Direction and sequence in copying: the effect of learning to write in English and Hebrew

To explore the nature of directional experience and directional behavior in countries with different scripts, children and adults in the United States and in Israel were asked to copy a number of geometric shapes. The paths or sequences of strokes displayed some common developmental trends together with some specific differences stemming from the patterns taught for forming letters. Generalization from letter patterns, however, followed a nonlinear course: strongest at the time when writing is first being mastered and then declining. A similar course, it is suggested, may occur in generalizations among other cognitive or perceptual behaviors.