VKC Special Lecture: “When Hands Speak as Loud as Words: The Impact of Gesture on Human Communication and Its Disorders”

VKC Special Lecture: When Hands Speak as Loud as Words: The Impact of Gesture on Human Communication and Its Disorders

Thursday, Sept. 13, 4:10-5:10 p.m.
Room 241, VKC/One Magnolia Circle Building

Laura Morett, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Alabama; Director, Neuroscience of Education Research on Development (NERD) Lab

Gestures—meaningful hand movements—are typically produced with speech, conveying complementary information visually. In this talk, Dr. Morett described her investigations into the neurocognitive mechanisms of gesture-speech integration, focusing specifically on their impact on learning in typical and atypical populations. She showed how gesture enhances word learning in a novel second language, focusing on the information conveyed via gesture relative to speech. Next, she demonstrated that high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorder produce gestures that are poorly coordinated with speech, and that this incongruence contributes to information processing impairments. Finally, she discussed current and future research examining the mechanisms of gesture-speech integration and their impact on learning in typical development as well as autism spectrum disorder.

Last Updated: 10/3/2018 4:33:46 PM

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