Handwriting (HW) training seems to boost recognition of visual graphs and learning to read more than other learning experiences. However, effects across studies appear to be variable and the underlying cognitive mechanism has been elusive. We thus conducted a meta-analysis on 50 independent experiments (with 1525 participants) to determine the magnitude of this HW benefit in visual graph recognition, while enlightening the underlying cognitive mechanism, by investigating four types of moderators: training program (type of control training, presence/absence of phonological training, and HW tasks adopted); set size and training regime (duration and frequency of session and total amount of training); granularity of visual discrimination and perceptual learning tasks; and age of participants. The benefit from HW training was moderate-to-large and significant (Hedge’s g = 0.58, SE = .09) and was also modulated by the type of control training (larger relative to motor, g = 0.78, than to visual control, g = 0.37), phonological training (larger when it was absent, g = 0.79, than present, g = 0.47), and granularity of visual discrimination (larger for fine-grained, g = 0.93, than coarse-grained, g = 0.19). These results seem consistent with symbolic accounts that hold that the advantage from HW training in visual graph recognition is about perceptual learning rather than the motor act. Multiple meta-regressions also revealed that training regime moderated the HW benefit. We conclude that HW training is effective to improve visual graph recognition, and hence is still relevant for literacy instruction in the present digital era.

手写 (HW) 培训似乎比其他学习经历更能促进对视觉图形的识别和学习阅读。然而，跨研究的影响似乎是可变的，潜在的认知机制一直难以捉摸。因此，我们对 50 个独立实验（有 1525 名参与者）进行了荟萃分析，以确定视觉图形识别中这种硬件收益的大小，同时通过调查四种类型的调节器来启发潜在的认知机制：培训计划（控制培训的类型，语音训练的存在/不存在，以及采用的硬件任务）；设定规模和培训制度（课程的持续时间和频率以及培训总量）；视觉辨别和感知学习任务的粒度；和参与者的年龄。g = 0.58，SE = .09），并且还受到控制训练类型的调节（相对于运动，g = 0.78，比视觉控制，g = 0.37），语音训练（在不存在时更大，g = 0.79，比现在，g = 0.47）和视觉辨别的粒度（细粒度，g = 0.93，大于粗粒度，g= 0.19)。这些结果似乎与象征性解释一致，即硬件训练在视觉图形识别方面的优势在于感知学习而不是运动行为。多项元回归还显示，培训制度缓和了硬件收益。我们得出的结论是，硬件训练对于提高视觉图形识别是有效的，因此仍然与当前数字时代的识字教学相关。