Lending a Hand to Imagery? The Impact of Visuospatial Working Memory Interference Upon Iconic Gesture Production in a Narrative Task

Visuospatial working memory is thought to be responsible for imagery generation (Cattaneo et al. in Imagery and spatial cognition: methods, models and cognitive assessment, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 2006). This memory system was manipulated by varying visual perceptual input (see Baddeley and Andrade in Theories of memory, Psychology Press, Hove, 1998) in a narrative task in order to investigate the association between iconic gesture production and visuospatial working memory interference. Participants watched two short cartoon clips and were asked to relay a narrative about what they had seen in the videos to an experimenter. Participants were randomly assigned to relay their narrative while wearing video glasses with either a simple or complex moving image (unrelated to the cartoons) projected onto the lenses. It was hypothesized that if gesture production plays a role in facilitating visuospatial working memory resource activation, then participants in the complex visual distractor condition would display a higher rate of gesture production. Participants in the complex visual distractor condition gestured significantly more than participants in the simple visual distractor condition. These results are interpreted as lending support to the argument that iconic gestures may play a functional role in activating visuospatial working memory resources during a narrative task. Since visuospatial working memory is thought to support imagery, these results also suggest that gesture production may facilitate imagery generation.     

Memory for Visual-Spoken Language in Children and Adults

Two experiments examined how developmental changes in processing speed, reliance on visual articulatory cues, memory retrieval, and the ability to interpret representational gestures influence memory for spoken language presented with a view of the speaker (visual-spoken language). Experiment 1 compared 16 children (M = 9.5 yrs.) and 16 young adults, using an immediate recall procedure. Experiment 2 replicated the methods with new speakers, stimuli, and participants. Results showed that both children's and adults' memory for sentences was aided by the presence of visual articulatory information and gestures. Children's slower processing speeds did not adversely affect their ability to process visual-spoken language. However, children's ability to retrieve the words from memory was poorer than adults'. Children's memory was also more influenced by representational gestures that appeared along with predicate terms than by gestures that co-occurred with nouns.     

Attention to Speech-Accompanying Gestures: Eye Movements and Information Uptake

There is growing evidence that addressees in interaction integrate the semantic information conveyed by speakers’ gestures. Little is known, however, about whether and how addressees’ attention to gestures and the integration of gestural information can be modulated. This study examines the influence of a social factor (speakers’ gaze to their own gestures), and two physical factors (the gesture’s location in gesture space and gestural holds) on addressees’ overt visual attention to gestures (direct fixations of gestures) and their uptake of gestural information. It also examines the relationship between gaze and uptake. The results indicate that addressees’ overt visual attention to gestures is affected both by speakers’ gaze and holds but for different reasons, whereas location in space plays no role. Addressees’ uptake of gesture information is only influenced by speakers’ gaze. There is little evidence of a direct relationship between addressees’ direct fixations of gestures and their uptake.     

Multimodal representational gestures in the transition to multi-word productions

The aim of this study was to analyze the use of representational gestures from a multimodal point of view in the transition from one-word to multi-word constructions. Twenty-one Spanish-speaking children were observed longitudinally at 18, 21, 24, and 30 months of age. We analyzed the production of deictic, symbolic, and conventional gestures and their coordination with different verbal elements. Moreover, we explored the relationship between gestural multimodal and unimodal productions and independent measures of language development. Results showed that gesture production remains stable in the period studied. Whereas deictic gestures are frequent and mostly multimodal from the beginning, conventional gestures are rare and mainly unimodal. Symbolic gestures are initially unimodal, but between 24 and 30 months of age, this pattern reverses, with more multimodal symbolic gestures than unimodal. In addition, the frequency of multimodal representational gestures at specific ages seems to be positively related to independent measures of vocabulary and morphosyntax development. By contrast, the production of unimodal representational gestures appears negatively related to these measures. Our results suggest that multimodal representational gestures could have a facilitating role in the process of learning to combine meanings for communicative goals.     

The Relation Between Gesture and Speech in Congenitally Blind and Sighted Language-Learners

Gesture is widely regarded to play an important role in communication, both in conjunction with and independent of speech. Indeed, gesture is known to develop even before the onset of spoken words. However, little is known about the communicative conditions under which gesture emerges. The aim of this study was to explore the role of vision in early gesturing. We examined gesture development in 5 congenitally blind and 5 sighted toddlers videotaped longitudinally between the ages of 14 and 28 months in their homes while engaging in free play with a parent or experimenter. All of the blind children were found to produce at least some gestures during the one-word stage of language development. However, gesture production was relatively low among the blind children relative to their sighted peers. Moreover, although blind and sighted children produced the same overall set of gesture types, the distribution of gesture types across categories differed. In addition, blind children used gestures primarily to communicate about objects that were nearby, while sighted children used them for nearby as well as distally located objects. These findings suggest that gesture may play different roles in the language-learning process for sighted and blind children. Nevertheless, they also make it clear that gesture is a robust phenomenon of early communicative development, emerging even in the absence of experience with a visual model.     

Quantity and Quality of Gestural Input: Caregivers’ Sensitivity Predicts Caregiver–Infant Bidirectional Communication Through Gestures

Children's use of pointing and symbolic gestures—early communication skills which predict later language—is influenced by frequency of adults’ gestures. However, we wonder whether, like language, the sensitivity of adult–child interactions is also important for encouraging child gesturing, rather than simply quantity of adult gestural input. Furthermore, children's use of gestures influences qualities of adult–child interaction, eliciting greater responsiveness and richer communication. Thus, we investigated the moderating role of nonparental caregiver sensitivity on the relationship between caregivers’ and infants’ use of pointing and symbolic gestures. We observed 10 infants (ages 6–19 months) over 8 months with a total of 24 student caregivers completing short‐term internships, recording adult and child use of pointing and symbolic gestures. We used longitudinal growth models to examine change in gesturing and moderating roles of caregiver sensitivity in the relations between caregiver and child gesturing behavior. Caregivers’ sensitivity moderated effects of caregivers’ symbolic gestures on infants’ pointing and symbolic gestures, and the effects of infants’ pointing and symbolic gesture frequency on caregivers’ gesture use. Thus, caregivers’ gestures are most effective in supporting child gestures when in the context of sensitive interactions. Sensitivity is central to supporting children's early communicative behaviors, including pointing and symbolic gestures.     

A Comparative Study on Representational Gestures in Italian and Japanese Children

This study compares words and gestures produced in a controlled experimental setting by children raised in different linguistic/cultural environments to examine the robustness of gesture use at an early stage of lexical development. Twenty-two Italian and twenty-two Japanese toddlers (age range 25?C37?months) performed the same picture-naming task. Italians produced more spoken correct labels than Japanese but a similar amount of representational gestures temporally matched with words. However, Japanese gestures reproduced more closely the action represented in the picture. Results confirm that gestures are linked to motor actions similarly for all children, suggesting a common developmental stage, only minimally influenced by culture.     

Hand over Heart Primes Moral Judgments and Behavior

Morality is a prominent guide of both action and perception. We argue that non-emotional gestures can prime the abstract concept of honesty. Four studies demonstrated that the emblematic gesture associated with honesty (putting a hand on one’s heart) increased the level of honesty perceived by others, and increased the honesty shown in one’s own behavior. Target persons performing this gesture were described in terms associated with honesty, and appeared more trustworthy to others than when the same targets were photographed with a control gesture. Persons performing the hand-over-heart gesture provided more honest assessments of others’ attractiveness, and refrained from cheating, as compared to persons performing neutral gestures. These findings suggest that bodily experience associated with abstract concepts can influence both one’s perceptions of others, and one’s own complex actions. Further, our findings suggest that this influence is not mediated by changes in affective states.     

The context of infants' giving gestures in mother-infant dyads: Typical giving gestures and those contingent on exploration and play

This study aimed to focus on a niche that has not yet been investigated in infants' gesture studies that is the effect of the prior context of one specific gestural behavior (gives) on maternal behavior. For this purpose, we recruited 23 infants at 11 and 13 months of age yielded 246 giving gesture bouts that were performed in three contexts: typical when the object was offered immediately, contingent on exploration, and contingent on play. The analysis revealed that maternal responses to infants' giving gestures varied and were affected by their age and gesture context. Hence, mothers amended their responses according to the background that generated each gesture. The number of verbal responses to infants' giving gestures decreased as the infants aged, whereas the number of pretense responses increased. For infants aged 11 months, mothers generally provided motor responses to typical gestures. However, for infants aged 13 months, this trend declined and was replaced by a strong positive correlation between giving gestures contingent on play and verbal responses. We concluded that the type of activity with objects prior to employing giving gestures could enhance infants' symbolic skills because caregivers monitor the contingent act that yields the gesture that shapes their response.     

Adaptive changes in gait of older and younger adults as responses to challenges to dynamic balance

The study proposed to identify balance strategies used by younger and older adults during gait under proprioceptive, visual, and simultaneous proprioceptive-visual challenges. Participants ambulated under 4 conditions: consistent, noncompliant surface; inconsistent, compliant surface (C); consistent, noncompliant surface with vision obscured (NCVO); and inconsistent, compliant surface with vision obscured (CVO). Balance adaptations were measured as changes in gait velocity, cadence, and gait-stability ratio (GSR). Participants were 5 younger (mean age = 27.2) and 5 older (mean age = 68) healthy adults. Significant age differences were found for GSR (p = .03) on all surfaces. Older adults adopted a more stable gait pattern than younger adults regardless of the challenge presented by surface. Significant condition differences were found for velocity (p < .001) and cadence (p = .001). All participants exhibited significantly decreased velocity and increased cadence on surfaces C and CVO. Gait speed and cadence did not significantly change in NCVO. Younger and older adults exhibited similar adaptive balance strategies, slowing and increasing steps/s, under proprioceptive and proprioceptive-visual challenges to dynamic balance.     

Unspoken Diversity: Cultural Differences in Gestures

This paper describes the use of video to explore cultural differences in gestures. Video recordings were used to capture a large sample of international gestures, and these are edited into a documentary video, A World of Gestures: Culture and Nonverbal Communication. This paper describes the approach and methodology used. A number of specific questions are examined: Are there universally understood hand gestures?; Are there universal categories of gestures—i.e., universal messages with unique instances in each society?; Can the exact same gesture have opposite meanings in two cultures?; Can individuals articulate and explain the gestures common in their culture?; How can video methods provide “visual replication” of nuanced behaviors such as gestures?; Are there gender differences in knowing or performing gestures?; and finally, Is global diversity collapsing toward Western gestural forms under the onslaught of cultural imperialism? The research findings suggest that there are both cultural “differences” and also cultural “meta-differences”—more profound differences involving deeply embedded categories of meaning that make cultures unique.     

The Use of Body Movements and Gestures as Cues to Emotions in Younger and Older Adults

Eighty-two younger and older adults participated in a two-part study of the decoding of emotion through body movements and gestures. In the first part, younger and older adults identified emotions depicted in brief videotaped displays of young adult actors portraying emotional situations. In each display, the actors were silent and their faces were electronically blurred in order to isolate the body cues to emotion. Although both groups made accurate emotion identifications well above chance levels, older adults made more overall errors, and this was especially true for negative emotions. Moreover, their errors were more likely to reflect the misidentification of emotional displays as neutral in content. In the second part, younger and older adults rated the videotaped displays using scales reflecting several movement dimensions (e.g., form, tempo, force, and movement). The ratings of both age groups were in high agreement and provided reliable information about particular body cues to emotion. The errors made by older adults were linked to reactions to exaggerated or ambiguous body cues.     

The Organization of Words and Symbolic Gestures in 18‐Month‐Olds’ Lexicons: Evidence From a Disambiguation Task

Infants’ early communicative repertoires include both words and symbolic gestures. The current study examined the extent to which infants organize words and gestures in a single unified lexicon. As a window into lexical organization, eighteen‐month‐olds’ (N = 32) avoidance of word–gesture overlap was examined and compared with avoidance of word–word overlap. The current study revealed that when presented with novel words, infants avoided lexical overlap, mapping novel words onto novel objects. In contrast, when presented with novel gestures, infants sought overlap, mapping novel gestures onto familiar objects. The results suggest that infants do not treat words and gestures as equivalent lexical items and that during a period of development when word and symbolic gesture processing share many similarities, important differences also exist between these two symbolic forms.     

Sibling Socialization of Competence in Rural,Single‐Parent African American Families

Older siblings' contributions to younger siblings' competence net of parenting processes were examined with 152 pairs of first‐born (M= 11.7 years) and second‐born (M= 9.2 years) siblings in rural, single‐parent African American families. The possible moderational effect of sibling conflict on the association between older and younger siblings' competence was also examined. Mothers reported their parenting practices, teachers assessed siblings' competence, and older siblings reported sibling conflict levels. Structural equation modeling indicated that parenting was linked with older siblings' competence, which in turn was linked with competence among younger siblings. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that older and younger siblings' competencies were linked when sibling relationships included low levels of conflict.     

A comparison of HIV risk practices among unprotected sex-seeking older and younger men who have sex with other men

Purpose: In recent years, much attention has been devoted to understanding the HIV risk behaviors of younger men who have sex with men (MSM). Recent data suggest that HIV is becoming an increasing problem for older adults, but little attention has been devoted to understanding their HIV risk behaviors or the factors that underlie their risk taking. This study provides a comparison of these issues among younger and older MSM. Methods: The data come from a subset of younger (ages 18–39, n?=?113) and older (ages 50+, n?=?109) men participating in a national study of 332 men who use the Internet to find other men for unprotected sex. Men were sampled randomly from 16 websites. Data were collected via telephone interviews conducted in 2008 and 2009. Results: Younger and older men reported comparable involvement in HIV risk, including involvement in unprotected sex, proportion of sex acts involving internal ejaculation, number of times having anonymous sex, and number of times having multiple-partner sex. Generally speaking, the factors underlying the risk practices of younger and older men were quite different (e.g. self-esteem and condom use self-efficacy for younger men, versus HIV serostatus and depression for older men). Conclusions: Older MSM using the Internet to find partners for unprotected sex engage in high rates of behaviors that place them at risk for contracting or transmitting HIV. They were just as likely as their younger counterparts to practice these behaviors. The factors “fueling” involvement in risk generally differ for older and younger men, thereby warranting the development of age-specific HIV interventions that can take into account the unique life circumstances and needs of older MSM.     

Giving Memory a Hand: Instructing Children to Gesture Enhances their Event Recall

To investigate the influence of different kinds of gesture on children’s memory, 60 6- to 7-year-old children participated in an event conducted by the experimenters (“visiting the pirate”) and were interviewed to assess memory for the event approximately 2 weeks later. Children were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions; in 3 conditions, gesture was possible (gesture-instructed, gesture-modelled, gesture-allowed) whereas in the fourth condition (gesture-not allowed), children’s hands were constrained. The amount of gesture engaged in was limited but was greatest in the gesture-instructed condition. Children in the gesture-instructed condition, who were asked to gesture during the interview, recalled more than did those in the other conditions. Further, relative to children in the gesture-modelled and gesture-allowed conditions, children in the gesture-instructed condition conveyed significantly more information in gesture that had not also been reported verbally. Although further research is necessary to understand the underlying mechanism, the findings suggest that instructing children to gesture as well as verbally recall an experience has cognitive and communicative benefits. Elizabeth Stevanoni and Karen Salmon are affiliated with the School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. We thank the children, parents, teachers and principals at the participating schools, St Michaels and Villa Maria Primary Schools, and acknowledge Kay Pegg for help with data collection.