Gesture-Based Learning Across Development

Elizabeth Wakefield and colleagues have conducted ample research on the relationship between hand gesture and learning facilitation, as we learned from her talk on “Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year old children” (Wakefield, Congdon, Novack, Goldin-Meadow, James, 2019). As the title suggests, this work showed that children who learned to sole math problems with instruction + gesture performed better on later testing of mathematical ability then children in the instruction only condition. Via use of an fMRI paradigm, their results indicate that “gesture may benefit learners, at least in part, because it involves the motor system in the learning process” (Wakefield et al., 2019). The use of gestures in learning is distinct from simple action, suggesting a relationship between active learning and the motor system that is present both during learning and later, upon recall (Wakefield et al., 2019)..  As this study was conducted in childhood it begs the question: at what age do we begin to benefit from gesture-based learning?

 Lucca and Wilbourn set out to answer this question in their article “Communicating to Learn: Infants’ Pointing Gestures Result in Optimal Learning” (2016). They argue that frequency of pointing in infancy is a reliable predictor of vocabulary acquisition in later development (Lucca & Wilbourn, 2016). Similar to the methods used by Wakefield et al., Lucca and Wilbourn also found that infants learn most efficiently when provided information based on their gestures rather than unsolicited language data (2016). One reason for this finding may be due to increased language exposure from providers in response to the infant’s pointing, inferring the gesture to be indicative of interest. Although this hypothesis differs from Wakefield’s, it is possible that positive feedback from gestures in infancy leads to the development of further gesture-based mechanisms in later life, such as those described by Wakefield et al. (2019). Lucca and Wilbourn chose not to venture into use of neuroimaging techniques in their study, so any theories on neural correlates of infant pointing gestures remain to be tested. 

 It is also interesting and important to note the domain differences between these two studies; gesture can facilitate learning across a wide range of domains, including mathematics and language, though it cannot yet be said if all make use of the same mechanisms. We are likely to learn much more about the underlying role of gesture in learning as the field of developmental research continues to grow. 

Works Cited: 

Lucca, Kelsey, and Makeba Parramore Wilbourn. “Communicating to Learn: Infants’ Pointing Gestures Result in Optimal Learning.” Child Development, vol. 89, no. 3, 2016, pp. 941–960., doi:10.1111/cdev.12707.

Wakefield, Elizabeth M., et al. “Learning Math by Hand: The Neural Effects of Gesture-Based Instruction in 8-Year-Old Children.” Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2019, doi:10.3758/s13414-019-01755-y.