Chinese calligraphy has been scientifically investigated within the contexts and principles of psychology, cognitive science, and the cognitive neuroscience. On the basis of vast amount of research in the last 30 years, we have developed a cybernetic theory of handwriting and calligraphy to account for the intricate interactions of several psychological dimensions involved in the dynamic act of graphic production. Central to this system of writing are the role of sensory, bio-, cognitive, and neurofeedback mechanisms for the initiation, guidance, and regulation of the writing motions vis-a-vis visual-geometric variations of Chinese characters. This experiment provided the first evidence of cortical excitation in EEG theta wave as a neural hub that integrates information coming from changes in the practitioner’s body, emotions, and cognition. In addition, it has also confirmed neurofeedback as an essential component of the cybernetic theory of handwriting and calligraphy.
Shufa, or the brush writing of Chinese calligraphy, often regarded as a unique form of art in Chinese culture, is the writing of Chinese characters by hand using a soft-tipped brush. The heritage of Chinese calligraphy is traditionally used as a way to enhance an individual’s self-reflection and cultivation. The study of calligraphy in the past has focused mainly on how to execute and appreciate it artistically by following the experiences of the great masters. During the past three decades, we have investigated the Chinese calligraphic behaviour from a scientific perspective and methodology. The theory-based research has established the effectiveness of practicing Chinese calligraphy in causing one’s cognitive activation, perceptual sharpening, physiological slowdown, and emotional stability. The advent of cognitive neuroscience has inspired and facilitated the contemporary research into some cortical correlates of the execution of handwriting and calligraphy. Encouraging results have been reported in recent years.
A sensory feedback theory of handwriting was proposed and tested a long time ago [
In addition to the sensory feedback conceptualization of handwriting of the 60s, we further investigated some physiological correlates of handwriting by looking into the real-time bodily changes that took place when one engaged in this graphological act, this time by way of writing Chinese characters with a soft-tip brush, and obtained fruitful results and insights into this behavior. The general conclusions of this series of experiments confirmed an overall physiological slowdown in the practitioner’s heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, skin conductance, and so forth in the course of the writing act [
Arising from researching the effects on the practitioners as a function of the visual-spatial variations of the characters, it came to our realization that these cognitive contents in terms of character geometricity were so powerful, upon repeated replications, that this factor became our last dimension in our theory for handwriting and calligraphy. This new dimension, called cognitive feedback, refers to the subjective experiences of heightened attention, alertness, and quickened response capacity that occurred during the writing action as a direct result of the character-cognition interactions. This form of feedback draws its impact from the visual-spatial variations of the character executed in the writing process [
Moving into the 1990s, we explored in detail the interaction between character and the calligraphic act of writing in order to study the interface between the shapes and forms of Chinese characters and its consequential effects on the writer’s psychophysiological functions during writing. Soon we began to realize that the visual-spatial variations among the characters did have a powerful impact on changes and alteration of writer’s bodily states. We further confirmed the structural basis of character geometricity and its corresponding effects also on such physical changes. A vast amount of data convinced us that the core of changes in the writer’s behavioural as well as bioemotional changes were directly attributable to the visual-spatial variations of the characters shapes and forms. Therefore, at this stage of theory development, we suggested yet another dimension to the cybernetic theory of handwriting and calligraphy, that is, the visual-spatial properties of the character construction as a key component in handwriting that is related to and caused the observed variations of the writer’s behavioural, emotional, cognitive and neurocognitive responses [
The writing of Chinese characters can be conceived of as a process of visual-spatial structuring of the elements of characters. They are written within an imaginary, subdivided square in which the execution of strokes into character (Jiezi), shaping of the character (Jieti), and the spacing and framing of the character (Jianjia) occurs. Jiezi refers to the basic formation of strokes within a given character and their structural interrelationships. Jieti is a process of organizing the various strokes to conform to the style of the character, and Jianjia is the layout and spacing of characters, as well as their positions in columns and rows [
Chinese writing, especially with a brush, can be conceptualized as an act involving the whole body of the writer in which cognitive planning, organizing and processing of the visual-spatial patterns of the character take place. Motor control and maneuvering of the brush following the character configurations involve the whole body projected relative to the geometry of each character. The activity of brush writing is essentially an external projection and execution of the writer’s internal cognitive images of the character. There is therefore an integration of mind, body, and character inter-woven in the dynamic calligraphic process. This intimate relationship underlies the interactive effects of character writing on the mind and the body of the writer, as does the spatial organization of the character in writing.
Central to the perceptual organization of the character from within the calligrapher’s cognitive experience are some properties underlying the visual-spatial structure of Chinese characters. The visual or imaginary frame can be analyzed from the perceptual elements of balance, space, shape, form and movement. On a more visual-spatial level, several topological principles of visual perception are pertinent to the cognitive map of the character produced in and by the act of writing. These include the presentation of global views and detailed parts of objects, connectedness, inside-outside relationships, number of holes, colinearity, size, orientation, and symmetry. In the process of brush writing or calligraphic gesturing, the writer’s perceptual shaping of the character is affected by the patterns within the character and cause his perceptual, cognitive, and bodily conditions to engage in corresponding adjustments and representations. This dynamic process, incorporating character writing within the practitioner’s body and mind, would result in the course of calligraphic production in his perceptual, cognitive and psychophysiological responses varying in respect of the visual-spatial configurations of the strokes in the character being written. Characters sharing these visual-spatial properties are predicted to have a greater impact on the practitioner than those characters sharing less of these properties.
A series of experiments has been conducted to test the hypothesized relationship between the effects of brush writing and the perceptual configurations of the characters [
A second set of experiments involved specific selection of characters conforming closely to specific visual-spatial properties of stroke and character structure and investigated how the reproduction of these characters using a brush might affect the behavioral responses of the subjects. The spatial properties of the characters investigated varied in terms of global detail (i.e., the presentation of the whole or parts), holes-no-holes, colinearity, symmetry, and directionality in orientation. Results strongly support the stated hypotheses and lend significance to the basic theoretical formulation of character writing [
The overall findings in these studies provided encouraging confirmation of the feasibility of a mind-body-character interface or psychogeometric model of character writing. A conceptual framework has been advanced to highlight the above observations with a systematic analysis of the character’s structural components and their role in the act of Chinese character writing [
Calligraphy involves the visual-spatial relations and the numerous and diverse ingredients of Chinese character structure and directly connects and promotes connections of cranial nerves. Stimulation of the cerebrum should be able to strengthen with the multidimensional visual-spatial relations, combination, variation, shape differences, and so forth. Early research discovered that Chinese character writing has the function of brain cognitive activation, which may be concerned with the functional plasticity of human cerebral cortex. When processing the visual-spatial configurations of Chinese character forms at writer’s cortical level, the writing activity constitutes the reproduction, restoration, and the processing of visual perception and therefore can initiate the activation function to be advantageous to the operation of cognitive activity and further mold and enhances the functions of related cortical substrates [
In the course of developing the cybernetic theory of handwriting and calligraphy, we have introduced the three types of behavioral feedback, the sensory feedback, bioemotional feedback, and cognitive feedback as simultaneous responses evoked in the writing process. But a theory of this particular nature will not be complete without also demonstrating the neural mechanisms that underline and integrate all three sources of feedback in the central nervous system. Early discussions of this issue were first introduced by Smith and Murphy (1963) [
In this study we were interested in the neurocognitive correlates of calligraphy writing for a more fundamental understanding of the character-brain-cognition interactions as well as its likely effects on functional neurophysiologic changes in the brain. By designing this research, we also wanted to find yet a further component to the cybernetic theory of handwriting, that is, a central mechanism of neurofeedback that would integrate simultaneously the sensory feedback, bioemotional feedback and cognitive feedback all into a central coherent state that is reached through the practice of handwriting or calligraphy.
As evidence accumulated that calligraphy treatment is therapeutically effective, one question to be answered is the reasons behind all these positive effects of the practice of Chinese calligraphy. Writing involves perceptual processes like the visual recognition of the stimulus and highly controlled and well-coordinated sensorimotor movements, which is further complicated by the softness of the brush. Such a sophisticated series of actions requires intensive attention and concentration from the writer. He or she has to reduce both external disturbances (e.g., noise) and internal disturbances (e.g., emotional fluctuations and breathing) to a minimum. This high level of attention is evidenced when the heart rate decelerates, which represents a “somatic quieting.” This deceleration and the intensive involvement of cognitive resources result in an improvement of memory capacities in recall and recognition as well as mental capacities for other functions [
However, the extent to which brain activity can be changed through calligraphy training has yet to be adequately addressed. Studying the neural basis of calligraphic writing enables us to detect even subtle changes in the brain system that are associated with the writer’s mental state and provides us with fundamental evidence for the application of this training program. For the present study, the use of EEG to assess the effects of calligraphy training on brain function was a logical choice for the research question. Of particular interest are changes in theta wave of frontal midline after the calligraphy treatment. The use of EEG measures was prompted by their promotion as a more direct measure of attentional states, their success in differentiating varying states of attentional focus, and their stability and reliability over time [
Theta rhythm is the “rhythm with a frequency of 4 to 8 Hz.” It has at least two manifestations in human brain [
Fm theta activity has been observed in many tasks including mental calculation [
In sum, Fm theta is recognized as distinct theta activity in the frontal midline area and reflects mental concentration as well as state of relief from anxiety [
In our previous research, global style of character presentation led to better psychological indexing than the detailed style of character presentation, while linear style of character presentation proved to be less favorable than the nonlinear style of stroke presentation, as shown by a reduction in heart rate. These observations provided positive support for a theoretical formulation of the perceptual-cognitive- physiological model of Chinese brush character writing and also confirmed the significance of considering character characteristics from the topological principles of visual perception. These observations may be also indicated by the patterns of EEG evoked during writing characters with different visual-spatial properties.
Therefore, on the basis of the above background, the aims of the present study were (1) to examine whether Fm theta wave changes through a 10-day calligraphy training and how, (2) to further investigate the role of visual-spatial properties of the characters in EEG wave patterns during brush handwriting, and (3) to explore the role of theta wave as a neural marker of integration of the states of the calligraphy-evoked physical and cognitive responses of the writer during writing. We predict that calligraphic training would lead to an increase in the Fm theta waves and that writing characters with global and nonlinear style can evoke greater among Fm-EEG waves than those with detailed and linear style.
A total of 16 undergraduate students participated in this experiment on a voluntary basis. They were assigned to the calligraphy group or the control group, 8 participants in each group. One of the participants had experience in Chinese calligraphy for more than 3 years, while the remaining participants had little experience. Informed consent was obtained from all of them in written form after the experimental procedures had been fully explained.
The calligraphy writing materials were those characters with visual patterns designed on the basis of a visual-spatial geometric system. They were of varying levels of properties such as closure, symmetry, linearity, parallelism, connectivity, and orientation. Forty characters were chosen for ten days training, with each characters appearing twice once in detailed style and once in global style. Of particular interest are EEG waves evoked by characters with detailed versus global style and linear versus nonlinear style. The global style character is constructed with an outer contour for its interconnected as well as independent strokes, so that the character exhibits a visual closure of the space. The detailed style character lacks such features but has only solid strokes throughout. The linear style character is made up with only straight strokes, whereas the nonlinear style character has only curves or wavy strokes.
The ProComp2 system (Thought Technology Ltd.) equipped with one EEG channel was adopted for data acquisition. This battery-operated portable unit worked with a laptop PC. EEG recordings were taken under four conditions: eyes open, a color test, eyes closed, and writing/sitting quietly. A gold-plated electrode designed like a snap-on button was positioned in frontal midline (Fz) according to the international 10–20 system and earlobes were used as a reference site. Sample rate for the EEG channel was 256 per second. The BioGraph Infiniti program also includes a global notch filter function, which reduced the effect of electromagnetic interference on the signals.
The calligraphy group undertook a standard prewriting test of 6 min and 43 sec once before and once after the treatment schedule. Calligraphy therapy protocol was used for the calligraphy group. This daily treatment was 20 min per session for 10 sessions consecutively for each subject. The controls did not engage in any actual treatment but quiet sitting for 20 min between pre- and posttest and they had to come to take the measure on the first and the tenth day. The treatments were conducted in a research laboratory.
The mean peak to peak amplitude of theta (4–8 Hz) was used for analyzed. To ensure that the data for the writing stage were indeed those of writing act, we used the previous 10 seconds data of writing each character, considering that the writers, for the most part, would not finish writing a character within ten seconds. We first compared theta wave between day 1 and day 10 for the 2 groups. Data were submitted to a
To investigate the role of visual-spatial properties of the characters in causing EEG wave patterns, we selected eight characters (as shown in Figure
Character varying in visual-spatial properties.
For repeated measures ANOVA, Pillai’s trace is reported. During prewriting, though the main effect of time did not reach significance, there’s a significant time × group interaction in prewriting theta wave,
Mean theta wave in calligraphy group and control group during prewriting and writing periods.
Calligraphy group | Control group | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
mean (SD) | mean (SD) | |||
Day 1 | Day 10 | Day 1 | Day 10 | |
Prewriting | 8.98 (3.59) | 10.27 (3.09) | 12.71 (2.75) | 11.24 (2.25) |
During writing | 7.69 (1.83) | 9.60 (2.16) | 10.48 (1.24) | 10.96 (2.16) |
(SD: standard deviation).
Theta mean changes between day 1 and day 10 for the two groups during prewriting.
The main effect of time in during-writing theta wave attained significance
Theta mean changes between day 1 and day 10 for the two groups during writing/sitting quietly.
Though the two groups of participants showed different amounts of theta waves during prewriting and during writing/siting periods on day 1, distinct patterns of changes in the two groups demonstrated that calligraphy training is associated with increased amount of Fm theta waves.
Finally, we performed pairwise
Mean theta/alpha wave during writing the four pairs of characters.
Mean theta (SD) | Mean alpha (SD) | Mean theta (SD) | Mean alpha (SD) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonlinear detailed | 9.61 (2.73) | 6.79 (2.50) | Linear detailed | 9.99 (3.52) | 6.9 (3.12) |
Nonlinear global | 10.58 (3.17) | 7.61 (2.86) | Linear global | 11.03 (4.35) | 7.72 (3.39) |
| |||||
Linear global | 10.64 (3.55) | 6.78 (2.78) | Linear global | 11.02 (4.41) | 7.37 (3.37) |
Nonlinear global | 10.48 (3.28) | 7.29 (2.76) | Nonlinear global | 10.6 (2.89) | 7.01 (2.99) |
(SD: standard deviation).
Comparison of theta and alpha waves evoked by (a) nonlinear-detailed versus nonlinear-global characters, (b) linear-detailed versus linear-global characters, and (c) and (d) linear-global versus nonlinear-global characters. Note: *indicate significant difference at
In this study, we examined the effects of calligraphy training on theta wave generated in frontal midline. The mean value of theta in the calligraphy treatment group, as predicted, showed a considerable increase after a ten-day calligraphy training. This change reflected the relaxed and concentrated state evoked by calligraphy.
The act of brush handwriting results in physiological slowdown and relaxation, as indicated by the changes in heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and skin temperature after calligraphic writing. Taken together with the findings of calligraphic effects on brain activity and cognitive functions, these outcomes suggest that calligraphic writer’s body is under a relaxed state while the mind is under an apprehensive and intensive state. These two seemingly contradictive physiological phenomena work together in a calligraphic act. The present study disclosed the role of frontal midline theta as a neural-cortical hub that integrates these calligraphy-evoked physical and cognitive responses observed. A concentrated and relaxed state has also been found during such activities as mediation, memory tasks, and calculation, but none of these activities involve any motor tasks like calligraphy handwriting. The theta evoked during writing explains the unique state of mind-body coherence that was reached in our early research.
Theta wave is important for integrating different brain regions into networks [
The variety of EEG waves takes place naturally and simultaneously in the course of writing; it shows a total involvement of the mind and the body in its production. The character-EEG correlations, especially the consistent differences of EEG amount evoked by global and detailed characters, confirm the role of the visual-spatial properties of the character in causing varying EEG wave patterns. These findings have implications toward designing different character forms for promoting general cognitive health as well as for the treatment of cognitive disabilities or disorders.
A most important factor leading to calligraphic effects on the brain activity changes in this study, and also the facilitative benefits in one’s cognitive functions in previous studies should be the contents of writing that involves the topological properties as well as the gestalt properties. Abundant psychogeometric features of script formation including studies have confirmed the effects of visual-spatial properties of Chinese characters on perceptual, cognitive and psychophysiological responses of practitioners [
The theoretical exploration about the relationship between calligraphy handwriting and heart rhythm can be set about to Lacey’s (1967) [
Chinese calligraphic handwriting involves a 3D motion because of the softness of the brush tip. The key point to handle a Chinese writing brush is to keep it flexible easy to be turned, and it is important to control the direction of the tip as well as the speed of moving the brush [
The findings of this present research have provided empirical evidence to the foundations of a cybernetic theory of handwriting and calligraphy as well as contributed to the beginning of future research into the neuro-cognitive mechanisms underlying the dynamic action of character writing. As is evident, the most important areas of calligraphic contribution rest in those disorders or deficiencies that are associated with some aspects of man’s cognitive functions, moods, emotions, and motor behaviors. On the basis of this and past studies, we are optimistic that this new therapeutic system will flourish and be developed for broader applications in the future and to users of other writing systems as well.
Handwriting is a complex act of perceptual, cognitive and motor activity in which a direct interface between language and cognition, script and writing, as well as character and cortical responses through the soft-tipped brush writing for calligraphic performance. This study has taken the first look at the neuro-cognitive effects and the neural mechanism of brush character writing. The results are confirmative of the views and expectations of the cybernetic model of handwriting and calligraphy [
These preliminary findings are also significant from several broad cultural perspectives. Firstly, handwriting is not only the simplest form of man-machine or man-tool system but also an act embracing man’s perceptual-cognitive-motor activity that has been shown to cause differentiating physiological, cognitive, and cortical responses on a real-time, simultaneous, and feedback-driven basis. We have found this practice to be able to slow down and relax our bodily functions while at the same time heighten and activate our cognitive and neural activities. Increased EEG theta has been confirmed to be the neural core that integrates these two contradictory behavioral phenomena of the body and the mind as well as a hub for neural networking of these responses with other brain functions. This suggests a biological basis for calligraphy therapy to be an effective form of behavioral treatment. Since the research was designed to tackle a general system of handwriting of which calligraphy is a unique Chinese form, the observations gathered would have implications and generality for the behavior of handwriting in other writing systems.
Secondly, one primary interest of the present study was the prediction of a direct relationship between geometric forms and neural EEG changes through a spectral analysis. The results have disclosed a direct impact of visuospatial properties of Chinese characters on corresponding and distinguishing EEG wave variations. This finding offers a new perspective toward examining the basis of character-brain interface through brush writing in other linguistic forms or writing systems. It presents also an opportunity of studying this relationship between functional neuroplasticity and the dynamic act of brush writing of varying character forms. We previously suggested this direction of handwriting research some 10 years ago and are now feeling gratified that the current neuroscience contributions are helping and leading the way for us to move toward that direction [
Thirdly, recent studies [
Fourthly, we believe that the present outcomes have made a modest contribution to our understanding of the action dynamics of human language and thought processes. Unlike reading, which differs in script and sound components among the various scripts, handwriting in all writing systems shares the same perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes because at the basic level of analysis, scripts only vary in character shapes, forms, and structure across languages and cultures. The psycho-geometric principles of character construction in general would provide a unifying tool of comparison across the scripts. Our past and recent experience of clinical and treatment cases, in real-life implementation of these psycho-geometric principles as the core of the cybernetic theory of handwriting and calligraphy, have amply established the clinical validity of our predictions. The conclusions of this research suggest that its significance is not only pertinent to Chinese brush handwriting of calligraphy as a unicultural activity, but has also cross-cultural generality in theory and practice. It should be possible to look forward to future developments for methods and technologies specifically designed for enhancing graphonomic learning, practice, and remediation as well as for facilitating cognitive health and therapeutic interventions. This research has made a modest contribution in this endeavor.
One limitation of the present study is that we used one channel EEG, which was placed to Fz according to the International 10–20 system. Fm theta was found to be maximal also in other frontal midline regions including F3 and F4 [
The overall results of this study in the context of a cybernetic theory of handwriting and calligraphy has given additional credence to the biological basis of calligraphy therapy as an evidence-based system of behavioral treatment and rehabilitation. The many clinical studies and control trials that we have conducted can now have greater pool of theoretical, empirical, and clinical trials foundations to testify the successes of our professional applications over the years of this system of behavioral therapy, particularly in the areas of cognitive maintenance, cognitive treatment, and cognitive rehabilitation and, generally as well, in such other areas of health promotion and disease intervention as psychosomatic disorders, emotions, psychiatric conditions, and behavioural problems.