Writing Lab

Contact us: afonso.o@brookes.ac.uk

About us

The Writing Lab has a range of equipment to record and measure handwriting and keyboarding behaviour. 

It is equipped with a number of Wacom Intuos graphic tablets that allow us to register the xy coordinates of the written response over 100 times a second. We use specialist software (both Ductus and Eye & Pen) for stimulus presentation and to produce measures of handwriting duration and velocity as well as pen pressure. 

We also have two computers with the specialist software InputLog, which records every keystroke during typing. This allows us to measure the speed of production of different words and the revisions made while writing. 

The Lab also has an EyeLink 1000 eye-tracker Experimental Builder I, available to prepare and conduct eye-tracking experiments. 

We conduct internationally recognised research on typical and atypical writing development through the lifespan, with a focus on spelling and handwriting. Our lines of research include investigations of the nature of writing difficulties associated with developmental disabilities such as dyslexia and Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD).

Person carrying out a handwriting test on a digitising tablet

Research themes

Development of assessment tools

Person writing a text on paper

Writing difficulties

Girl writing in school

Cognitive processes involved in spelling in English

Man participating in a writing test

Working memory in writing production

Woman participating in a writing test