Hand Matters: Left-Hand Gestures Enhance Metaphor Explanation

Autor/inn/en	Argyriou, Paraskevi; Mohr, Christine; Kita, Sotaro
Titel	Hand Matters: Left-Hand Gestures Enhance Metaphor Explanation
Quelle	In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43 (2017) 6, S.874-886 (13 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0278-7393
DOI	10.1037/xlm0000337
Schlagwörter	Handedness; Nonverbal Communication; Figurative Language; Cognitive Processes; Brain Hemisphere Functions; Speech; Individual Differences; Foreign Countries; Males; United Kingdom (Bristol); United Kingdom (Birmingham); Edinburgh Handedness Inventory + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Linkshändigkeit; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Speaking; Sprechen; Individueller Unterschied; Ausland; Male; Männliches Geschlecht
Abstract	Research suggests that speech-accompanying gestures influence cognitive processes, but it is not clear whether the gestural benefit is specific to the gesturing hand. Two experiments tested the "(right/left) hand-specificity" hypothesis for self-oriented functions of gestures: gestures with a particular hand enhance cognitive processes involving the hemisphere contralateral to the gesturing hand. Specifically, we tested whether left-hand gestures enhance metaphor explanation, which involves right-hemispheric processing. In Experiment 1, right-handers explained metaphorical phrases (e.g., "to spill the beans," beans represent pieces of information). Participants kept the one hand (right, left) still while they were allowed to "spontaneously" gesture (or not) with their other free hand (left, right). Metaphor explanations were better when participants chose to gesture when their left hand was free than when they did not. An analogous effect of gesturing was not found when their right hand was free. In Experiment 2, different right-handers performed the same metaphor explanation task but, unlike Experiment 1, they were "encouraged" to gesture with their left or right hand or to not gesture at all. Metaphor explanations were better when participants gestured with their left hand than when they did not gesture, but the right hand gesture condition did not significantly differ from the no-gesture condition. Furthermore, we measured participants' mouth asymmetry during additional verbal tasks to determine individual differences in the degree of right-hemispheric involvement in speech production. The left-over-right-side mouth dominance, indicating stronger right-hemispheric involvement, positively correlated with the left-over-right-hand gestural benefit on metaphor explanation. These converging findings supported the "hand-specificity" hypothesis. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01