The Role of Free and Restricted Hand Gestures in Definitions and Word Retrieval
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Authors
Fortuna, Lisa S.
Issue Date
2001
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
There are currently two opposing views of the primary function of gestures. One view is
that gestures serve a communicative purpose and help the listener understand the speaker.
The other view is that gestures are related to speech and aid the speaker in retrieving
words and concepts. The present study intended to show that the latter view is the
primary function of gestures. Twenty-four participants were assigned to either a
restricted or an unrestricted group in which their hands were restrained or free. They
were videotaped while giving 41 word definitions. It was hypothesized that participants
in the unrestricted group would gesture more often, would speak sooner and faster, and
would recall fewer words than participants in the restricted group. Results indicated no
significant differences except for words of spatial and non-spatial content. Limitations
and modifications are considered for future research.
Description
38 p.
Citation
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U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.