Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year-old children

Elizabeth M. Wakefield; Eliza L. Congdon; Miriam A. Novack; Susan Goldin-Meadow; Karin H. James

doi:10.3758/s13414-019-01755-y

Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year-old children

Elizabeth M. Wakefield^*, Eliza L. Congdon, Miriam A. Novack, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Karin H. James

^*Corresponding author for this work

Medical Social Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Producing gesture can be a powerful tool for facilitating learning. This effect has been replicated across a variety of academic domains, including algebra, chemistry, geometry, and word learning. Yet the mechanisms underlying the effect are poorly understood. Here we address this gap using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We examine the neural correlates underlying how children solve mathematical equivalence problems learned with the help of either a speech + gesture strategy, or a speech-alone strategy. Children who learned through a speech + gesture were more likely to recruit motor regions when subsequently solving problems during a scan than children who learned through speech alone. This suggests that gesture promotes learning, at least in part, because it is a type of action. In an exploratory analysis, we also found that children who learned through speech + gesture showed subthreshold activation in regions outside the typical action-learning network, corroborating behavioral findings suggesting that the mechanisms supporting learning through gesture and action are not identical. This study is one of the first to explore the neural mechanisms of learning through gesture.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2343-2353
Number of pages	11
Journal	Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
Volume	81
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01755-y
State	Published - Oct 1 2019

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge all the children and their parents who participated in this study; the research assistants who helped with the study, Arianna Gutierrez, Portia Goodin, Natalie Gutkin, Alyssa Kersey, Emily Kubota, and Debby Zemlock, our MR technicians, Arianna Gutierrez, Colleen McCracken, and Sean Berry, and MR physicist Dr. Hu Cheng. This research was supported by an IU Imaging Research Facility Pilot Grant, awarded to K. James, E. Wakefield, and S. Goldin-Meadow; the IU Faculty Research Support Program, awarded to K. James; the National Science Foundation (DRL-1561405) awarded to S. Goldin-Meadow and E. Wakefield; the National Institute of Health, T32 (HD07475); the Institute of Education Sciences (R305 B090025) to S. Raudenbush in support of Novack and Congdon; and the National Institute of Child Health and Development: Institutional Training Grant (HD07475-15) to L. Smith in support of Wakefield.

Keywords

Gesture
Learning
Mathematics
Neural mechanisms
Neuroimaging

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Language and Linguistics
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Sensory Systems
Linguistics and Language

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10.3758/s13414-019-01755-y

Cite this

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title = "Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year-old children",

abstract = "Producing gesture can be a powerful tool for facilitating learning. This effect has been replicated across a variety of academic domains, including algebra, chemistry, geometry, and word learning. Yet the mechanisms underlying the effect are poorly understood. Here we address this gap using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We examine the neural correlates underlying how children solve mathematical equivalence problems learned with the help of either a speech + gesture strategy, or a speech-alone strategy. Children who learned through a speech + gesture were more likely to recruit motor regions when subsequently solving problems during a scan than children who learned through speech alone. This suggests that gesture promotes learning, at least in part, because it is a type of action. In an exploratory analysis, we also found that children who learned through speech + gesture showed subthreshold activation in regions outside the typical action-learning network, corroborating behavioral findings suggesting that the mechanisms supporting learning through gesture and action are not identical. This study is one of the first to explore the neural mechanisms of learning through gesture.",

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note = "Funding Information: The authors wish to acknowledge all the children and their parents who participated in this study; the research assistants who helped with the study, Arianna Gutierrez, Portia Goodin, Natalie Gutkin, Alyssa Kersey, Emily Kubota, and Debby Zemlock, our MR technicians, Arianna Gutierrez, Colleen McCracken, and Sean Berry, and MR physicist Dr. Hu Cheng. This research was supported by an IU Imaging Research Facility Pilot Grant, awarded to K. James, E. Wakefield, and S. Goldin-Meadow; the IU Faculty Research Support Program, awarded to K. James; the National Science Foundation (DRL-1561405) awarded to S. Goldin-Meadow and E. Wakefield; the National Institute of Health, T32 (HD07475); the Institute of Education Sciences (R305 B090025) to S. Raudenbush in support of Novack and Congdon; and the National Institute of Child Health and Development: Institutional Training Grant (HD07475-15) to L. Smith in support of Wakefield. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.",

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Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year-old children

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