suggesting that some components of their motor system have been optimized. To uncover the neurocognitive foundations of this biscriptual advantage, we synchronized a loop-tracing task on a digitizing tablet with electroencephalographical (EEG) recordings. Theta (4–7 Hz) and beta (13–30 Hz) oscillatory dynamics were analyzed to test whether biscriptuals display better optimized planning and monitoring, and/or better sensorimotor control. At the behavioral level, biscriptuals displayed a robust advantage in tracing frequency and stability compared to monoscriptuals. At the neural level, biscriptuals showed lower frontal theta power than monoscriptuals, with frontal theta power positively correlated with behavioral variability. Optimization of predictive inference mediated by midfrontal theta oscillations thus stands out as a hallmark of the biscriptual advantage. Biscriptuals also displayed a lower degree of beta synchronization over parieto-occipital electrodes than monoscriptuals, with beta power being less correlated with kinematic dynamics. Similar effects in the beta band were observed for all participants when task difficulty decreased. These effects suggest higher reliance on sensory feedback when graphomotor execution is more demanding. Overall, these results call for a model of handwriting control where prefrontal and sensorimotor components contribute to implementing internal predictive models, whose accuracy and reliability depend on the type of expertise acquired when learning to write.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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All the data and code in this study will be made available from the corresponding author upon reasonable requests.

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Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 8 authors, 6 keywords, 5 funders, 101 references.

Cite

This paper

Zuo, Y., Alhaddad, G., López-Madrona, V. J., Spieser, L., Iannotta, A., Gilhodes, J.-C., Morillon, B., & Longcamp, M. (2026). Neurophysiological mechanisms of optimized graphomotor performance in biscriptuals. Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), 4, IMAG.a.1265. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1265

BibTeX

@article{zuo2026neurophysiological, author = {Zuo, Yitong and Alhaddad, Gaëlle and López-Madrona, Víctor J. and Spieser, Laure and Iannotta, Antonella and Gilhodes, Jean-Claude and Morillon, Benjamin and Longcamp, Marieke}, title = {{Neurophysiological mechanisms of optimized graphomotor performance in biscriptuals}}, journal = {Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)}, year = {2026}, month = jun, volume = {4}, pages = {IMAG.a.1265}, publisher = {MIT Press}, issn = {2837-6056}, doi = {10.1162/imag.a.1265}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1265}, pmid = {42266202}, pmcid = {PMC13245215} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Zuo, Yitong AU - Alhaddad, Gaëlle AU - López-Madrona, Víctor J. AU - Spieser, Laure AU - Iannotta, Antonella AU - Gilhodes, Jean-Claude AU - Morillon, Benjamin AU - Longcamp, Marieke TI - Neurophysiological mechanisms of optimized graphomotor performance in biscriptuals T2 - Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) J2 - Imaging Neurosci (Camb) PY - 2026 DA - 2026/06/05 VL - 4 SP - IMAG.a.1265 SN - 2837-6056 PB - MIT Press DO - 10.1162/imag.a.1265 UR - https://doi.org/10.1162/imag.a.1265 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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