Category: Parkinson's Disease (Other)
Objective: To investigate whether handwriting performance in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients is associated with neuropsychological function.
Background: PD patients typically present impaired handwriting with slower writing and micrographia. Handwriting may improve with external cues, suggesting a role of attention and visuospatial processing. No study has directly evaluated the relationship between handwriting kinematics and neuropsychological function.
Method: Thirty PD patients and 21 healthy controls (HC), native Spanish speakers, were recruited. Subjects wrote the word ‘patient’ in Spanish, Norwegian, Greek, and Japanese on a digital tablet for quantitative analysis in the off-medication state. Writing kinematics, such as velocity and amplitude, were recorded. Neuropsychological assessments in PD (on medication) evaluated attention, memory, executive function, language, and visuospatial function.
Results: No significant age or sex differences were observed. Mean disease duration was 4.8 years; MDS-UPDRS III (off-medication) was 23.9. Velocity was lower in PD for Spanish (BF=37.8), Norwegian (BF=6.8), Greek (BF=25.4), and Japanese (BF=3.6). Horizontal amplitude was reduced across all languages (Spanish: BF=37.1; Norwegian: BF=8.2; Greek: BF=4.0; Japanese: BF=6.9). Vertical amplitude reduction occurred only in Spanish (BF=6.7) and Norwegian (BF=6.4). Digit span forward correlated with Greek velocity (BF=3.4); digit span backward with Norwegian (BF=3.3) and Greek (BF=9.8); Trail Making Test B with Spanish (BF=12.0), Norwegian (BF=3.6), and Japanese (BF=3.6). No correlations were found with amplitude.
Conclusion: PD patients showed slower handwriting and reduced horizontal amplitude across languages; vertical amplitude reduction occurred only in Spanish and Norwegian. Lower velocity, but not amplitude, was associated with poorer working memory and executive function, suggesting slower handwriting is more strongly linked to cognitive dysfunction than micrographia in PD.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
S. Obika, O. Montero, J. Ortega, M. Escribano, A. Ruiz-Yanzi, C. Del Toro, E. Natera-Villalba, C. Gasca-Salas, M. Matarazzo, R. Martínez-Fernández, F. Alonso-Frech. Correlation between handwriting and cognitive function in patients with Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2026; 41 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/correlation-between-handwriting-and-cognitive-function-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed October 1, 2026.« Back to 2026 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/correlation-between-handwriting-and-cognitive-function-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/