The use of hand gestures as self-generated cues for recall of verbally associated targets

This study examined the effects of hand gestures as cues for recall of 40 previously described abstract and concrete words. Participants were either self-cued (SC) with their own self-generated gestures, other-cued (OC) with someone else's gestures, or shown no cues (NC). The SC group had significantly better recall for both word types than either the OC or NC immediately and at a 2-week retrieval interval. Results also showed that when the SC group produced a meaningful gesture, concrete words were cued significantly more often than abstract words, but when total recall (cued and residual) was considered, abstract words were recalled equally well. These results are discussed in the context that hand gestures are a component of subjective organization and are thus distinctive cues for the producer that may facilitate or prime recall.