Exploring the Emotional Functions of Co‐Speech Hand Gesture in Language and Communication

Kelly, Spencer D.; Tran, Quang-Anh Ngo

doi:10.1111/tops.12657

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In this way, gestures form part of the thinking and speaking processes (Kinsbourne, 2006;McNeill, 1992McNeill, , 2005McNeill & Duncan, 2000). In addition to facilitating communication, language production and problem-solving, co-speech gestures can also affect the speaker's cognitive processes (see Kelly & Ngo Tran, 2023;Kita et al, 2017). Goldin-Meadow (2005) explains how gestures can reduce the load on the entire cognitive system by structuring spatial information and indexing words to the surrounding context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-Speech Gestures in Enhancing Engineering Proposal Presentations: A Multimodal Analysis of ESP Spoken Discourse

Lee

2024

ESP Today

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Though gestures can convey the meaning of the message and the thoughts of the speakers, there are limited research studies on how co-speech gestures are used in presenting engineering-related messages. This case study aims to understand how four types of gestures (beat, deictic, iconic, and metaphoric) are used in engineering proposal presentations to convey technical solutions in proposed products. This study employed a mixed-method research approach of using both multimodal discourse analysis and quantitative analysis to examine the ways two student presenters used co-speech gestures to communicate technical solutions in engineering proposal presentations. The findings showed that iconic gestures were used most frequently by one presenter to mimic the visual representations of designs and processes in engineering systems, co-occurring with spoken language to reinforce the propositional content. Deictic gestures were used most frequently by another presenter in directing the audience's attention to visual figures to facilitate the explanation of technical content. In comparison, beat and metaphoric gestures were used less frequently. This case study informs multimodal research on ESP spoken discourse and provides pedagogical implications for the application of gestures to facilitate the communication of technical content and concepts in engineering presentations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-Speech Gestures in Enhancing Engineering Proposal Presentations: A Multimodal Analysis of ESP Spoken Discourse

Lee

2024

ESP Today

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From Hands to Mind: How Gesture, Emotional Valence, and Individual Differences Impact Narrative Recall

Thakore,

Das,

Jahan

et al. 2024

Educ Psychol Rev

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Narrative recall and comprehension are important lifelong skills. While gesturing may improve recall by alleviating cognitive load, it may be differentially beneficial, depending on task and individual characteristics. While research on gesture’s effects on a variety of task modalities is burgeoning, effects on recall of narratives read aloud are under-examined. Further, emotional valence and individual differences in verbal memory may affect recall, through effects on task difficulty. If gesturing lightens cognitive load, it may be more beneficial for harder tasks, namely for narratives lacking emotional content and for individuals with poorer verbal memory. Across two studies, impacts of gesture production, emotional valence, and individual differences on narrative recall were evaluated. In Study 1, participants (N = 100) read aloud three emotive narratives (positive, negative, neutral) while either instructed to gesture or receiving no gesture instructions. Gesture production hindered recall, particularly for those with higher verbal memory. Emotion benefited recall, with enhanced recall of the negative narrative and impaired recall for the neutral narrative. In Study 2, following a measure of individual propensity to gesture, participants (N = 98) similarly read aloud three emotive narratives. Instructions to gesture hindered recall for participants with a lower propensity to gesture, and emotional narratives again saw enhanced recall relative to the neutral narrative. Propensity to gesture and verbal memory were positively associated with narrative comprehension. Results suggest instructions to produce gestures may for some individuals hinder recall for self-guided learners when studying written texts, while emotional content benefits recall.

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The evolution of musicality and cross-domain co-evolutionary interactions

Podlipniak

2024

Musicae Scientiae

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The evolution of human musicality has often been linked to the evolution of the faculty of language since the development of musical and linguistic abilities seems to share a common phase in their ontogenesis. Apart from that, both singing and speaking are, on the one hand, universal forms of human vocal expression and, on the other hand, consist of culturally specific elements. Such a probable co-occurrence of the predisposition to speak and sing, with the cultural variability of both these forms of communication, has prompted researchers to indicate gene–culture co-evolution as the probable mechanism responsible for the emergence of human musicality and the faculty of language. However, in most evolutionary scenarios proposed so far, the evolutionary paths of music and language followed independently after divergence from a common precursor. This article, based on observations of contemporary interactions between language and music, presents a different view in which musical and language-like forms of proto-communication interacted leading to the repurposing of some of their neural mechanisms. In this process, the Baldwinian interplay between plasticity and canalization has been proposed as the most probable evolutionary mechanism that shaped our musicality. The premises that support the presence of cross-domain co-evolutionary interactions in the contemporary communicative niche of Homo sapiens are indicated.

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Exploring the Emotional Functions of Co‐Speech Hand Gesture in Language and Communication

Cited by 5 publications

References 161 publications

Co-Speech Gestures in Enhancing Engineering Proposal Presentations: A Multimodal Analysis of ESP Spoken Discourse

Co-Speech Gestures in Enhancing Engineering Proposal Presentations: A Multimodal Analysis of ESP Spoken Discourse

From Hands to Mind: How Gesture, Emotional Valence, and Individual Differences Impact Narrative Recall

The evolution of musicality and cross-domain co-evolutionary interactions

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