Gesturing more diminishes recall of abstract words when gesture is allowed and concrete words when it is taboo

ABSTRACT

Gesture during speech can promote or diminish recall for conversation content. We explored effects of cognitive load on this relationship, manipulating it at two scales: individual-word abstractness and social constraints to prohibit gestures. Prohibited gestures can diminish recall but more so for abstract-word recall. Insofar as movement planning adds to cognitive load, movement amplitude may moderate gesture effects on memory, with greater permitted- and prohibited-gesture movements reducing abstract-word recall and concrete-word recall, respectively. We tested these effects in a dyadic game in which 39 adult participants described words to confederates without naming the word or five related words. Results supported our expectations and indicated that memory effects of gesturing depend on social, cognitive, and motoric aspects of discourse.

KEYWORDS:

• Abstract
• Gesture
• Recall

Acknowledgements

K. M. M.-S., E. P. R., and D. G. K.-S. acknowledge the generous support of Grinnell College’s Mentored Advanced Project programme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

This manuscript documents research with human participants, and all participants provided informed consent according to the Grinnell College Institutional Review Board. All procedures performed in studies involved human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.