From hands to minds: Gestures promote understanding

Authors

Seokmin Kang, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Barbara Tversky, Columbia University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-22-2016

Abstract

Gestures serve many roles in communication, learning and understanding both for those who view them and those who create them. Gestures are especially effective when they bear resemblance to the thought they represent, an advantage they have over words. Here, we examine the role of conceptually congruent gestures in deepening understanding of dynamic systems. Understanding the structure of dynamic systems is relatively easy, but understanding the actions of dynamic systems can be challenging. We found that seeing gestures representing actions enhanced understanding of the dynamics of a complex system as revealed in invented language, gestures and visual explanations. Gestures can map many meanings more directly than language, representing many concepts congruently. Designing and using gestures congruent with meaning can augment comprehension and learning.

Comments

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Recommended Citation

Kang, S., & Tversky, B. (2016). From hands to minds: Gestures promote understanding. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 1, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-016-0004-9

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-016-0004-9