Gesture-speech coupling and its link to cognitive development in children

When children learn, gesture-speech mismatches occur, in which new insights can be found in gestures while they are not yet apparent in speech. This project aims at explaining why gesture-speech mismatches occur and why gestures have this leading role in cognitive development, from the perspective of the continuous interaction between gestures, speech and the environment. Methods focus on manipulating and capturing the temporal structure of this coupling between gestures, speech and the environment. The results from this project are expected to shed new light on gestures' role in cognitive development, and to enable bridging between earlier research on gestures and cognition, and a perception-action approach to studying cognition.

Main project

This project is part of project "Dynamics and complexity of human behavior and cognition".

Researchers and partners

Behavioural and Social Sciences, Psychology

• Lisette de Jonge-Hoekstra, Developmental Psychology
• Ralf Cox, Developmental Psychology
• Paul van Geert, Developmental Psychology

Behavioural and Socials Sciences, outside of Psychology

• Steffie van der Steen, Youth Care

Education

Selection of BA and MA student projects

• Gebaren, spraak en taakeigenschappen
• Redeneren door het lichaam zonder handen te gebruiken
• Ontwikkelen betrouwbaar codeersysteem voor gebaren en spraak bij een balanstaak
• Coördinatie van gebaren en spraak bij een cognitieve taak
• Gebaren en spraak van samenwerkende kinderen

Results

Publications

• De Jonge-Hoekstra, L., Van der Steen, S., Van Geert, P., & Cox, R. F. A. (2016). Asymmetric Dynamic Attunement of Speech and Gestures in the Construction of Children’s Understanding. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(March), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00473
• Cox, R. F. A., Van der Steen, S., Guevara Guerrero, M., De Jonge-Hoekstra, L., & van Dijk, M. (2016). Chromatic and Anisotropic Cross-Recurrence Quantification Analysis of Interpersonal Behavior. In C. L. Webber Jr., C. Ioana, & N. Marwan (Eds.), Recurrence Plots and Their Quantifications: Expanding Horizons (pp. 209–225). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29922-8_11

Successful grant proposals and other achievements

• The dynamics of balance: How learning emerges from the coupling between gestures, speech and the environment - Het Stichting Scholten-Cordes Fonds

University's focus areas

• Sustainable Society

More information

• http://mindwise-groningen.nl/gestures-and-speech-a-balanced-couple/