Title: Age-related changes in preschoolers’ ability to communicate using iconic gestures in the absence of speech
Abstract: Iconic gestures illustrate complex meanings and clarify and enrich the speech they accompany. Little is known, however, about how children use iconic gestures in the absence of speech. In this study, we used a cross-sectional design to investigate how 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children (N = 51) communicate using pantomime iconic gestures. Children were asked to inform a puppet that did not speak their language about how to use different sets of objects. We found that by 5 years of age children are able to communicate using pantomime iconic gestures in a consistent and spontaneous way, without the need to be assisted by an adult. In contrast, 3-year-olds used both pantomime and co-speech gestures to communicate, and overall gestured at a lower level than 4- and 5-year-olds. These results offer us an increased understanding of preschoolers’ ability to create iconic gestures in the absence of speech, suggesting that this ability suffers important progresses throughout the preschool years.
Publication Year: 2017
Publication Date: 2017-05-04
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 1
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