Gesture and Thought
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Published: November 8, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 328
ISBN-13: 9780226514628
Subjects: Cognition & cognitive psychology; Communication Studies; Literary Criticism; Psychology; Cognitive Psychology; Mind & Body; Psychology & Psychiatry / General; General; Gesture; Psycholinguistics; Thought and thinking
Description: Gesture and Thought expands on McNeill's acclaimed classic Hand and Mind. While that earlier work demonstrated what gestures reveal about thought, here gestures are shown to be active participants in both speaking and thinking. Expanding on an approach introduced by Lev Vygotsky in the 1930s, McNeill posits that gestures are key ingredients in an "imagery-language dialectic" that fuels both speech and thought. Gestures are both the "imagery" and components of "language." The smallest element of this dialectic is the "growth point," an "idea unit" of an utterance at its beginning psychological stage. Utilizing several innovative experiments he created and administered with subjects spanning several different age, gender, language, and neurological groups. McNeill's shows how growth points organize themselves into utterances and extend to discourse at the moment of speaking.