Children Who Gestured Showed Better Performance in Mental Tasks

Lisa Franchi July 30, 2013

In the first study of its kind, US researchers found that children who used gestures outperformed their peers in problem-solving tasks. These findings add to the existing scientific evidence that highlights the role of gestures in memory, learning, problem solving, and communication.

The Study

The task was relatively simple. Participants, ages 2-1/2 to 5, had to sort cards printed with coloured shapes, first by colour and then second, by shape. But the switch from colour to shape could be difficult for children under 5, according to the study author Patricia Miller, a professor of psychology at San Francisco State University.

Miller and her co-researcher Gina O’Neill found that children who gestured were more likely to do better in a problem-solving task, particularly in ‘mental switching’.

They also found that children who did a lot of gesturing performed better at the scoring task, even though they did not gesture during the task itself. But this makes it difficult to determine whether gesturing helped the participants improve their performance on the task or those who used a lot of gestures were simply at a more advanced cognitive level than their peers.

In the study, gestures included rotating hands to show the orientation of a card, or using the hands to illustrate the image on the card. For instance, some kids mimicked the shape of a rabbit’s ears for a card showing a rabbit.

The science of gesturing

“There is quite a bit of evidence now that gestures can help children think, perhaps by helping the brain keep track of relevant information or by helping the brain reflect on the possibilities contained within a task.” said Miller.

In the study, participants who gestured outweighed the performance of others, despite their age.

Miller said their findings are consistent with a growing body of research suggesting that the mind and body work closely together in the early stage of cognitive development. She also explained that previous research showed that gesturing may be involved in the processes of problem solving or reaching a goal. Other studies suggest that gesturing could help older children learn new math concepts.

“Even we adults sometimes gesture when we’re trying to organize our tax receipts or our closets. When our minds are overflowing we let our hands take on some of the cognitive load.” she added.

Their study was published in the journal Developmental Psychology.

Source of this article:

Give Them a Hand: Children Who Gesture Perform Better on Cognitive Tasks