Handwritten signatures in neurological and psychiatric disorders: a systematic review with clinical and forensic implications
Sara Vitale, Giacomo Guidali, Stefano Zago, Nadia Bolognini · 2026
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Description
Sara Vitale and colleagues review what handwritten signatures reveal about brain and mental disorders, in a 2026 systematic review. Signing is a deeply practiced act that often survives when other writing fails. The team searched three databases through December 2025 and kept sixteen papers on signature traits in patient groups.
Signatures seemed largely spared by general cognitive decline yet changed in specific conditions. Parkinson's disease shrank writing size, small vessel disease made strokes more winding, and shifts appeared in mania, delirium, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Movement and space traits changed most often. No sign pattern proved unique to one ill, so court use stays a guess.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Sara Vitale, Giacomo Guidali, Stefano Zago, Nadia Bolognini |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 109 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |