Gestures convey different physiological responses when performed toward and away from the body

We assessed the sympathetic and parasympathetic activation associated to the observation of Pantomime (i.e. the mime of the use of a tool) and Intransitive gestures (i.e. expressive) performed toward (e.g. a comb and “thinking”) and away from the body (e.g. key and “come here”) in a group of healthy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-09, Vol.9 (1), p.12862-10, Article 12862
Main Authors: Bartolo, Angela, Claisse, Caroline, Gallo, Fabrizia, Ott, Laurent, Sampaio, Adriana, Nandrino, Jean-Louis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378
631/477/2811
Adolescent
Adult
Cognitive science
Female
Gestures
Heart rate
Heart Rate - physiology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
multidisciplinary
Nervous System Physiological Phenomena
Parasympathetic nervous system
Physiological responses
Physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Pupil - physiology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Vagus nerve
Young Adult
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Summary:We assessed the sympathetic and parasympathetic activation associated to the observation of Pantomime (i.e. the mime of the use of a tool) and Intransitive gestures (i.e. expressive) performed toward (e.g. a comb and “thinking”) and away from the body (e.g. key and “come here”) in a group of healthy participants while both pupil dilation (N = 31) and heart rate variability (N = 33; HF-HRV) were recorded. Large pupil dilation was observed in both Pantomime and Intransitive gestures toward the body; whereas an increase of the vagal suppression was observed in Intransitive gestures away from the body but not in those toward the body. Our results suggest that the space where people act when performing a gesture has an impact on the physiological responses of the observer in relation to the type of social communicative information that the gesture direction conveys, from a more intimate (toward the body) to a more interactive one (away from the body).
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-49318-3