Deictic word and gesture production: Their interaction

We examined whether and how deictic gestures and words influence each other when the content of the gesture was congruent or incongruent with that of the simultaneously produced word. Two experiments were carried out. In Experiment 1, the participants read aloud the deictic word ‘QUA’ (‘here’) or ‘LA” (‘there’), printed on a token placed near to or far from their body. Simultaneously, they pointed towards one’s own body, when the token was placed near, or at a remote position, when the token was placed far. In this way, participants read ‘QUA’ (‘here’) and pointed towards themselves (congruent condition) or a remote position (incongruent condition); or they read ‘LA” (‘there’) and pointed towards a remote position (congruent condition) or themselves (incongruent condition). In a control condition, in which a string of ‘X’ letters was printed on the token, the participants were silent and only pointed towards themselves (token placed near) or a remote position (token placed far). In Experiment 2, the participants read aloud the deictic word placed in the near or far position without gesturing. The results showed that the congruence/incongruence between the content of the deictic word and that of the gesture affected gesture kinematics and voice spectra. Indeed, the movement was faster in the congruent than in the control and incongruent conditions; and it was slower in the incongruent than in the control condition. As concerns voice spectra, formant 2 (F2) decreased in the incongruent conditions. The results suggest the existence of a bidirectional interaction between speech and gesture production systems.