Higher Brain Function Research
Online ISSN : 1880-6554
Print ISSN : 1348-4818
ISSN-L : 1348-4818
Symposium IV : Rehabilitation related to electronic devices
The dystypia and the neural basis of typewriting
Yuichi HigashiyamaFumiaki Tanaka
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2016 Volume 36 Issue 3 Pages 392-401

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Abstract

  The opportunity of using a personal computer is increasing in everyday life and, accordingly, the impact of typing disorder on our social activities is becoming a serious issue. To investigate the neural substrate of typewriting and to detect the crucial lesions for typewriting disorder, we have intensively examined a case with isolated typing impairment, and conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in healthy volunteers.〈Case〉A 78-year-old right-handed man, who suffered from stroke, showed isolated typewriting disorder without aphasia, apraxia, hemispatial neglect, or sensory-motor deficit. The history of present illness, the MRI findings, and the detailed neuropsychological examinations suggested that the typing impairment was attributable to disturbances of the phoneme-grapheme conversion and the graphemic buffer resulted from the left posterior part of the left superior/middle frontal lesion.〈fMRI study〉To investigate the neural substrate of typewriting, we conducted a fMRI study in 16 healthy skillful touch typists. As a result, two brain regions were activated during both the typing and the writing tasks: the left superior parietal lobule ranging to the left supramarginal gyrus, and the left premotor cortex. Furthermore, direct comparison between the typing and the writing task revealed greater activation of left posteromedial intraparietal cortex in the typing task.

  It is suggested that typewriting is a complex cognitive process that involves multiple brain regions including the writing centers and the left posteromedial intraparietal cortex. Accordingly, it is supposed that the different brain lesions might cause different types of typing disorders. Further study is needed to establish the symptomatology and the training methods for typewriting disorders.

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© 2016 by Japan Society for Higher Brain Dysfunction
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