{"id":344897,"date":"2024-06-03T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/mirror-writing-an-increasingly-common-phenomenon\/"},"modified":"2024-06-03T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T09:00:00","slug":"mirror-writing-an-increasingly-common-phenomenon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ora-visio.com\/en\/mirror-writing-an-increasingly-common-phenomenon\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirror Writing, an Increasingly Common Phenomenon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know?<\/strong> Leonardo da Vinci<\/strong> deliberately wrote his texts from right to left to keep them hidden from prying eyes. Decoding them required the use of a mirror to read them. While not a recent phenomenon, mirror writing<\/strong> is nonetheless becoming more and more common among young children. An overview and its implications<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What is mirror writing?<\/h2>\n

Also called “specular writing,” mirror writing is a universal phenomenon<\/strong>, observed across all cultures and all types of handwriting, even when learning Japanese or Chinese characters. For example, this lateral graphic reversal of letters<\/strong> makes the “E” look like a “3,” but the “J” and “Z” are also frequently reversed in French.<\/p>\n

Appearing around the age of 4 to 5<\/strong>, mirror writing has been subject to many judgements and misconceptions<\/strong> due to its current resurgence, the best known being that it’s linked to heavy use of digital tablets… Yet this type of writing entered the scientific literature with the German neurologist Alfred Buchwald, back in 1878<\/strong>, nearly 150 years ago!<\/p>\n

Where does mirror writing come from?<\/h2>\n

Its origins have been the subject of many theories<\/strong>, often incorrect, such as its supposed link to left-handedness. Today, this process is explained on two levels<\/strong>:<\/p>\n