"The children used gestures a lot more when telling the story in what they considered to be their stronger language," said Nicoladis, a psychologist at the U of A. "These results seemed counter-intuitive to us. We thought the children would be more inclined to use gestures to help them communicate in their weaker language."
Nicoladis believes these findings and the findings of previous research indicate that there is a connection between language access and gesturing.
"What we think is going on here," Nicoladis said, "is that the very fact of moving your hands around helps you recall parts of the story--the gestures help you access memory and language so that you can tell more of the story."
"Initially, we thought gestures were related to meaning--that they meant something on their own. But now we believe they are more related to language," she added.
A previous study that Nicoladis conducted found that Chinese women who spoke English at a higher level than Chinese men also exhibited more hand gestures when talking English than the men did.
The researchers also have preliminary data that suggests 8-10 year-old girls use more gestures than their male counterparts, lending support to the notion that females develop language skills more quickly than males.
She speculates these findings may have implications for people trying to learn a foreign language or have other language difficulties.
"If you're in a situation where it's important to get the language out and you're having difficulty, it may help to start making gestures," said Nicoladis, who conducts most of her research on hand gestures with Dr. Paula Marentette of the University of Alberta Augustana College.
"There's certainly a lot more work that needs to be done before we can understand everything about gestures and why we make them," Nicoladis added. "But the results so far have given us a lot to think about."
