Gestures, but not meaningless movements, lighten working memory load when explaining math

Susan Wagner Cook; Terina Kuangyi Yip; Susan Goldin-Meadow

doi:10.1080/01690965.2011.567074

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Gestures, but not meaningless movements, lighten working memory load when explaining math

Journal article

Open access

Gestures, but not meaningless movements, lighten working memory load when explaining math

Susan Wagner Cook, Terina Kuangyi Yip and Susan Goldin-Meadow

Language and cognitive processes, Vol.27(4), pp.594-610

05/01/2012

DOI: 10.1080/01690965.2011.567074

PMCID: PMC3658147

PMID: 23700353

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/3658147View

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Abstract

Gesturing is ubiquitous in communication and serves an important function for listeners, who are able to glean meaningful information from the gestures they see. But gesturing also functions for speakers, whose own gestures reduce demands on their working memory. Here we ask whether gesture's beneficial effects on working memory stem from its properties as a rhythmic movement, or as a vehicle for representing meaning. We asked speakers to remember letters while explaining their solutions to math problems and producing varying types of movements. Speakers recalled significantly more letters when producing movements that coordinated with the meaning of the accompanying speech, i.e., when gesturing, than when producing meaningless movements or no movement. The beneficial effects that accrue to speakers when gesturing thus seem to stem not merely from the fact that their hands are moving, but from the fact that their hands are moving in coordination with the content of speech.

Gesture

Working memory

Details

Title: Subtitle: Gestures, but not meaningless movements, lighten working memory load when explaining math
Creators: Susan Wagner Cook - Department of Psychology , University of Iowa
Terina Kuangyi Yip - Department of Psychology , University of Chicago
Susan Goldin-Meadow - Department of Psychology , University of Chicago
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Language and cognitive processes, Vol.27(4), pp.594-610
DOI: 10.1080/01690965.2011.567074
PMID: 23700353
PMCID: PMC3658147
NLM abbreviation: Lang Cogn Process
ISSN: 0169-0965
eISSN: 1464-0732
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Language: English
Date published: 05/01/2012
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984002361102771

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