ABSTRACT

This paper is a review of the literature about different types of gestures and the functions they serve across development, and about how gesture can bring evidence to support the embodied cognition approach. We will describe what aspects of children’s thinking are revealed when they start using deictic, conventional and iconic gestures. We will discuss gesture’s relation with language, symbol understanding, and learning. We will then present evidence for how gesture has been shown to facilitate the connection between action and thought, arguing that gesture reflects embodiment.

KEYWORDS: gesture, embodied cognition, learning, action, children

PAGES: 149:169