Gesture style can affect the integration of gestures and speech: the evidence from Chinese ERP research

People often accompany gestures in the process of speaking, but the individual's gesture style is not the same. The present study uses the ambiguity resolution paradigm to explore the influence of two kinds of gesture styles on gesture-verbal comprehension. The study manipulated the gesture styles and meaning types of target words and recorded N400 amplitude. This study found that (1) in the non-grooming condition, compared with the situation where the gesture and semantics are inconsistent, a smaller N400 appears under the consistent condition; (2) in the grooming condition, the grooming gesture will reduce the effect of the iconic gesture on speech understanding. N400 amplitude increased only in the case of matching between dominant meaning gesture and subordinate meaning target word. These results suggest that the communication styles of gestures of different speakers, in the process of speech comprehension, affect how well listeners integrate gestures and language.