Framing the past: How virtual experience affects bodily description of artefacts

This study uses a novel, interdisciplinary approach to investigate how people describe ancient artefacts. Here, we focus on gestures. Researchers have shown that gestures are important in communication, and those researchers often make a distinction between beat and iconic gestures. Iconic gestures...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cultural heritage 2016-01, Vol.17, p.179-187
Main Authors: Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco, Paola, Matthews, Justin L., Matlock, Teenie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3D digital replicas
3D prints
Artefacts
Discourse
Embodied cognition
Embodiment
Experience
Frames
Gestures
Perception
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study uses a novel, interdisciplinary approach to investigate how people describe ancient artefacts. Here, we focus on gestures. Researchers have shown that gestures are important in communication, and those researchers often make a distinction between beat and iconic gestures. Iconic gestures convey meaning, specifically, visual-spatial information. Beat gestures do not convey meaning; they facilitate lexical access. In our study, we videotaped participants while they described artefacts presented through varied media: visual examination, physical interaction, and three-dimensional virtual and material replica (i.e., 3D prints) interaction. Video analysis revealed that media type affected gesture production. Participants who viewed actual objects displayed in a museum-style case produced few gestures in their descriptions. This finding suggests that traditional museum displays may diminish or limit museum users degree of engagement with ancient artefacts. This interdisciplinary work advances our knowledge of material culture by providing new insights into how people use and experience ancient artefacts in varied presentations. Implications for virtual reproduction in research, education, and communication in archaeology are discussed.
ISSN:1296-2074
1778-3674
DOI:10.1016/j.culher.2015.04.006