Gesturing saves cognitive resources when talking about nonpresent objects

Cognitive Science

Volumn 34, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 602-619

  Ping, Raedy ^a   Goldin Meadow, Susan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

Author keywords

Gesture; Working memory

Indexed keywords

EID: 77955245899     PISSN: 03640213     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01102.x     Document Type: Article

References (34)

1. Alibali M, Flevares L, Goldin-Meadow S. Assessing knowledge conveyed in gesture: Do teachers have the upper hand? Journal of Educational Psychology 1997, 89:183-193.
2. Alibali M W, Kita S, Young A J. Gesture and the process of speech production: We think, therefore we gesture. Language and Cognitive Processes 2000, 15(6):593-613.
3. Ballard D H, Hayhoe M M, Pook P K, Rao R P N. Deictic codes for the embodiment of cognition. Brain and Behavioral Sciences 1997, 20:723-742.
4. Bavelas J B, Chovil N, Lawrie D A, Wade A. Interactive gestures. Discourse Processes 1992, 15:469-489.
5. Beattie G W, Shovelton H K. Do iconic hand gestures really contribute anything to the semantic information conveyed by speech? An experimental investigation. Semiotica 1999, 123(1-2):1-30.
6. Broaders S, Cook S W, Mitchell Z, Goldin-Meadow S. Making children gesture reveals implicit knowledge and leads to learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 2007, 136(4):539-550.
7. Church R B, Ayman-Nolley S, Mahootian S. The role of gesture in bilingual education: Does gesture enhance learning? International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism 2004, 7(4):303-320.
8. Church R B, Goldin-Meadow S. The mismatch between gesture and speech as an index of transitional knowledge. Cognition 1986, 23(1):43-71.
9. Cook S W, Mitchell Z, Goldin-Meadow S. Gesturing makes learning last. Cognition 2008, 106:1047-1058.
10. Glenberg A M, Robertson D A. Indexical understanding of instructions. Discourse Processes 1999, 28(1):1-26.
11. Goldin-Meadow S. Hearing gesture: How our hands help us think 2003, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University
12. Goldin-Meadow S, Beilock S. Action's influence on thought: The case of gesture. Perspectives in Psychological Science 2010
13. Goldin-Meadow S, Cook S W, Mitchell Z A. Gesturing gives children new ideas about math. Psychological Science 2009, 20(3):267-272.
14. Goldin-Meadow S, Nusbaum H, Kelly S D, Wagner S. Explaining math: Gesturing lightens the load. Psychological Science 2001, 12(6):516-522.
15. Goldin-Meadow S, Sandhofer C M. Gesture conveys substantive information about a child's thoughts to ordinary listeners. Developmental Science 1999, 2:67-74.
16. Goldin-Meadow S, Singer M A. From children's hands to adults' ears: Gesture's role in the learning process. Developmental Psychology 2003, 39(3):509-520.
17. Goldin-Meadow S, Wein D, Chang C. Assessing knowledge through gesture: Using children's hands to read their minds. Cognition and Instruction 1992, 9(3):201-219.
18. Hostetter A B, Alibali M W. Visible embodiment: Gestures as simulated action. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 2008, 15(3):495-514.
19. Iverson J M, Goldin-Meadow S. Why people gesture as they speak. Nature 1998, 396:228.
20. Iverson J M, Goldin-Meadow S. The resilience of gesture in talk: Gesture in blind speakers and listeners. Developmental Science 2001, 4:416-422.
21. Jaeger T F. Categorical data analysis: Away from ANOVAs (transformation or not) and towards logit mixed models. Journal of Memory and Language 2008, 59:434-446.
22. Kelly S D, Kravitz C, Hopkins M. Neural correlates of bimodal speech and gesture comprehension. Brain and Language 2004, 89:253-260.
23. Kutas M, Hillyard S A. Brain potentials during reading reflect word expectancy and semantic association. Nature 1984, 307:161-163.
24. McNeill D. Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought 1992, Chicago, University of Chicago Press
25. Morsella E, Krauss R M. The role of gestures in spatial working memory and speech. American Journal of Psychology 2004, 117(3):411-424.
26. Piaget J. The child's conception of number 1965, New York, W. W. Norton and Company
27. Ping R M, Goldin-Meadow S. Hands in the air: Using ungrounded iconic gestures to teach children conservation of quantity. Developmental Psychology 2008, 44(5):1277-1287.
28. R: A language and environment for statistical computing 2009, http://www.R-project.org, Vienna, Austria, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Available at: (accessed on March 25, 2010)
29. Singer M A, Goldin-Meadow S. Children learn when their teacher's gestures and speech differ. Psychological Science 2005, 16(2):85-89.
30. Spivey M, Geng J. Oculomotor mechanisms activated by imagery and memory: Eye movements to absent objects. Psychological Research 2001, 65:235-241.
31. Valenzeno L, Alibali M A, Klatzky R. Teachers' gestures facilitate students' learning: A lesson in symmetry. Contemporary Educational Psychology 2003, 28(2):187-204.
32. Wagner S, Nusbaum H, Goldin-Meadow S. Probing the mental representation of gesture: Is handwaving spatial? Journal of Memory and Language 2004, 50:395-407.
33. Wepman J M, Hass W. A spoken word count (children-ages 5, 6, and 7) 1969, Chicago, Language Research Associates
34. Wesp R, Hesse J, Keutmann D, Wheaton K. Gestures maintain spatial imagery. American Journal of Psychology 2001, 114:591-600.