Linton Mohammed

The Dynamic Character of Disguise Behavior for Text-based, Mixed, and Stylized Signatures

Abstract:  The aims of this study were to determine if dynamic parameters (duration, size, velocity, jerk, and pen pressure) differed for signing style (text‐based, stylized, and mixed) and if signing style influences handwriting dynamics equally across three signature conditions (genuine, disguised, and auto‐simulation). Ninety writers provided 10 genuine signatures, five disguised signatures, and five auto‐simulated signatures. All 1800 signatures were collected using a digitizing tablet resulting in a database of each signature’s dynamic characteristics. With genuine signatures, there were significant differences between styles for size, velocity, and pen pressure, and there were significant differences between genuine signatures and at least one of the un‐natural signature conditions for all parameters. For velocity and size, these changes with condition were dependent on style. Changes with condition for the other parameters were similar for the three styles. This study shows that there are differences among natural signature styles and disguise behaviors that may be relevant in forensic signature examinations.

Dynamic characteristics of signatures: effects of writer style on genuine and simulated signatures.

The aims of this study were to determine if computer‐measured dynamic features (duration, size, velocity, jerk, and pen pressure) differ between genuine and simulated signatures. Sixty subjects (3 equal groups of 3 signature styles) each provided 10 naturally written (genuine) signatures. Each of these subjects then provided 15 simulations of each of three model signatures. The genuine (N = 600) and simulated (N = 2700) signatures were collected using a digitizing tablet. MovAlyzeR® software was used to estimate kinematic parameters for each pen stroke. Stroke duration, velocity, and pen pressure were found to discriminate between genuine and simulated signatures regardless of the simulators own style of signature or the style of signature being simulated. However, there was a significant interaction between style and condition for size and jerk (a measure of smoothness). The results of this study, based on quantitative analysis and dynamic handwriting features, indicate that the style of the simulators own signature and the style of signature being simulated can impact the characteristics of handwriting movements for simulations. Writer style characteristics might therefore need to be taken into consideration as potentially significant when evaluating signature features with a view to forming opinions regarding authenticity.

Nonadherence to the isochrony principle in forged signatures

Highly programmed skilled movements are executed in such a way that their kinematic features adhere to certain rules referred to as minimization principles. One such principle is the isochrony principle, which states that the duration of voluntary movement remains approximately constant across a range of movement distances; that is, movement duration is independent of movement extent. The concept of isochrony suggests that some information stored in the motor program is constant, thus reducing the storage demands of the program. The aim of the present study was to examine whether forged signatures can be distinguished from genuine signatures on the basis of isochrony kinematics. Sixty writers were asked to write their own signatures and to forge model signatures representing three different writing styles: text-based, stylized, and mixed. All signatures were digitized to enable high precision dynamic analyses of stroke kinematics. Vertical stroke duration and absolute amplitude were measured for each pen stroke of the signatures using MovAlyzeR(®) software. Slope coefficients derived from simple regression models of the relationship between stroke duration and amplitude served as our measure of isochrony. The slope coefficient reflects the degree to which stroke duration increases in relation to stroke amplitude. Higher coefficients indicate greater increases in stroke duration for a given stroke amplitude and thus violate the isochrony principle. We hypothesized that the duration-amplitude coefficients for forged signatures would be significantly greater than for genuine signatures suggesting non-adherence to the isochrony principle. Results indicated that regardless of the style of the writer, genuine signatures were associated with low slope coefficients Pen strokes forming forged signatures had significantly greater duration-amplitude slope coefficients than genuine signatures. These findings suggest that when forging signatures, writers execute pen movements having steeper duration-amplitude relationships than for genuine signatures.