The role of gesture meaningfulness in word learning

Bibliographic Data

ID12824861
AuthorsJulie M Hupp (0000-0002-5024-2732, The Ohio State University Newark, corresponding author), Mary C Gingras (The Ohio State University Newark)
Year2016
Volume15
Issue3
Pages340-356
Publication date2016-11-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGesture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1568-1475 • E-ISSN: 1569-9773
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/gest.15.3.04hup
OpenAlexW2559000820
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited30

Adults regularly use word-gesture combinations in communication, and meaningful gestures facilitate word learning. However, it is not clear if this benefit of gestures is due to the speaker’s movement increasing the listener’s attention or if it needs to be a meaningful gesture, if the difficulty of the task results in disparate reliance on gestures, and if word classes are differentially affected by gestures. In the present research, participants were measured on their novel word learning across four gesture conditions: meaningful gesture, beat gesture, nonsense gesture, and no gesture with extended training (Study 1, n = 139) and brief training (Study 2, n = 128). Overall, meaningful gestures and high frequency words led to the highest word learning accuracy. This effect of word frequency did not hold true for beat gestures after brief training suggesting that adding rhythmic information — if not adding semantic information — may detract from word learning. This research highlights the importance of considering task difficulty when analyzing the effects of gestures

Cognitive psychology · Gesture · Linguistics · Speech recognition · Word (group theory · Communication · Computer Science · Hand Gesture Recognition Systems · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

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