Gesture, language and cognition [spotkanie stacjonarne]
Prof. Sotoro Kita, University of Warwick
Data:
11 kwietnia 2024
Gesture: its relationship to thinking and speaking
Gesture, language and thought
Sotaro Kita
University of Warwick
This presentation concerns a theory on how gestures (accompanying speaking and silent
thinking) are generated and how gestures facilitate the gesturer's own cognitive processes. I
will present evidence that gestures are generated from a general-purpose Action Generator,
which also generates “practical” actions such as grasping a cup to drink, and that the Action
Generator generates gestural representation in close coordination with the speech
production process (Kita & Ozyurek, 2003, Journal of Memory and Language). I will also
present evidence that gestures facilitate thinking and speaking through four functions:
gesture activates, manipulates, packages and explores spatio-motoric representations (Kita,
Chu, & Alibali, 2017, Psychological Review). Further, I will argue that schematic nature of
gestural representation plays a crucial role in these four functions. To summarise, gesture,
generated at the interface of action and language, shapes the way we think and we speak.