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The role of conversational hand gestures in a narrative task.
The primary functional role of conversational hand gestures in narrative discourse is disputed. A novel experimental technique investigated whether gestures function primarily to aid speech production by the speaker, or communication to the listener. The experiment involved repeated narration of a cartoon story or stories to a single or multiple listeners. The pattern of results matched that predicted by the communication hypothesis. In a second experiment, the effects of attention in the listener were investigated. Significant differences were found in gesture production when narrating to attentive versus inattentive listeners. These results support the theory that during a narrative task gestures are produced primarily for the benefit of the listener. Our technique can readily be generalized to other tasks and contexts.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Journal of Memory and LanguageISSN
0749-596XExternal DOI
Issue
2Volume
56Page range
291-303Pages
13.0Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Notes
Senior author. Jacobs was Garnham's research student.Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-06Usage metrics
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