On the Tip of the Mind: Gesture as a Key to Conceptualization

Why do people gesture when they speak? The reasons are not entirely clear. This paper tests two hypotheses about the role of gesture in speech production: the Lexical Access Hypothesis, which holds that gesturing aids in lexical access, and the Information Packaging Hypothesis, which holds that gesturing aids in conceptualization. Participants were asked to describe dot patterns that were either easy or difficult to conceptualize in terms of geometric shapes. Patterns that were more difficult to conceptualize elicited more gesture than the patterns that were easier to conceptualize. This result supports the Information Packaging Hypothesis.