Gesture Instruction: Generalizing Mathematical Concepts and Persuasion

  Sarah Delmar was a guest speaker for the Neuroscience Seminar at Loyola University Chicago this Fall 2025. Dr. Delmar is a postdoctoral scholar who spoke about her research focused on neurological mechanisms underlying the role of gestures in learning math, and her talk stood out to all attendees.  Dr. Delmar’s research shows that children learned math concepts and ideas quicker and more effectively when an instructor used gestures rather than actions. Using gestures like pointing or showing size with your hands helps to reduce the mental load for kids and help simplify abstract relationships like mathematical equivalence. The gestures also make it easier for children to generalize what they have learned to new problems. This is something action based instruction does not do well because it keeps the children focused on the specific numbers being moved

The study used fNIRS to measure brain activity by tracking oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin (HbO, HbR). fNIRS is better for children than fMRI because it’s non-invasive, tolerant of movement, and still reflects BOLD-like signals. The study found that gesture instruction led to higher improvement rates and higher neural synchrony in parts of the brain linked to relational reasoning. Action instruction tended to limit generalization because it kept the children focused on the actual movements. Overall, gestures help children form flexible mathematical concepts in their mind. 

Before her talk, students read “How Our Hands Help Us Learn” by Susan Goldin-Meadow and Susan M. Wagner (2005). The article explains that gestures don’t just accompany speech but they actually contribute to learning. The movements we make with our hands when communicating can express ideas not found in speech. When gestures and speech are mismatched, it can suggest that the learning is transitioning (learning something new). These mismatches show that multiple ideas are active in the mind, indicating cognitive flexibility. Gestures give learners a way to represent ideas physically, connecting words to the real world. 

These ideas connect well with a Science Alert article, “Specific Hand Gestures Can Make You Instantly More Persuasive,” by USC professor Giovanni Luca Cascio Rizzio. His work shows that simple hand movements, like spreading our hands apart while explaining distance or bringing your hands closer when suggesting two items are related, make information easier for people to mentally process. This is known as processing fluency, and it helps explain why gestures can make a speaker seem more persuasive. Together, the studies imply that gestures are incredibly powerful tools that can be used to support learning, show where a child is in their academic understanding, and influence how convincing we are in everyday conversations. Hand gestures can play a large role in shaping thoughts and behavior, whether we are in the classroom or in the real world.

References

Delmar, Sarah. Neuroscience Seminar, Loyola University Chicago, Fall 2025. Lecture.

Goldin-Meadow, Susan, and Susan M Wagner. “How our hands help us learn.” Trends in cognitive sciences vol. 9,5 (2005): 234-41. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.006

Luca Cascio Rizzo, Giovanni. “Specific Hand Gestures Can Make You Instantly More Persuasive, Study Says.” ScienceAlert, 5 Dec. 2025, www.sciencealert.com/specific-hand-gestures-can-make-you-instantly-more-persuasive-study-says