A study of the role of gesture in the processing of numbers and vectors
Abstract
Abstract In this study, we investigated the embodied nature of vector as one of the fundamental concepts in mathematics. Our aim was to examine the role of gesture in finding directions of vectors and magnitudes of vectors on the basis of coordinates of initial points and end points of vectors. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to find directions of vectors on the basis of coordinates of initial points and end points of the vectors. While participants of one group were allowed to gesture, participants of another group were prohibited from gesturing. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to find directions and relative magnitudes of x-coordinates and y-coordinates of vectors on the basis of coordinates of initial points and end points of the vectors. In both experiments, participants of gesture-allowed group had a better performance in answering the questions. Specifically, participants performed better in finding the directions of those vectors which had a left-down direction. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the process of finding the direction and magnitude of a vector on the basis of its initial and end points is mainly embodied as a combination of leftward and downward movements (left-down direction).
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