Robert D. McIntosh|Eilidh L. Anderson|Rowena Henderson
Experimental confirmation of a character-facing bias in literacy development
University of Edinburgh|University of Edinburgh|University of Edinburgh
learning write children often mirrorreverse individual letters children learning use latin alphabet lefttoright writing culture letters appear face left j z seem prone reversal appear face right b c proposed asymmetrical latin letters face right children statistically learn general regularity subsequently biased write letter rightward evidence characterfacing bias circumstantial however letterfacing direction confounded factors could affect error rates instance j z leftfacing also infrequent report first controlled experimental test characterfacing bias taught 43 scottish primary schoolchildren aged 4858 years four artificial letterlike characters two leftfacing two rightfacing characters novel subject prior exposure effects alternate groups children assigned identical mirrorreflected character sets children three times likely mirrorwrite novel character learned leftfacing format mirrorwrite one learned rightfacing format provides first experimental confirmation characterfacing bias literacy development suggests implicit knowledge acquired exposure written language readily generalized novel letterlike forms