Article published in:
Gesture
Vol. 14:1 (2014) ► pp. 1–25

How do modelled gestures influence preschool children’s spontaneous gesture production?

Social versus semantic influence

| Cambridge Assessment
| University of Manchester
| Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
Around the age of nine months, children start to communicate by using first words and gestures, during interactions with caregivers. The question remains as to how older preschool children utilise the gestures they observe into their own gestural representations of previously unseen objects. Two accounts of gesture production (the ‘gesture learning’, and ‘simulated representation’ accounts) offer different predictions for how preschool children use the gestures they observe when describing objects. To test these two competing accounts underlying gesture production, we showed 42 children (mean age: 45 months 14 days) four novel objects using speech only, or speech accompanied by either movement or physical feature gestures. Analyses revealed that (a) overall symbolic gesture production showed a high degree of individual variability, and (b) distinct observed gesture types influenced the children’s subsequent gesture use. Specifically, it was found that children preferred to match movement gestures in a subsequent communicative interaction including the same objects, but not physical feature gestures. We conclude that the observation of gestures (in particular gestures that depict movement) may act to change preschool children’s object representations, which in turn influences how they depict objects in space.
Keywords: representation, action, human children, acquisition, gestures
Published online: 30 March 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.14.1.01chi
References
Acredolo, Linda P. & Susan W. Goodwyn
(1985) Symbolic gesturing in language development: A case study. Human Development, 281, 40–49. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1988) Symbolic gesturing in young infants. Child Development, 59 (2), 450–466. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Alibali, Martha W., Julia L. Evans, Autumn B. Hostetter, Kristin Ryan, & Elina Mainela-Arnold
(2009) Gesture-speech integration in narrative: Are children less redundant than adults? Gesture, 9 (3), 290–311. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Alibali, Martha W., Sotaro Kita, & Amanda Young
(2000) Gesture and the process of speech production: We think, therefore we gesture. Language and Cognitive Processes, 15 (6), 593–613. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Barsalou, Lawrence W
(1999) Perceptual symbol systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 221, 577–660. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bates, Elizabeth, Laura Benigni, Inge Bretherton, Luiga Camaioni, & Virginia Volterra
(1979) The emergence of symbols: Cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bates, Elizabeth, Luiga Camaioni, & Virginia Volterra
(1975) The acquisition of performatives prior to speech. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 211, 205–226.Google Scholar
Bird, Geoffrey, Rachel Brindley, Jane Leighton, & Cecilia Heyes
(2007) General processes rather than “goals” explain imitation errors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33 (5), 1158–1169. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bruner, Jerome S
(1975) From communication to language: A psychological perspective. Cognition, 3 (3), 255–287. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Capone, Nina C. & Karla K. McGregor
(2004) Gesture development: A review for clinical and research practices. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 47 (1), 173–186. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cartmill, Erica A., Sian L. Beilock, & Susan Goldin-Meadow
(2012) A word in the hand: Action, gesture and mental representation in humans and non-human primates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 3671, 129–143. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Caselli, Maria C
(1990) Communicative gestures and first words. In Virginia Volterra & Carol J. Erting (Eds.), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children (pp. 56–67). New York: Springer-Verlag. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, Malinda, Katherine Nagell, Michael Tomasello, George Butterworth, & Chris Moore
(1998) Social cognition, joint attention, and communicative competence from 9 to 15 months of age. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 63 (4), i–174. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Child, Simon F.J
(2011) Investigating the development of cognitive symbolic representation and gestural communication. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Manchester.
Cochet, Helena & Jacques Vauclair
(2010) Pointing gestures produced by toddlers from 15 to 30 months: Different functions, hand shapes and laterality patterns. Infant Behavior & Development, 33 (4), 431–441. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cook, Susan W., Ryan G. Duffy, & Kimberly M. Fenn
(2013) Consolidation and transfer of learning after observing hand gesture. Child Development, 84 (6), 1863–1871. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cook, Susan W. & Michael K. Tanenhaus
(2009) Embodied communication: Speakers’ gestures affect listeners’ actions. Cognition, 1131, 98–104. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Doherty-Sneddon, Gwyneth
(2003) Children’s unspoken language. London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Emmorey, Karen & Shannon Casey
(2001) Gesture, thought, and spatial language. Gesture, 11, 35–50. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Feyereisen, Pierre & Isabelle Havard
(1999) Mental imagery and production of hand gestures while speaking in younger and older adults. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 23 (2), 153–171. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fleiss, Joseph
(1981) Statistical methods for rates and proportions. New York: John Wiley & Sons. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, Susan
(2003) Hearing gesture: How our hands help us think. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, Susan & Sian L. Beilock
(2010) Action’s influence on thought: The case of gesture. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5 (6), 664–674. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, Susan, Whitney Goodrich, Eve Sauer, & Jana M. Iverson
(2007) Young children use their hands to tell their mothers what to say. Developmental Science, 101, 778–785. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goodwyn, Susan W. & Linda P. Acredolo
(1993) Symbolic gesture versus word: Is there a modality advantage for onset of symbol use? Child Development, 641, 688–701. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hostetter, Autumn B
(2011) When do gestures communicate? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 137 (2), 297–315. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hostetter, Autumn B. & Martha W. Alibali
(2008) Visible embodiment: Gestures as simulated action. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15 (3), 495–514. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2010) Language, gesture, action! A test of gesture as simulated action framework. Journal of Memory and Language, 631, 245–257. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hostetter, Autumn B. & Catherine J. Skirving
(2011) The effect of visual vs verbal stimuli on gesture production. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 351, 205–223. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Chi-Tai & Tony Charman
(2005) Gradations of emulation learning in infants’ imitation of actions on objects. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 921, 276–302. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Iverson, Jana M., Olga Capirci, & Maria C. Caselli
(1994) From communication to language in two modalities. Cognitive Development, 91, 23–43. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Iverson, Jana M., Olga Capirci, Emiddia Longobardi, & Maria C. Caselli
(1999) Gesturing in mother-child interactions. Cognitive Development, 141, 57–75. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, Adam
(2004) Gesture. Visible action as utterance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kidd, Evan & Judith Holler
(2009) Children’s use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity. Developmental Science, 12 (6), 903–913. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liszkowski, Ulf
(2005) Human twelve-month-olds point cooperatively to share interest with and helpfully provide information for a communicative partner. Gesture, 51, 135–154. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2008) Before L1: A differentiated perspective on infant gestures. Gesture, 8 (2), 180–196. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2011) Three lines in the emergence of prelinguistic communication and social cognition. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 10 (1), 32–43. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liszkowski, Ulf, Malinda Carpenter, Tricia Striano, & Michael Tomasello
(2006) 12- and 18-month-olds point to provide information for others. Journal of Cognition and Development, 7 (2), 173–187. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liszkowski, Ulf & Michael Tomasello
(2011) Individual differences in social, cognitive, and morphological aspects of pointing at 12 months of age. Cognitive Development, 261, 16–29. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lock, Andrew
(1978) Action, gesture and symbol: The emergence of language. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Lock, Andrew, Andrew Young, Valerie Service, & Paul Chandler
(1990) Some observations on the origins of the pointing gesture. In Virginia Volterra & Carol J. Erting (Eds.), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children (pp. 42–55). New York: Springer-Verlag. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
McNeill, David
(1992) Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, Chris & Barbara D’Entremont
(2001) Developmental changes in pointing as a function of attentional focus. Journal of Cognition and Development, 2 (2), 109–129. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Namy, Laura L. & Sandra R. Waxman
(1998) Words and gestures: Infants’ interpretations of different forms of symbolic reference. Child Development, 69 (2), 295–308. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Nicoladis, Elena, Rachel I. Mayberry, & Fred Genesee
(1999) Gesture and early bilingual development. Developmental Psychology, 35 (2), 514–526. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Özçalışkan, Şeyda & Susan Goldin-Meadow
(2005) Gesture is at the cutting edge of early language development. Cognition, 96 (3), B101-B113. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2011) Is there an iconic gesture spurt at 26 months? In Gale Stam & Mika Ishino (Eds.), Integrating gestures: The interdisciplinary nature of gesture (pp. 163–174). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pika, Simone
(2008) Gestures of apes and prelinguistic human children: Similar or different? First Language, 28 (2), 116–140. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pine, Karen J., Daniel J. Gurney, & Ben Fletcher
(2010) The semantic specificity hypothesis: When gestures do not depend upon the presence of a listener. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 341, 169–178. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pizzuto, Elena & Virginia Volterra
(2000) Iconicity and transparency in sign languages: A cross-linguistic cross-cultural view. In Karen Emmorey & Harlan L. Lane (Eds.), The signs of language revisited: An anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi (pp. 261–286). New York: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Poggi, Isabella
(2002) Symbolic gestures: The case of the Italian gestionary. Gesture, 2 (1), 71–98. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Riseborough, M.G
(1982) Meaning in movement: An investigation into the interrelationship of physiographic gestures and speech in seven-year-olds. British Journal of Psychology, 731, 497–503. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Singer, Melissa A. & Susan Goldin-Meadow
(2005) Children learn when their teacher’s gestures and speech differ. Psychological Science, 16 (2), 85–89. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, Michael, Tricia Striano, & Philippe Rochat
(1999) Do young children use objects as symbols? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 171, 563–584. DOI : CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Volterra, Virginia, Maria C. Caselli, Olga Capirci, & Elena Pizzuto
(2005) Gesture and the emergence and development of language. In Dan I. Slobin & Michael Tomasello (Eds.), Beyond nature-nurture: Essays in honor of Elizabeth Bates (pp. 3–40). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Volterra, Virginia & Carol J. Erting
(Eds.) (1990) From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. New York: Springer-Verlag. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Werner, Heinz & Bernard Kaplan
(1963) Symbol formation: An organismic developmental approach to language and the expression of thought. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Wexler, Mark, Stephen M. Kosslyn, & Alain Berthoz
(1998) Motor processes in mental rotation. Cognition, 681, 77–94. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wiig, Elizabeth H., Wayne Secord, & Eleanor Semel
(2000) Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals: Preschool UK. London: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Hostetter, Autumn B. & Martha W. Alibali
2019. Gesture as simulated action: Revisiting the framework. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 26:3 ► pp. 721 ff. Crossref logo
Martinez-Lincoln, Amanda, Le M. Tran & Sarah R. Powell
2018. What the hands tell us about mathematical learning. Gesture 17:3 ► pp. 375 ff. Crossref logo
Pika, Simone & Marlen Fröhlich
2019. Gestural acquisition in great apes: the Social Negotiation Hypothesis. Animal Cognition 22:4 ► pp. 551 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 09 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.