The Relation between Cognitive Abilities and the Distribution of Semantic Features across Speech and Gesture in 4-Year-Olds

Autor/inn/en	Abramov, Olga; Kern, Friederike; Koutalidis, Sofia; Mertens, Ulrich; Rohlfing, Katharina; Kopp, Stefan
Titel	The Relation between Cognitive Abilities and the Distribution of Semantic Features across Speech and Gesture in 4-Year-Olds
Quelle	In: Cognitive Science, 45 (2021) 7, (32 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Abramov, Olga)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1551-6709
DOI	10.1111/cogs.13012
Schlagwörter	Cognitive Ability; Semantics; Speech; Nonverbal Communication; Preschool Children; Individual Differences; Spatial Ability; Abstract Reasoning + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Denkfähigkeit; Semantik; Speaking; Sprechen; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Individueller Unterschied; Räumliches Vorstellungsvermögen; Abstraktes Denken; Denken
Abstract	When young children learn to use language, they start to use their hands in co-verbal gesturing. There are, however, considerable differences between children, and it is not completely understood what these individual differences are due to. We studied how children at 4 years of age employ speech and iconic gestures to convey meaning in different kinds of spatial event descriptions, and how this relates to their cognitive abilities. Focusing on spontaneous illustrations of actions, we applied a semantic feature (SF) analysis to characterize combinations of speech and gesture meaning and related them to the child's visual-spatial abilities or abstract/concrete reasoning abilities (measured using the standardized SON-R 2 1/2-7 test). Results show that children with higher cognitive abilities convey significantly more meaning via gesture and less solely via speech. These findings suggest that young children's use of cospeech representational gesturing is positively related to their mental representation and reasoning abilities. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01