The Role of Gesture in Learning

手势在学习中的作用

• 批准号: 7057404
• 负责人: SUSAN J GOLDIN-MEADOW
• 金额: $ 20.1万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-07-01 至 2009-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7057404
• 关键词: behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; clinical research; developmental psychology; experience; human subject; learning; mathematics; middle childhood (6-11); neural information processing; paralinguistic behavior; problem solving; short term memory; speech; videotape /videodisc

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The gestures that children produce when they talk are clearly associated with learning. At a minimum, they serve as an index of the child's readiness-to-learn. The goal of the proposed research is to determine whether gesture not only reflects thought but also plays a role in shaping it. The research has two aims. Aim 1: Does gesture play a role in the learning process? Gesture conveys information in a visuospatial format distinct from the verbal format of speech. It thus offers an alternative representation of "to-be learned" information that may be particularly accessible to a child on the cusp of learning. To explore the effect that other peoples' gestures have on child learning, Studies 1-3 manipulate the gestures children receive during instruction and observe the effect of that manipulation on learning. Gesture also allows children to use a visuospatial format to convey information that they might not be ready to convey in a verbal format. Once represented in the system, this information could then catalyze change. To explore the role that the child's own gestures play in learning, Studies 4-6 manipulate the gestures that children produce and observe the effect on learning. Aim 2: What is the mechanism underlying gesture's role in learning? Gesturing while speaking has been found to reduce the speaker's cognitive burden and increase working memory. Since listeners with more working memory are good at excluding irrelevant material, gesturing while speaking might help children focus on relevant information and thus lead to better learning. To explore the effect that producing gesture has on working memory, Studies 7-9 manipulate the gestures that children produce when explaining a task and (using a dual-task paradigm) ask whether children expend less effort when gesturing while speaking that when not gesturing. To explore the effect that observing gesture has on working memory, Studies 10-12 manipulate the gestures that children see during someone else's explanation and (again using a dual-task paradigm) ask whether children expend less effort processing explanations that contain gesture than processing explanations that do not contain gesture. To achieve these two aims, children ages 6 to 10 years will participate in a math or conservation problem-solving task and their spoken and gestured responses will be videotaped and later analyzed. Gesture may prove to be a particularly effective tool to use in instructing or assessing children whose language is developing normally, as well as those who have difficulties producing and comprehending speech.

描述（由申请人提供）：孩子说话时做出的手势显然与学习有关。至少，它们可以作为孩子学习准备程度的指标。这项拟议研究的目的是确定手势是否不仅反映思想，而且在形成思想方面发挥作用。这项研究有两个目的。目标1：手势在学习过程中起作用吗？手势以一种不同于言语形式的视觉空间形式传达信息。因此，它提供了一种“将要学习”的信息的替代表示，对于处于学习尖端的孩子来说，这种信息可能特别容易获得。为了探讨他人手势对儿童学习的影响，研究1-3对儿童在教学过程中接受的手势进行了操作，并观察了这种操作对学习的影响。手势还允许孩子们使用视觉空间格式来传达他们可能还没有准备好以口头形式传达的信息。一旦在系统中表现出来，这些信息就可以催化变化。为了探究儿童自身的手势在学习中的作用，研究4-6对儿童做出的手势进行操作，观察手势对学习的影响。目标2：手势在学习中的作用机制是什么？研究发现，说话时做手势可以减轻说话者的认知负担，增加工作记忆。因为拥有更多工作记忆的听者善于排除不相关的材料，所以说话时做手势可能会帮助孩子专注于相关信息，从而更好地学习。为了探索产生手势对工作记忆的影响，研究7-9操纵儿童在解释任务时产生的手势，并（使用双任务范式）询问儿童在说话时做手势是否比不做手势花费更少的精力。为了探索观察手势对工作记忆的影响，研究10-12操纵儿童在别人解释时看到的手势，并（再次使用双任务范式）询问儿童在处理包含手势的解释时是否比在处理不包含手势的解释时花费更少的精力。为了实现这两个目标，6至10岁的儿童将参加一个数学或保护问题解决任务，他们的口头和手势反应将被录下来，然后进行分析。手势可能被证明是一种特别有效的工具，用于指导或评估语言发育正常的儿童，以及那些有语言表达和理解困难的儿童。