Cerebral Lateralization During Handwritten and Typed Word Generation: A Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Study in Left-Handers and Right-Handers

Abstract

Cerebral lateralization of written language, much like oral language, is predominantly left lateralized. However, handwriting has been the primary focus in lateralization studies. The cerebral lateralization of typing—a widely used method of writing—remains unexamined. This preregistered study aimed to explore the cerebral lateralization of typing versus handwriting and to investigate possible handedness-related differences. We hypothesized that (i) cerebral lateralization would not differ between the two writing methods after movement correction and (ii) both handwriting and typing would show weaker lateralization in left-handers compared to right-handers. To investigate this, we used functional transcranial Doppler (fTCD) ultrasound, a reliable method for assessing cerebral lateralization during language tasks that remains unaffected by movement artifacts, such as those generated by handwriting and typing. A total of 24 left-handers and 30 right-handers participated, performing written word generation through both handwriting and typing on a computer keyboard while undergoing fTCD assessment. We applied a Bayesian framework for our analysis, as it enables us to demonstrate the absence of a difference (i.e., no difference between two variables), which is not possible with the use of p values (estimated under the frequentist framework). Our results provided evidence supporting the absence of a difference in cerebral lateralization between handwriting and typing after movement correction. However, we found no conclusive evidence to either support or refute a difference in lateralization between left-handers and right-handers, suggesting that more research is needed to clarify the role of handedness in cerebral lateralization for different writing methods.