Conference Presentations by Paraskevi Argyriou
• Left-hand gesturing led to better metaphor explanation than right-hand gesturing. • The effect ... more • Left-hand gesturing led to better metaphor explanation than right-hand gesturing. • The effect was larger for those whose metaphorical processing was strongly right-hemisphere dominant.
• Participants produced more metaphorical interpretations when they gestured than when they did n... more • Participants produced more metaphorical interpretations when they gestured than when they did not (Experiments 1 and 2).
http://amlap2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/144_pdf.pdf
Papers by Paraskevi Argyriou
Research suggests that speech-accompanying gestures influence cognitive processes, but it is not ... more Research suggests that speech-accompanying gestures influence cognitive processes, but it is not clear whether the gestural benefit is specific to the gesturing hand. Two experiments tested the "(right/left) hand-specificity" hypothesis for self-oriented functions of gestures: gestures with a particular hand enhance cognitive processes involving the hemisphere contralateral to the gesturing hand. Specifically, we tested whether left-hand gestures enhance metaphor explanation, which involves right-hemispheric processing. In Experiment 1, right-handers explained metaphorical phrases (e.g., "to spill the beans," beans represent pieces of information). Participants kept the one hand (right, left) still while they were allowed to spontaneously gesture (or not) with their other free hand (left, right). Metaphor explanations were better when participants chose to gesture when their left hand was free than when they did not. An analogous effect of gesturing was not found when their right hand was free. In Experiment 2, different right-handers performed the same metaphor explanation task but, unlike Experiment 1, they were encouraged to gesture with their left or right hand or to not gesture at all. Metaphor explanations were better when participants gestured with their left hand than when they did not gesture, but the right hand gesture condition did not significantly differ from the no-gesture condition. Furthermore, we measured participants' mouth asymmetry during additional verbal tasks to determine individual differences in the degree of right-hemispheric involvement in speech production. The left-over-right-side mouth dominance, indicating stronger right-hemispheric involvement, positively correlated with the left-over-righthand gestural benefit on metaphor explanation. These converging findings supported the "handspecificity" hypothesis. 1 In the current study, gestures mainly refer to representational gestures according to the taxonomy. Representational gestures iconically depict shape, motion, and action or deictically indicate locations and directions. Speakers can also use gestures to express abstract content metaphorically (e.g., moving a palm-up open hand away from the body can express the abstract action of "conveying a message," depicted as an object on the palm moving away from the body). 2 ARGYRIOU, MOHR, AND KITA
Research on the neural basis of metaphor provides contradicting evidence about the role of right ... more Research on the neural basis of metaphor provides contradicting evidence about the role of right and left hemispheres. We used the mouth-opening asymmetry technique to investigate the relative involvement of the two hemispheres whilst right-handed healthy male participants explained the meaning of English phrases. This technique is based on the contralateral cortical control of the facial musculature and reflects the relative hemispheric involvement during different cognitive tasks. In particular, right-handers show a right-sided mouth asymmetry (right side of the mouth opens wider than the left) during linguistic tasks, thus reflecting the left-hemisphere specialization for language. In the current study, we compared the right-sided mouth asymmetry during metaphor explanation (e.g., explain the meaning of the phrase "to spin a yarn") and concrete explanation (e.g., explain the meaning of the phrase "to spin a golf ball") and during the production of content and function words. The expected right-sided mouth asymmetry reduced during metaphorical compared to concrete explanations suggesting the relative right-hemispheric involvement for metaphor processing. Crucially, this right-sided mouth asymmetry reduction was particularly pronounced for the production of content words. Thus, we concluded that semantics is crucial to the right-hemispheric involvement for metaphorical speech production.
Research suggests that gestures influence cognitive processes, but the exact mechanism is not cle... more Research suggests that gestures influence cognitive processes, but the exact mechanism is not clear. Additionally, it has been shown that when a linguistic task (metaphor explanation) involves the right brain hemisphere, the left hand becomes more gesturally active. We hypothesized that gestures with a particular hand activate cognitive processes in the contralateral hemisphere. We examined whether gestures with the left hand enhance metaphoricity in verbal responses. Results showed participants produced more metaphoric explanations when instructed to produce gestures with their left hand as compared to the right hand or not gesture at all. In addition, we measured the mouth asymmetry during metaphorical speech to determine individual differences in righthemisphere involvement in metaphor processing. The leftside mouth dominance, indicating stronger right-hemisphere involvement, positively correlated with the left-hand-overright-hand advantage in gestural facilitation of metaphorical speech. We concluded that left-hand gestures enhance metaphorical thinking in the right hemisphere.
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Conference Presentations by Paraskevi Argyriou
Papers by Paraskevi Argyriou