Edited by Ruth Breckinridge Church, Martha W. Alibali and Spencer D. Kelly
[Gesture Studies 7] 2017
► pp. 197–212
The purpose of this chapter will be to expand our understanding of the effects that gestures have on learning by exploring their impact on the acquisition of non-spatial concepts. This is crucial to our understanding of how exactly gestures help learners – a premise at the very heart of this book. It could be the case that gesture simply aids in the learning of spatial information. In and of itself, this is a remarkable contribution. Alternatively, it could be that gesture actually conveys a general cognitive benefit by aiding in the learning of both spatial and non-spatial information, making gesture a potent tool for understanding the world around us. Using extant literature in conjunction with experimental findings, I will make a case for the latter.