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Article published In: Gesture
Vol. 18:1 (2019) ► pp.1–30

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Gesture reuse as distributed embodied cognition

 | University of Southern Denmark
 | University of Southern Denmark
Published online: 11 September 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.00031.phi
Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the intimate link between hands and minds – or rather: How the hands are a means for exploring thoughts in collaboration with others. Specifically, this study investigates a series of locally occurring instances of gestural reuse in naturally occurring psychotherapeutic interaction. The repetition of gestural sequences and formats in interaction has been researched as serving pragmatic functions of building cohesion (McNeill, David & Elena T. Levy (1993). Cohesion and gesture. Discourse Processes, 16 (4), 363–386. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and managing different aspects of turn-taking (Koschmann, Timothy & Curtis LeBaron (2002). Learner articulation as interactional achievement: Studying the conversation of gesture. Cognition and Instruction, 20 (2), 249–282. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Taking a micro-analytic approach to the study of gesture, we show how reusing other participants’ gestures in the context of psychotherapy serves additional functions: As affordances for shared, embodied cognition. The study contributes to the growing body of research on gesture as a co-participated, co-operative ( (2013). The co-operative, transformative organization of human action and knowledge. Journal of Pragmatics, 46 (1), 8–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2018). Co-operative action. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and embodied phenomenon that criss-cross the boundaries of inside-the-skull, individual-centered and socially distributed cognition.
Article outline
  • Introduction: Minded hands
    • Gestural reuse as distributed, embodied cognition
  • Data, methods, and analytical procedures
  • Findings: Embodied and distributed therapy
    • ‘Going fast’: Enacting and identifying a therapeutically salient instance of dialogical behavior
    • Co-operative re-articulation in a gestural haptic and visuo-spatial format
    • Conceptual transformation and incorporation
  • Conclusion and discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • Transcription conventions
  • References
References (76)
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