When Hands Speak - Gesturing

                                            When Hands Speak : Gesturing 

I often believed that verbal language is the trait that separates humans from other species, making us superior. However, after attending a seminar and reading the study, “Language Proficiency Impacts the Benefits of Co-Speech Gesture for Narrative Understanding Through a Visual Attention Mechanism” by Natalia Zielinski and Elizabeth M. Wakefield I started to view communication in a whole new manner. Their research examined how gesturing affects comprehension, more specifically in bilingual children. Based on parent assessments, they studied children who were more proficient in English than Spanish. They found that children remembered more of the story when it was told in their stronger language. However, to my disbelief, when the story was told in Polish, they remembered more if the speaker used gestures that matched what was being said. Gestures that supported the words improved comprehension, while gestures that did not match did not help. This means that comprehension is not limited to verbal speech alone, but movement and visual meaning play an important role in how we communicate and comprehend.

Similarly, an article posted by National Library of Medicine, published a research study by Raedy Ping and Susan Goldin-Medeow. In this study, they questioned if gesturing eases cognitive load referred as “Working Memory”, even when talking about an object that isn't physically there. The study consisted of children explaining a “water-pouring task” while trying to remember two words that are totally unrelated. Sometimes they were allowed to gesture, and other times they couldn’t. In the end, the kids remembered the words better when they were able to gesture, this was still true even when the objects weren’t visible. This means that gesturing was not just communication, it was the meaning behind those gestures that gave way to comprehension and memory. 

Taking a step back and reflecting on both researches, I realize that gesturing supports semantic encoding, adding meaning to words. This may explain why gesturing supports memory and comprehension. Which gets me thinking, do gestures and spoken language activate different areas of the brain or could it be that gestures function as a form of language themselves, working next speech rather than just supporting it?

Additional Source : 

Ping, R., & Goldin‐Meadow, S. (2010). Gesturing saves cognitive resources when talking about nonpresent objects. Cognitive Science, 34(4), 602–619. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01102.x