Mapping the Range of Information Contained in the Iconic Hand Gestures that Accompany Spontaneous Speech

Abstract

This study tested McNeill’s theory that the iconic gestures that accompany speech in everyday talk convey critical information in interpersonal communication. Using a structured interview to measure the amount of information respondents receive from clause-length clips depicting aspects of a cartoon story, we discovered that when respondents could see the iconic gestures as well as hear the speech they received significantly more accurate information about those aspects of the original story depicted in the clips than when they just heard the speech. We also discovered that it was only with respect to certain semantic categories, namely, the relative position and the size of objects, that the beneficial effect of gestural communication was significant. We then considered in detail how specific attributes of actions and of objects are communicated via the iconic representation within individual gestures. Lastly, we discuss the implications of these findings for models of human communication in this area.

Gestures and some key issues in the study of language development

“…In language comprehension, there is considerable evidence that gestures affect perception, interpretation of and memory for speech (Beattie & Shovelton, 1999;Graham & Argyle, 1975;Kelly, Barr, Breckinridge Church, & Lynch, 1999;Riseborough, 1981). Further to this, recent neurocognitive evidence shows that the brain integrates speech and gesture information, processing the two in similar ways as speech alone (e.g.…”

An exploratory study of the influence of severe weather radar broadcasts

“…He or she serves as an expert upon whom a viewer can depend for accurate warning information (Wilson 2008), and as a closer acquaintance to whom one can turn to for warning confirmation (ShermanMorris 2005). Because much of the communication between two people is non-verbal, a broadcaster's hand gestures, facial expressions, and other physical motions are used by the viewer to make sense of, and respond to, the weather situation (Cassell et al 1998;Beattie and Shovelton 1999;Mogg and Bradley 1999;Anderson et al 2003;Green et al 2003;Liddell et al 2005). The processing of body language from communicated information can be considered more of an unconscious process.…”

“…Explanation of radar images takes a significant portion of this on-air time, although we know little about what viewers know or take away from watching the radar explanation. Broadcasters tend to use body language to help viewers understand what the images mean (Cassell et al 1998;Beattie and Shovelton 1999;Wilson 2008;Drost et al 2015). For example, the location of a storm and areas likely to be affected by the most dangerous portion of the storminterpreted from reflectivity radar products-can be easily communicated to viewers by hand gestures.…”

I see how you feel: Recipients obtain additional information from speakers’ gestures about pain

“…The use of short video clips is common in gesture comprehension research [31,45,46,[59][60][61] as it allows for fine-grained analysis, demonstrating that the effect of gestures is directly attributable to the information they contain, rather than, for example, participants just guessing more information when gestures are present. However, these are not representative of the longer, more complete pain descriptions that occur within clinical interactions, limiting the applicability of the findings.…”