Pointing gestures as a cognitive tool in young children: Experimental evidence

Delgado, Begoña; Gómez, Juan Carlos; Sarriá, Encarnación

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2011.04.010

Cited by 30 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Infants and young children (between 1 and 2 years of age) sometimes point for non-communicative reasons (Bates et al, 1975; Delgado et al, 2009). Furthermore, pointing gestures can aid the regulation of the speaker’s attention in non-communicative and challenging problem-solving situations (Delgado et al, 2011). In two studies, children ranging in age from 2 to 4 years old saw a toy being hidden in one of three containers on a rotation table.…”

Section: The Function Of Gesture: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, we focus on the idea that gestures may at times serve as external tools of the cognitive system that replace and support otherwise solely internal cognitive processes. By reviewing research on the beneficial role of gesture production in (visuo-spatial) cognition (e.g., Chu and Kita, 2008; Delgado et al, 2011) and connecting the resulting insights with research on embedded cognition (e.g., Kirsh and Maglio, 1994; Hutchins, 1995a; Gray and Fu, 2004) we aim to contribute to a more embedded/extended account of gestures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Toward a more embedded/extended perspective on the cognitive function of gestures

et al. 2014

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Gestures are often considered to be demonstrative of the embodied nature of the mind (Hostetter and Alibali, 2008). In this article, we review current theories and research targeted at the intra-cognitive role of gestures. We ask the question how can gestures support internal cognitive processes of the gesturer? We suggest that extant theories are in a sense disembodied, because they focus solely on embodiment in terms of the sensorimotor neural precursors of gestures. As a result, current theories on the intra-cognitive role of gestures are lacking in explanatory scope to address how gestures-as-bodily-acts fulfill a cognitive function. On the basis of recent theoretical appeals that focus on the possibly embedded/extended cognitive role of gestures (Clark, 2013), we suggest that gestures are external physical tools of the cognitive system that replace and support otherwise solely internal cognitive processes. That is gestures provide the cognitive system with a stable external physical and visual presence that can provide means to think with. We show that there is a considerable amount of overlap between the way the human cognitive system has been found to use its environment, and how gestures are used during cognitive processes. Lastly, we provide several suggestions of how to investigate the embedded/extended perspective of the cognitive function of gestures.

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Section: The Function Of Gesture: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a more embedded/extended perspective on the cognitive function of gestures

et al. 2014

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“…Furthermore, co-thought gestures are also consistently found to boost performance on other tasks, such as counting coins (Kirsh, 1995), mental abacus calculations (Brooks, 2014), tracking moving items in space (Delgado, Gómez, & Sarriá, 2011;Logan, Lowrie, & Diezmann, 2014;Macken & Ginns, 2014;So, Ching, Lim, Cheng, & Ip, 2014), solving fraction problems (Zurina & Williams, 2011), route learning (e.g., Logan et al, 2014;So et al, 2014), and rotating gear problems (e.g., Alibali, Spencer, Knox, & Kita, 2011;Stephen, Dixon, & Isenhower, 2009). The fact that these gestures also spontaneously occur without communicative intent suggests that, at least in some cases, gestures have a cognitive function that goes beyond supporting (communicative) speech processes (Pouw, de Nooijer, van Gog, Zwaan, & Paas, 2014;Pouw & Hostetter, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-thought gesturing supports more complex problem solving in subjects with lower visual working-memory capacity

Eielts

Pouw

Ouwehand

et al. 2018

Psychological Research

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During silent problem solving, hand gestures arise that have no communicative intent. The role of such co-thought gestures in cognition has been understudied in cognitive research as compared to co-speech gestures. We investigated whether gesticulation during silent problem solving supported subsequent performance in a Tower of Hanoi problem-solving task, in relation to visual working-memory capacity and task complexity. Seventy-six participants were assigned to either an instructed gesture condition or a condition that allowed them to gesture, but without explicit instructions to do so. This resulted in three gesture groups: (1) non-gesturing; (2) spontaneous gesturing; (3) instructed gesturing. In line with the embedded/extended cognition perspective on gesture, gesturing benefited complex problem-solving performance for participants with a lower visual working-memory capacity, but not for participants with a lower spatial working-memory capacity.

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“…Moreover, research on children's spontaneous adoption of co-thought gestures, and the effects on problem solving performance, is particularly scarce (for an exception, see Delgado, Gómez, & Sarriá, 2011). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Co‐thought gestures in children's mental problem solving: Prevalence and effects on subsequent performance

Pouw

Gog

Zwaan

et al. 2018

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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SummaryCo-thought gestures are understudied as compared to co-speech gestures yet, may provide insight into cognitive functions of gestures that are independent of speech processes. A recent study with adults showed that co-thought gesticulation occurred spontaneously during mental preparation of problem solving. Moreover, co-thought gesturing (either spontaneous or instructed) during mental preparation was effective for subsequent solving of the Tower of Hanoi under conditions of high cognitive load (i.e., when visual working memory capacity was limited and when the task was more difficult). In this preregistered study (https://osf.io/dreks/), we investigated whether co-thought gestures would also spontaneously occur and would aid problem-solving processes in children (N = 74; 8-12 years old) under high load conditions. Although children also spontaneously used co-thought gestures during mental problem solving, this did not aid their subsequent performance when physically solving the problem. If these null results are on track, co-thought gesture effects may be different in adults and children.

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Pointing gestures as a cognitive tool in young children: Experimental evidence

Cited by 30 publications

References 55 publications

Toward a more embedded/extended perspective on the cognitive function of gestures

Toward a more embedded/extended perspective on the cognitive function of gestures

Co-thought gesturing supports more complex problem solving in subjects with lower visual working-memory capacity

Co‐thought gestures in children's mental problem solving: Prevalence and effects on subsequent performance

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