Filling in the gaps: observing gestures conveying additional information can compensate for missing verbal content

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Author(s)
Dargue, Nicole
Phillips, Megan
Sweller, Naomi
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2021
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While observing gesture has been shown to benefit narrative recall and learning, research has yet to show whether gestures that provide information that is missing from speech benefit narrative recall. This study explored whether observing gestures that relay the same information as speech and gestures that provide information missing from speech differentially affect narrative recall in university students. Participants were presented with a videotaped narrative told in one of four conditions: with gestures and no missing verbal information, with gestures and missing verbal information, with no gestures and no missing verbal ...
View more >While observing gesture has been shown to benefit narrative recall and learning, research has yet to show whether gestures that provide information that is missing from speech benefit narrative recall. This study explored whether observing gestures that relay the same information as speech and gestures that provide information missing from speech differentially affect narrative recall in university students. Participants were presented with a videotaped narrative told in one of four conditions: with gestures and no missing verbal information, with gestures and missing verbal information, with no gestures and no missing verbal information, or with no gestures and missing verbal information. Results showed that observing gestures that provided additional information to speech (i.e., when the speech was missing vital information) enhanced narrative recall compared to observing no gestures, while observing gestures that did not provide additional information to speech were no more beneficial than observing no gestures at all. Findings from the current study provide valuable insight into the beneficial effect of iconic gesture on narrative recall, with important implications for education and learning.
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View more >While observing gesture has been shown to benefit narrative recall and learning, research has yet to show whether gestures that provide information that is missing from speech benefit narrative recall. This study explored whether observing gestures that relay the same information as speech and gestures that provide information missing from speech differentially affect narrative recall in university students. Participants were presented with a videotaped narrative told in one of four conditions: with gestures and no missing verbal information, with gestures and missing verbal information, with no gestures and no missing verbal information, or with no gestures and missing verbal information. Results showed that observing gestures that provided additional information to speech (i.e., when the speech was missing vital information) enhanced narrative recall compared to observing no gestures, while observing gestures that did not provide additional information to speech were no more beneficial than observing no gestures at all. Findings from the current study provide valuable insight into the beneficial effect of iconic gesture on narrative recall, with important implications for education and learning.
View less >
Journal Title
Instructional Science
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2021. This is an electronic version of an article published in Instructional Science, 2021. Instructional Science is available online at: http://link.springer.com/ with the open URL of your article.
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This publication has been entered as an advanced online version in Griffith Research Online.
Subject
Curriculum and pedagogy
Specialist studies in education
Psychology
Social Sciences
Education & Educational Research
Psychology, Educational
Narrative recall