Physiographic gestures as decoding facilitators: Three experiments exploring a neglected facet of communication

Abstract

There is a dearth of studies exploring the role of gestures in the communication of “experience”, i.e., events “external” to the speaker; whereas much research has been concerned with gestures as expressions of attitudes and emotion. This state of affairs has tended to reinforce the premature assumption that gestures serve functions quite different from those of speech. Three experiments reported here were designed to investigate this neglected role examining specifically, physiographic gestures (pgs). A variety of tasks were devised; information pertaining to each being recorded on videotape and presented under varying modal conditions. It was found that pgs do contribute to the communication of events “external” to the speaker. Possible mechanisms are discussed.