Georgia State University, 140 Decatur St., Atlanta, GA, 30303, United States.
, 3166 Lindmoor Dr., Decatur, GA, 30033, USA.
J Psycholinguist Res. 2021 Oct;50(5):967-983. doi: 10.1007/s10936-021-09782-3. Epub 2021 May 7.
The metaphorical motion of time can be expressed in gesture along either a sagittal axis-with the future ahead and past behind the speaker, or a lateral axis-with the past to the left and future to the right of the speaker (Casasanto & Jasmin in CL 23(4): 643-674, 2012). Adult English speakers, when gesturing about time, show a preference for lateral gestures with left-to-right directionality, consistent with the directionality of the reading-writing system in English (Casasanto & Jasmin in CL 23(4): 643-674, 2012). In this study, we asked how early children would show a preference for left-to-right lateral gestures and whether literacy skills would predict the production of such gestures. Our findings showed developmental changes in both the orientation and directionality of children's gestures about time. Children increased their production of left-to-right lateral gestures over time, with a shift around ages 7-8. More importantly, literacy predicted children's production of such lateral gestures. Overall, these results suggest that the orientation and directionality of children's metaphorical gestures about time follow a developmental pattern that is largely influenced by changes in literacy.
时间的隐喻运动可以通过沿着矢状轴的手势来表达——未来在说话者的前方，过去在说话者的后方，或者通过沿着横轴的手势来表达——过去在说话者的左侧，未来在说话者的右侧（Casasanto 和 Jasmin 在 CL 23(4): 643-674, 2012）。当英语成年说话者用手势来表达时间时，他们更喜欢用从左到右的横向手势，这与英语的读写系统的方向性一致（Casasanto 和 Jasmin 在 CL 23(4): 643-674, 2012）。在这项研究中，我们想知道孩子们会多早表现出对从左到右的横向手势的偏好，以及读写能力是否会预测他们做出这样的手势。我们的发现表明，孩子们在时间方面的手势的方向和方向性都发生了变化。随着时间的推移，孩子们越来越多地做出从左到右的横向手势，这种变化大约在 7-8 岁左右出现。更重要的是，读写能力预测了孩子们做出这种横向手势的能力。总的来说，这些结果表明，儿童关于时间的隐喻手势的方向和方向性遵循一种发展模式，这种模式在很大程度上受到读写能力变化的影响。
