The Role of Gesture in Learning

手势在学习中的作用

• 批准号: 6913575
• 负责人: SUSAN J GOLDIN-MEADOW
• 金额: $ 20.59万
• 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/6913575
• 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）：孩子们说话时做出的手势显然与学习相关。至少，它们可以作为孩子学习准备程度的指标。本研究的目的是确定手势是否不仅反映思想，而且在塑造思想方面发挥作用。该研究有两个目的。目标 1：手势在学习过程中发挥作用吗？手势以与言语的口头形式不同的视觉空间形式传达信息。因此，它提供了“待学习”信息的另一种表示方式，对于处于学习风口浪尖的孩子来说可能特别容易理解。为了探索其他人的手势对儿童学习的影响，研究 1-3 操纵儿童在教学过程中收到的手势，并观察该操纵对学习的影响。手势还允许儿童使用视觉空间格式来传达他们可能无法以口头格式传达的信息。一旦在系统中得到体现，这些信息就可以促进变革。为了探索孩子自己的手势在学习中发挥的作用，研究 4-6 操纵孩子们做出的手势并观察其对学习的影响。目标 2：手势在学习中发挥作用的机制是什么？研究发现，说话时做手势可以减轻说话者的认知负担并增加工作记忆。由于具有更多工作记忆的听众善于排除不相关的材料，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。为了探索做出手势对工作记忆的影响，研究 7-9 操纵了孩子们在解释任务时做出的手势，并（使用双任务范式）询问孩子们在做手势时是否花费更少的精力，而在不做手势时说话时是否花费更少的精力。为了探索观察手势对工作记忆的影响，研究 10-12 操纵了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处理不包含手势的解释花费更少的精力。为了实现这两个目标，6 至 10 岁的儿童将参与数学或保护问题解决任务，他们的口头和手势反应将被录像并随后进行分析。手势可能被证明是一种特别有效的工具，可用于指导或评估语言发育正常的儿童以及那些在表达和理解言语方面有困难的儿童。