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. 2015 May;42(3):591-617.
doi: 10.1017/S0305000915000045. Epub 2015 Feb 20.

Children's use of gesture in ambiguous pronoun interpretation

Whitney Goodrich Smith  1 , Carla L Hudson Kam  2
Affiliations

Children's use of gesture in ambiguous pronoun interpretation

Whitney Goodrich Smith et al. J Child Lang. 2015 May.

Abstract

This study explores whether children can use gesture to inform their interpretation of ambiguous pronouns. Specifically, we ask whether four- to eight-year-old English-speaking children are sensitive to information contained in co-referential localizing gestures in video narrations. The data show that the older (7-8 years of age) but not younger (4-5 years) children integrate co-referential gestures into their interpretation of pronouns. This is the same age at which they show sensitivity to order-of-mention, the only other cue available in the stimuli. Interestingly, when children show sensitivity to the gestures, they are quite similar to adults, in that gestures consistent with order-of-mention increase first-mentioned responses as compared to stimuli with no gestures, but only slightly, while gestures inconsistent with order-of-mention have a larger effect on interpretation, decreasing first-mentioned responses and increasing second-mentioned responses.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Example of (A) Localizing Gesture with first-mentioned name, (B) Localizing Gesture with second-mentioned name, and (C) Co-referential Gesture consistent with order of mention with pronoun. Note that the gesture in C is on the same side as that in A, but not in exactly the same location.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Mean percent first-mentioned responses by age group in the NG condition.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Mean percent first-mentioned responses by age group and condition (AOoM = Against Order of Mention, NG = No Gesture, OoM = (consistent with) Order of Mention).
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Mean percent of responses that were prompted by age group and condition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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