AUTHOR=Balestrino Maurizio , Brugnolo Andrea , Girtler Nicola , Pardini Matteo , Rizzetto Cristiano , Alì Paolo Alessandro , Cocito Leonardo , Schiavetti Irene 

TITLE=Cognitive impairment assessment through handwriting (COGITAT) score: a novel tool that predicts cognitive state from handwriting for forensic and clinical applications

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1275315

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1275315

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Introduction: Handwriting deteriorates proportionally to the writer's cognitive state. Such knowledge is of special importance in the case of a contested will, where dementia of the testator is claimed, but medical records are often insufficient to decide what the testator's cognitive state really was. By contrast, if the will is handwritten, handwriting analysis allows us to gauge the testator's cognitive state atin the precise moment when they werehe/she was writing the will. However, quantitative methods are needed to precisely evaluate whether the writer's cognitive state was normal or not. We aimed to provide a test that quantifies handwriting deterioration to gauge a writer's cognitive state. Method: we We consecutively enrolled patients who came for the evaluation of cognitive impairment at the Outpatient Clinic for Cognitive Impairment of the Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics and Maternal and Child Sciences (DINOGMI) of the University of Genoa, Italy. Additionally, wWe also enrolled their caregivers. We asked them to write by hand a short text by hand, and we administered them the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Then, we investigated which handwriting parameters correlated with cognitive state as gauged by the MMSE. Results: Our study We found that a single score, whichthat we called the COGnitive Impairment Through hAndwriTing (COGITAT) score, reliably allows us to predict the writer's cognitive state. Conclusions: The COGITAT score may be a valuable tool to gauge the cognitive state of the author of a manuscript. This score may be especially useful in contested handwritten wills, where clinical examination of the writer is precluded.