The use and function of gestures in word-finding difficulties in aphasia Background: Gestures are spontaneous hand and arm movements that are part of everyday communication. The roles of gestures in communication are disputed. Most agree that they augment the information conveyed in speech. More contentiously, some argue that they facilitate speech, particularly when word finding difficulties occur. Exploring gestures in aphasia may further illuminate their role. Aims: This study explored the spontaneous use of gestures in the conversation of participants with aphasia (PWA) and neurologically healthy participants (NHP). It aimed to examine the facilitative role of gesture by determining whether gestures particularly accompanied word finding difficulties and whether or not those difficulties were resolved. Methods & Procedures: Spontaneous conversation data were collected from 20 PWA and 21 NHP. Video samples were analysed for gesture production, speech production, and word-finding difficulties. The first analysis examined whether the production of semantically rich gestures in these conversations was affected by whether the person had aphasia, and/or whether there were difficulties in the accompanying speech. The second analysis identified all word finding difficulties in the data and examined whether these were more likely to be resolved if accompanied by a gesture, again for both groups of participants. Outcomes & Results: Semantically rich gestures were frequently employed by both groups of participants, but with no effect of group. There was an effect of the accompanying speech, with gestures occurring most commonly alongside resolved word finding difficulties. An interaction showed that this was particularly the case for PWA. NHP, on the other hand, employed semantically rich gestures most frequently alongside fluent speech. The second analysis showed that word finding difficulties were common in both groups of participants. Unsurprisingly, these were more likely to be resolved for NHP than PWA. For both groups, resolution was more likely if the word finding difficulty was accompanied by a gesture. Conclusions: These findings shed light on the different functions of gesture within conversation. They highlight the importance of gesture during word finding difficulties, both in aphasic and neurologically healthy language, and suggest that gesture may facilitate word retrieval.

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