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Co-Speech Gesture Mimicry in the Process of Collaborative Referring During Face-to-Face Dialogue

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Abstract

Mimicry has been observed regarding a range of nonverbal behaviors, but only recently have researchers started to investigate mimicry in co-speech gestures. These gestures are considered to be crucially different from other aspects of nonverbal behavior due to their tight link with speech. This study provides evidence of mimicry in co-speech gestures in face-to-face dialogue, the most common forum of everyday talk. In addition, it offers an analysis of the functions that mimicked co-speech gestures fulfill in the collaborative process of creating a mutually shared understanding of referring expressions. The implications bear on theories of gesture production, research on grounding, and the mechanisms underlying behavioral mimicry.

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Notes

  1. Carrying out the statistical tests based on the frequencies did not change the statistical results.

  2. Dashes mark parts of speech not included in the analysis (see “Method”). Square brackets indicate the start and end points of a gesture, and numbers in parentheses included within the brackets number the gestures consecutively; underlined gestures are pairs of mimicked gestures.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to two anonymous reviewers, as well as action editor Professor Judith Hall, for their invaluable comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. We would also like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council (research grant RES-061-23-0135) and the British Academy (research grant SG-48338) for funding this research. Finally, we would like to thank Rachel Poorhady for help with the data collection, as well as the participants who took part in our study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Coupland Building 1, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    Judith Holler & Katie Wilkin

  2. Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Judith Holler

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  1. Judith Holler
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  2. Katie Wilkin
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Correspondence to Judith Holler.

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Holler, J., Wilkin, K. Co-Speech Gesture Mimicry in the Process of Collaborative Referring During Face-to-Face Dialogue. J Nonverbal Behav 35, 133–153 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-011-0105-6

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