Suggate, Sebastian P. and Karle, Viktoria L. and Kipfelsberger, Tanja and Stoeger, Heidrun (2025) Keep the hands in mind: A meta-analysis of correlations between fine motor skills and reading, writing, mathematics, and cognitive development in children and adolescents. EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH REVIEW, 49: 100748. ISSN 1747-938X, 1878-0385
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Evidence suggests that fine motor skills (FMS) relate to academic and cognitive development; however, findings are unclear, strewn across multiple disciplines, and lack adequate synthesis. We conducted the first comprehensive meta-analysis examining the links between different FMS facets (i.e., dexterity, speed, graphomotor, bimanual, general) and a broad range of academiccognitive skills (i.e., sub-categories of reading, writing, mathematics, and cognition). A literature search identified 21,225 articles resulting in 118 eligible correlational studies (j = 143, k = 1110, N = 79,856). FMS exhibited significant and moderate relations with academic-cognitive skills (r = .329, d = .697). Graphomotor skills and writing showed the largest effect sizes. Mediation analysis suggested that cognitive skills mediated the link between FMS and academic skills. Overall, findings suggest that FMS share cognitive processes with academic skills, but that FMS are still related functionally to academic skills, especially writing. The discussion focuses on educational implications, moving beyond establishing if links exist to investigating why.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | TYPICALLY DEVELOPING-CHILDREN; EXECUTIVE FUNCTION; SCHOOL READINESS; COMPREHENSION; LANGUAGE; PERFORMANCE; ACHIEVEMENT; INTERRELATION; EXPERTISE; CHILDHOOD; Fine motor skills; Graphomotor skills; Reading; Cognition; Vocabulary; Writing; Academic achievement |
| Subjects: | 300 Social sciences > 370 Education |
| Divisions: | Human Sciences > Institut für Bildungswissenschaft > Lehrstuhl für Schulpädagogik (Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stöger) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 06 May 2026 10:02 |
| Last Modified: | 06 May 2026 10:02 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/65830 |
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