title: A tale of two hands: children's early gesture use in narrative production predicts later narrative structure in speech.
abstract: Speakers of all ages spontaneously gesture as they talk. These gestures predict children's milestones in vocabulary and sentence structure. We ask whether gesture serves a similar role in the development of narrative skill. Children were asked to retell a story conveyed in a wordless cartoon at age five and then again at six, seven, and eight. Children's narrative structure in speech improved across these ages. At age five, many of the children expressed a character's viewpoint in gesture, and these children were more likely to tell better-structured stories at the later ages than children who did not produce character-viewpoint gestures at age five. In contrast, framing narratives from a character's perspective in speech at age five did not predict later narrative structure in speech. Gesture thus continues to act as a harbinger of change even as it assumes new roles in relation to discourse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology,University of Chicago.
authors.forename: Özlem Ece
authors.initials: ÖE
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology,University of Chicago.
authors.forename: Susan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology,University of Chicago.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldin-Meadow
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D033262:Narration
references.citation: J Child Lang. 1991 Oct;18(3):689-710
references.pmid: 1761620
references.citation: Psychol Rev. 1988 Apr;95(2):163-82
references.pmid: 3375398
references.citation: Am Psychol. 2014 Sep;69(6):588-99
references.pmid: 24911049
references.citation: Cognition. 2010 Apr;115(1):172-8
references.pmid: 19939357
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2004 Nov;40(6):1059-1067
references.pmid: 15535756
references.citation: Psychon Bull Rev. 2002 Sep;9(3):558-65
references.pmid: 12412897
references.citation: Cogn Psychol. 1993 Oct;25(4):468-523
references.pmid: 8243044
references.citation: Cogn Psychol. 2010 Dec;61(4):343-65
references.pmid: 20832781
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2014 Jun;50(6):1660-6
references.pmid: 24588517
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Sep 9;105(36):13269-73
references.pmid: 18765806
references.citation: Lang Cogn Process. 2009 Feb 1;24(2):190
references.pmid: 20126299
references.citation: Psychon Bull Rev. 2003 Mar;10(1):104-10
references.pmid: 12747496
references.citation: Annu Rev Psychol. 2008;59:617-45
references.pmid: 17705682
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2009 Jan;45(1):90-102
references.pmid: 19209993
references.citation: Cogn Psychol. 2002 Nov;45(3):337-74
references.pmid: 12480478
references.citation: Cognition. 2005 Jul;96(3):B101-13
references.pmid: 15996556
references.citation: Dev Sci. 2012 Nov;15(6):876-84
references.pmid: 23106741
references.citation: Cognition. 2008 Feb;106(2):1047-58
references.pmid: 17560971
references.citation: Child Dev. 2010 Mar-Apr;81(2):528-39
references.pmid: 20438458
references.citation: Psychol Rev. 1993 Apr;100(2):279-97
references.pmid: 8483984
references.citation: Dev Sci. 2010 Jul;13(4):636-47
references.pmid: 20590727
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2009 Mar;20(3):267-72
references.pmid: 19222810
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2000 Mar;36(2):202-8
references.pmid: 10749077
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2009 Aug;20(8):989-99
references.pmid: 19572969
references.citation: Lang Cogn Process. 2012;27(6):844-867
references.pmid: 22904588
references.citation: Psychon Bull Rev. 2008 Jun;15(3):495-514
references.pmid: 18567247
references.citation: Psychon Bull Rev. 2006 Aug;13(4):694-701
references.pmid: 17201372
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2009 Jan;20(1):27-32
references.pmid: 19076318
references.citation: J Child Lang. 2013 Jan;40(1):69-105
references.pmid: 23217292
references.citation: Dev Sci. 2009 Jan;12(1):182-7
references.pmid: 19120426
references.citation: Dev Psychol. 2007 Jul;43(4):1032-7
references.pmid: 17605533
references.citation: Biometrics. 1977 Mar;33(1):159-74
references.pmid: 843571
references.citation: Cogn Sci. 2009;33(1):115
references.pmid: 20126430
references.citation: Appl Psycholinguist. 2010 Jan 1;31(1):209-224
references.pmid: 20401173
references.citation: Psychol Sci. 2005 May;16(5):367-71
references.pmid: 15869695