The Mind Hidden in Our Hands

Our hands are always with us and are used for communication all over the world. When children do not have an established language model to learn from, they use their hands to gesture, and these gestures take on the forms of language. In this role, the hands reveal the fundamental properties of the m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Topics in cognitive science 2024-10
Main Author: Goldin-Meadow, Susan
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Our hands are always with us and are used for communication all over the world. When children do not have an established language model to learn from, they use their hands to gesture, and these gestures take on the forms of language. In this role, the hands reveal the fundamental properties of the mind that give shape to language. When children do learn an established language, they again use their hands to gesture. These gestures do not look like language but form an integrated system with language. In this role, the hands can convey ideas not found in the language they accompany. In both contexts, gesture provides a clear view of the mind hidden in our hands.
ISSN:1756-8757
1756-8765
1756-8765
DOI:10.1111/tops.12756