Collaborative Research: The Role of Gesture in Word Learning

当人们说话时，他们会做手势。手势帮助演讲者组织他们的思想和话语，也帮助听众更充分地理解所传达的信息。 教学技术已开始纳入使用语音伴随的手势，以促进学习。然而，目前还不清楚手势如何以及为什么有助于学习。 本研究的目的是调查是否，如果是的话，观察手势不同观察对象上执行的动作，以促进幼儿的单词学习。这项研究采用了学习行为测量和大脑成像技术来解决这个问题。该研究最终将有助于优化学习环境。该项目解决了手势对学习的促进作用与观察动作的效果不同的假设，因为手势是更抽象的表征形式，因为它们突出了动作的重要组成部分，而不与特定的学习环境联系在一起。该项目探讨了手势与动作促进4至5岁儿童单词学习的方式。研究目标包括：（1）比较通过手势学习单词与通过动作学习单词对单词学习轨迹的影响;（2）评估通过手势或动作学习单词后，随着时间的推移，单词的泛化和保留情况;（3）探索每种学习经验的神经机制。研究结果将阐明手势是否以及如何促进学习，超越特定的，并随着时间的推移而延伸。

When people talk, they gesture. Gesturing helps speakers to organize their thoughts and words, and also helps listeners to more fully understand the information being conveyed. Instructional techniques have begun to incorporate use of speech-accompanying gestures to facilitate learning. However, it is unclear how and why gestures aid learning. The goal of this research is to investigate whether, and if so how, observing gestures differs from observing actions performed on objects in facilitating young children's word learning. The research employs both behavioral measures of learning and brain imaging techniques to address this issue. The research will ultimately help to optimize learning environments.This project addresses the hypothesis that gesture's facilitative effect on learning is distinct from effects of observing actions because gestures are more abstract forms of representation, in that they highlight the important components of an action without being tied to a specific learning context. The project explores the ways in which gestures versus actions facilitate word learning in 4 to 5 year old children. The research goals include (1) comparing the impact that learning a word through gesture, compared to action, has on the word's learning trajectory; (2) evaluating how well words are generalized and retained over time after they are learned through gesture or action; (3) exploring the neural mechanisms underlying each of these types of learning experiences. The results will clarify whether and how gesture promotes learning that goes beyond the particular, and extends over time.