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Author Spotlight: Deciphering the Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Gesture in Communication
Published on: January 26, 2024
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Hand matters: Left-hand gestures enhance metaphor explanation
Paraskevi Argyriou1, Christine Mohr2, Sotaro Kita3
1School of Psychology, University of Birmingham.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition
|January 13, 2017
Summary
Gesturing with the left hand, but not the right, enhances metaphor explanation, supporting the hand-specificity hypothesis for cognitive benefits of speech-accompanying gestures.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
Background:
- Speech-accompanying gestures are known to influence cognitive processes.
- The specific hand used for gesturing and its cognitive impact remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the hand-specificity hypothesis: gestures from one hand enhance cognitive processes in the contralateral hemisphere.
- To investigate if left-hand gestures specifically enhance metaphor explanation, a task involving right-hemispheric processing.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments involving right-handed participants explaining metaphorical phrases.
- Experiment 1: Participants gestured freely with either their left or right hand while the other remained still.
- Experiment 2: Participants were encouraged to gesture with their left hand, right hand, or not at all; mouth asymmetry was measured to assess hemispheric involvement.
Main Results:
- Metaphor explanations improved when participants gestured with their left hand compared to not gesturing.
- No significant benefit was observed when participants gestured with their right hand.
- Left-hand gestural benefits correlated with greater right-hemispheric involvement in speech production.
Conclusions:
- Findings support the hand-specificity hypothesis for gestures.
- Left-hand gestures provide a cognitive advantage for tasks like metaphor explanation, likely due to right-hemisphere engagement.
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