The cortical organization of writing sequence: evidence from observing Chinese characters in motion

Writing sequences play an important role in handwriting of Chinese characters. However, little is known regarding the integral brain patterns and network mechanisms of processing Chinese character writing sequences. The present study decoded brain patterns during observing Chinese characters in motion by using multi-voxel pattern analysis, meta-analytic decoding analysis, and extended unified structural equation model. We found that perception of Chinese character writing sequence recruited brain regions not only for general motor schema processing, i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, shifting, and inhibition functions, i.e., the right postcentral gyrus and bilateral pre-SMA/dACC, but also for sensorimotor functions specific for writing sequences. More importantly, these brain regions formed a cooperatively top-down brain network where information was transmitted from brain regions for general motor schema processing to those specific for writing sequences. These findings not only shed light on the neural mechanisms of Chinese character writing sequences, but also extend the hierarchical control model on motor schema processing.