title: Measuring gesture: its cultural and clinical correlates.
abstract: An ultrasonic system for measuring psychomotor behaviour is described, and then applied to compare the extent to which English and French students gesticulate. The findings supported the hypotheses that: (1) French students gesticulate more than the English both when using descriptive speech and when discussing their feelings; (2) descriptive speech elicits more gesture then affectively-toned speech; (3) when verbal expression is more difficult the use of gesture increases; (4) individuals tend to maintain a characteristic level of gesturing. We concluded the ultrasonic system provides a reliable and sensitive method for measuring gesture activity and can be applied clinically to the study of psychomotor behaviour.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D000367:Age Factors; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007697:Kinesics; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D010551:Personality; D012737:Sex Factors; D014465:Ultrasonics / Q000295:instrumentation; D014705:Verbal Behavior