Hand Waving Not Just Empty Space

My husband said he’d caught us in the act with this photo. My dad and I are talking about the aerospace museum we’re in with our hands swinging around, helping out the conversation in a way neither of us actually thinks about too much.

Gestures Add to and Contradict Speech

Not everyone talks with their hands extensively, but everyone uses gestures at some point. Even someone blind since birth will gesture and the shape and nature of the motion will be revealing. Even someone talking on the phone where whatever information the movement carries is wiped out will keep gesturing.

It turns out that our gestures often express something different than the words we are saying. For example, if we are trying to describe an unsuccessful method of solving a math problem, our hands might be making gestures related to a different approach that would work better if we could just bring it to the forefront of our conscious mind.

Our hands can express thoughts we’re not aware of.

Gestures Aid Our Thinking Process

Our hands also allow us to tap into a different portion of our brain’s thinking ability when we use them deliberately.

This won’t come as any surprise to anyone who finds writing a different process when they use a keyboard as compared to when they use a pen. Or who has tried to build a three-dimensional model to better visualize a set of drawings. Or who finds greater success in putting info bits on note cards or post-its and moving them around to organize an outline instead of just creating a list on paper or even drawing a mind-map.

We use our physical ability to touch and manipulate objects to better understand abstract concepts. We learn first by feel and then apply the abilities to distinguish among and recognize relationships between objects to ideas as we mature. When we go back to moving things around or making models as an adult we are retracing our steps. 

How Do You Use Gestures and Movement?

So are you using your physical self when you’re problem-solving, innovating, or just trying to grasp something that eludes you? 

Some ways you could do so include:

– Talking about the topic and have someone with you watching what your body says as well as your words, or videotape yourself pretending to explain. Then look at what your gestures might mean. Or try deliberately keeping your hands still or moving them in a more exaggerated manner while talking and see what other thoughts pop into your head.

– Bringing out some blocks or game pieces. Then move them around to act out the potential interactions of a system. Add other elements as necessary. Get someone else’s hands in there at the same time so you can have more than two things moving at once.

Do you remember a time in the past when using your sense of touch helped you think a problem through? If it did before or does when you give it a try, I’d love to hear the story.

You can read more about the science that inspired this post in in these two articles in Scientific American Mind September 2010 (paid access required, no affiliation). The World at Our Fingertips by Derek Cabrera and Laura Colosi and Hands in the Air by Susan Goldin-Meadow.