Why do Japanese Write Characters in Space?

Abstract

A series of experiments examines the cognitive function of finger writing an action widely used by Japanese people and thought to be related to Kanji learning. In one experiment 105 Japanese students displayed finger writing in their efforts to solve Kanji anagram tasks, confirming that finger writing is used to facilitate the solution of Kanji anagrams. In another experiment Japanese children were observed to commence their finger writing at 10 years old and by 11 years old its role in cognition was apparently similar to that observed in adults. Finally, a cross-cultural study examined whether finger writing is related only to learning or knowing Kanji: 83 Japanese, 21 Taiwanese students and 23 other foreign students coming from a non-Kanji cultural area were tested. Taiwanese subjects used finger writing just as the Japanese subjects had. In a later study which involved solving English word problems, almost all of those using finger writing were from countries using Kanji characters. Japanese subjects also used finger writing in English word tasks.

Finger writing appears to originate from the existence of motoric or action based representation. This has implications for research in nonvisual imagery. The relationships between finger writing, aphasia and cross-cultural studies of cognition are discussed.