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from the grassroots-pantomime dept. Can't find the right word? You might want to start moving your hands. New research at the University of Alberta suggests that gesturing while you talk may improve your access to language. The hand gestures of bilingual children were observed as they told the same story twice, first in one language and then the other. Researchers were surprised by what they saw. "The children used gestures a lot more when telling the story in what they considered to be their stronger language," said Dr. Elena Nicoladis, a psychologist at the U of A. "These results seemed counter-intuitive to us. We thought the children would be more inclined to use gestures to help them communicate in their weaker language." Nicoladis continued: "What we think is going on here is that the very fact of moving your hands around helps you recall parts of the story --the gestures help you access memory and language so that you can tell more of the story. "Initially, we thought gestures were related to meaning --that they meant something on their own. But now we believe they are more related to language. If you're in a situation where it's important to get the language out and you're having difficulty, it may help to start making gestures. "There's certainly a lot more work that needs to be done before we can understand everything about gestures and why we make them. But the results so far have given us a lot to think about." http://www5.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-05/uoa-hgl050905.php < | >
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Hand gestures linked to better speaking
