Co‐thought gestures in children's mental problem solving: Prevalence and effects on subsequent performance

Abstract

SummaryCo-thought gestures are understudied as compared to co-speech gestures yet, may provide insight into cognitive functions of gestures that are independent of speech processes. A recent study with adults showed that co-thought gesticulation occurred spontaneously during mental preparation of problem solving. Moreover, co-thought gesturing (either spontaneous or instructed) during mental preparation was effective for subsequent solving of the Tower of Hanoi under conditions of high cognitive load (i.e., when visual working memory capacity was limited and when the task was more difficult). In this preregistered study (https://osf.io/dreks/), we investigated whether co-thought gestures would also spontaneously occur and would aid problem-solving processes in children (N = 74; 8-12 years old) under high load conditions. Although children also spontaneously used co-thought gestures during mental problem solving, this did not aid their subsequent performance when physically solving the problem. If these null results are on track, co-thought gesture effects may be different in adults and children.

Co-thought gesturing supports more complex problem solving in subjects with lower visual working-memory capacity

“…Gestures seem to be especially productive for problem-solving performance when tasks are more complex (corroborating the previous findings, Chu & Kita, 2008), and interact with visual (but not spatial) working-memory capacity. Moreover, instructing others to do so may aid problem-solving performance (at least for adult problem solvers; see Pouw, Van Gog, Zwaan, Agostinho, & Paas, 2018). The present study, therefore, provides an additional support that gestures' cognitive function may go beyond speech processing and provides the initial insight into improving educational environments by soliciting embodied problem solving.…”

Gesture as simulated action: Revisiting the framework

“…Thus, it is possible that when narrating a cartoon (i.e., describing visuospatial information that was observed rather than performed), children gesture less than adults because the visuospatial imagery of the cartoon does not automatically activate their motor systems to the same degree as it does in adults. In contrast, when the task involves thinking about actions that one has performed oneself, there may be no differences in the gesture rates of children and adults, as research with problem-solving tasks has shown (Pouw, van Gog, Zwaan, Agostinho, & Paas, 2018).…”

Çocukların Okula Hazırbulunuşluk Düzeyleri ile Problem Çözme Becerileri Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi

“…Çocukların erken yaşlardan itibaren problem çözme becerilerinin desteklenmesi, çocuğun gerçek yaşama uyum sağlamasını kolaylaştırdığı belirtilmekte ve özellikle okul öncesi eğitimin problem çözme becerileri üzerinde etkisi olduğu vurgulanmaktadır (Kelley, 2018). Çocuğa problem çözme için fırsat verildiğinde, çocuğun gözlem, karşılaştırma, bilgiyi değerlendirme, düzenleme gibi bilişsel yetenekleri geliştirdiği (Pouw, Van Gog, Zwaan, Agostinho ve Paas, 2018) gibi demokratik tutum ve davranışları da desteklenmektedir (Fawcett ve Garton, 2005).…”