Explaining Math: Gesturing Lightens the Load
Abstract
Why is it that people cannot keep their hands still when they talk? One reason may be that gesturing actually lightens cognitive load while a person is thinking of what to say. We asked adults and children to remember a list of letters or words while explaining how they solved a math problem. Both groups remembered significantly more items when they gestured during their math explanations than when they did not gesture. Gesturing appeared to save the speakers' cognitive resources on the explanation task, permitting the speakers to allocate more resources to the memory task. It is widely accepted that gesturing reflects a speaker's cognitive state, but our observations suggest that, by reducing cognitive load, gesturing may also play a role in shaping that state.
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The involvement of the more basic motor system seems to reduce load on working memory during instruction.
“Interestingly, the involvement of the more basic motor system seems to reduce load on working memory during instruction (e.g. Goldin-Meadow et al. 2001)”
From Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design: 20 Years Later (2019) · cites this paper as Goldin-Meadow et al. 2001
Making gestures can be used for cognitive offloading of information during problem-solving, leading to a reduction in working memory load.
“It has been shown that making gestures can be used for cognitive offloading of information during problem-solving, leading to a reduction in working memory load (Wagner-Cook et al. 2012; Goldin-Meadow et al. 2001; Ping and Goldin-Meadow 2010; Risko and Gilbert 2016).”
From Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design: 20 Years Later (2019) · cites this paper as Goldin-Meadow et al. 2001
Beneficial effects on immediate task performance in terms of speed and/or accuracy have been observed across a large variety of tasks.
“Such beneficial effects on immediate task performance in terms of speed and/or accuracy have been observed across a large variety of tasks (e.g., arithmetic tasks, see Carlson et al., 2007; Goldin-Meadow et al., 2001; or reading, see Risko et al., 2014).”
From Consequences of cognitive offloading: Boosting performance but diminishing memory (2021) · cites this paper as Goldin-Meadow et al., 2001
Children and adults who were allowed to gesture while explaining how they solved the mathematics problem experienced a lower cognitive load because they could remember more items than when they were not allowed to gesture.
“Goldin-Meadow et al. found that children and adults, who were allowed to gesture while explaining how they solved the mathematics problem, experienced a lower cognitive load because they could remember more items than when they were not allowed to gesture.”
From An Evolutionary Upgrade of Cognitive Load Theory: Using the Human Motor System and Collaboration to Support the Learning of Complex Cognitive Tasks (2012) · cites this paper as Goldin-Meadow et al. 2001
Studies in the domains of mathematics and Piagetian conservation tasks have shown that the involvement of the more basic motor system in the form of gesturing reduces the working memory load during instruction.
“Studies in the domains of mathematics (Goldin-Meadow et al. 2001) and Piagetian conservation tasks (Ping and Goldin-Meadow 2010) have shown that the involvement of the more basic motor system in the form of gesturing reduces the working memory load during instruction.”
From An Evolutionary Upgrade of Cognitive Load Theory: Using the Human Motor System and Collaboration to Support the Learning of Complex Cognitive Tasks (2012) · cites this paper as Goldin-Meadow et al. 2001
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- Authors
- Goldin-Meadow, S., Nusbaum, H., Kelly, S. D., & Wagner, S.
- Affiliations
- The University of Chicago
- University of Chicago (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2001-11
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 516-522
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2106128184
- Cited by
- 842
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 51 · 2021: 55 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 46 · 2016: 43 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 39 · 2012: 25
- FWCI
- 6.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Keywords
- gesturing, cognitive load, mathematical problem solving, verbal explanation, working memory, memory retrieval, children, adults
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Age Factors, Attention, Child, Female, Gestures, Humans, Male, Mathematics, Problem Solving, Mental Recall, Verbal Learning
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