Poster #72 - Exploring Gesture-Speech Synchrony Across Development

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

When we talk, we gesture. Gestures are movements of the hands that represent information through their form and movement trajectory. Hand gestures have been shown to boost our ability to communicate ideas to others (Hostetter et al., 2011) and support flexible, long-lasting learning (Goldin-Meadow, 2003). One reason gesture may have these cognitive effects is dependent on its tight temporal synchrony with spoken language. Indeed, theories of gesture production suggest speech and gesture are part of a single integrated system (McNeill, 1992). Gesture tends to be initiated just prior to speech production, and importantly, this tight relationship seems to be specific to gestures. Speech is more closely synchronized with gesture than with other types of movement, specifically, actions-on-objects (Church, Kelly, & Holcombe, 2014). In a set of two studies, we seek to replicate this temporal synchrony effect found in adults, using a videoconferencing paradigm (Study 1) and investigate the developmental unfolding of the speech-gesture system across childhood (Study 2). Results will shed light on the extent to which speech-gesture synchrony is present from a young age (supported the idea of speech and gesture sharing a cognitive origin) versus emerging later in development (suggesting that speech/gesture synchrony might mature slowly or be learned through experience).

In Study 1 (complete), thirty-five adults were asked by an experimenter how to use 5 common items (hat, brush, container, bowl and spoon, sunglasses) during a Zoom session. At the start of each trial, participants were asked to place an item in front of them. In an action condition, they were encouraged to physically pick up and use the item during their explanation. In a gesture condition, participants kept the item in front of them, but were asked to explain how to use the object without touching it. Participants completed all five items twice, one for each condition - the order of which was counterbalanced across participants. Recordings were coded to determine the precise onset of the spoken verbs used to describe the target movement (e.g., “I pick up the jar and twist the top”) and the onset of the gesture or action representing that target verb (e.g., producing a twisting motion with the hand or actually twisting the top of a jar to remove the lid). Results replicate the original effect: speech and gesture were more closely aligned temporally (M=441 msec) than speech with action (M=1223 msec; B = 787.19, p = .019), and this effect was present for all five objects.

In Study 2 (ongoing), the same paradigm is being extended to 5-12 year-old children. Very preliminary data (n = 9, planned total sample = 68) shows that young children closely align both action and gesture with their speech, perhaps using demonstrative actions in a more gesture-like manner than adults. However, there seems to be a more adult-like pattern emerging around the age of 9, in which actions are less tied to speech timing than gestures (see Figure 2). These findings will have implications for theories of language, gesture, and symbolic development.

Authors

• Elizabeth Wakefield, Loyola University Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Emma Tumminaro

• Eliza L Congdon, Williams College

• Miriam A Novack, Northwestern University