Beyond "Think-Aloud Protocol" Research in the Composing Process: Three Reports of fMRI Studies of Actual Writers Writing

1)  Shah C1, Erhard K, Ortheil HJ, Kaza E, Kessler C, Lotze M.  Neural correlates of creative writing: an fMRI study.  Human Brain Mapping. 2013 May;34(5):1088-101. doi: 10.1002/hbm.21493. Epub 2011 Dec 8.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22162145

2)  PDF]The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain ...

www.iub.edu/.../TINE_2012_preprint.p...
Indiana University Bloomington
by KH James - ‎Cited by 12 - ‎Related articles
functional MRI scanning. .... the previous findings, in an fMRI study of pre-school-aged ...... Here we can begin to understand what part of the writing process.

[Sorry about the ugly format but this PDF won't allow text copying.  The abstract says they found that pre-literate children's "reading circuits" (previously established brain activity assoiate with reading) were activated by printing letters with pencils, but NOT when they typed the letters or traced them rather than making their own.  They conclude that handwriting may encourage reading skills--by inference, typing might slow down acquisition of reading skills?]

 3)  The University of Stavanger. "Better learning through handwriting." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 January 2011. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110119095458.htm>.

"Summary:
Writing by hand strengthens the learning process. When typing on a keyboard, this process may be impaired. Neurophysiologists have examined research which goes a long way in confirming the significance of these differences. When writing by hand, our brain receives feedback from our motor actions, together with the sensation of touching a pencil and paper. These kinds of feedback is significantly different from those we receive when touching and typing on a keyboard."  ". . . based on materials provided by The University of Stavanger. The original article was written by Trond Egil Toft; translation by Astri Sivertsen."