The influence of cataractus vision in the individual characteristics of handwriting and the implications in the work of forensic document examiner

The effects of cataractus vision on handwriting performance are evaluated. Six cata-ract patients were enrolled with an average age of 74.8 yrs and completed a specially designed questionnaire with samples of their signature pre-operatively and three-months post-operatively. The signatures were analyzed through a four-eye principle peer re-viewed examination focusing on six basic general characteristics of writing (line quality, general design, size, arrangements, spacing and slant) and their sub-elements. The quali-tative analysis showed that cataractus vision causes a decrease of line quality and differ-ences between the pre- and post- surgical samples on the sub-element of size. General design, intra-allograph ratio and slant were not influenced by the compromised vision.