Suurna Remy, Murnikov Valeri, Kask Kristjan
School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia.
Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2024 Sep 2;32(4):577-593. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2024.2346739. eCollection 2025.
The aim of this study was to explore differences in gesture use during a free recall task among individuals of different ages and different development of conceptual thinking. Sixty-three children (aged 7-14 years) and 30 adults participated in an experiment in which they first witnessed a live staged event and a week later were interviewed about the event and tested using the Word Meaning Structure Test. Results showed that adults used more gesture types and showed higher gesture use frequency than children. Further, we found that word meaning structure and gesture use - specifically metaphoric and iconic gestures - predicted more accurate free recall in children. Our findings suggest that gestures may function differently during varying developmental stages, with gesture use being related to word meaning structure and the benefits of gesture use in free recall being more evident in children than adults.
本研究的目的是探讨不同年龄和概念思维发展程度不同的个体在自由回忆任务中手势使用的差异。63名儿童(7至14岁)和30名成年人参与了一项实验,他们首先观看了一场现场表演的事件,一周后接受关于该事件的访谈,并使用词义结构测试进行测试。结果表明,成年人使用的手势类型更多,手势使用频率也高于儿童。此外,我们发现词义结构和手势使用——特别是隐喻性和标志性手势——能预测儿童更准确的自由回忆。我们的研究结果表明,手势在不同发展阶段可能具有不同的功能,手势使用与词义结构相关,并且手势在自由回忆中的益处在儿童中比在成年人中更明显。