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Gestures Enhance Executive Functions for the Understating of Mathematical Concepts

DOI:10.1007/s12124-022-09694-4
Authors:
Omid Khatin-Zadeh at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Omid Khatin-Zadeh
Zahra Eskandari at Chabahar Maritime University
Zahra Eskandari
Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos at University of South Australia
Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
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Abstract

This article discusses the role of gestures in enhancing inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility as the three components of executive functions during the processing of mathematical concepts that are metaphorically described in terms of motion events. Gestures can contribute to the process of inhibition by highlighting the relevant information and keeping the irrelevant information out of focus of attention. Gestures contribute to working memory in two ways during mathematical processing. They increase activity in the motor areas of the brain. Therefore, they may facilitate the process of understanding those mathematical concepts that are described in terms of motion event, as the motor system could play a role in the grounding and the processing of these concepts. Also, gestures can function as an external working memory and keep the visual representation of some parts of information for a short period of time in order to manipulate that information in later stages of processing. Gestures enhance cognitive flexibility by allowing us to have a spatial representation of that concept or idea for a period of time. During this time, we can shift our perspective and process that concept or idea from a variety of perspectives.
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Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-022-09694-4
Abstract
This article discusses the role of gestures in enhancing inhibition, working memory,
and cognitive exibility as the three components of executive functions during the
processing of mathematical concepts that are metaphorically described in terms of
motion events. Gestures can contribute to the process of inhibition by highlighting
the relevant information and keeping the irrelevant information out of focus of
attention. Gestures contribute to working memory in two ways during mathemati-
cal processing. They increase activity in the motor areas of the brain. Therefore,
they may facilitate the process of understanding those mathematical concepts that
are described in terms of motion event, as the motor system could play a role in
the grounding and the processing of these concepts. Also, gestures can function as
an external working memory and keep the visual representation of some parts of
information for a short period of time in order to manipulate that information in
later stages of processing. Gestures enhance cognitive exibility by allowing us to
have a spatial representation of that concept or idea for a period of time. During this
time, we can shift our perspective and process that concept or idea from a variety
of perspectives.
Keywords Gestures · Executive functions · Mathematical concepts · Embodied
cognition
Introduction
The role of gesture in the processing of concepts has been the subject of a large body
of research (e.g., Johnson-Glenberg & Megowan-Romanowicz, 2017; Macedonia,
2019; Yeo et al., 2017; Radford, 2003). Some works have supported the idea that
gestures play a causal role in the process of learning new material and the develop-
Accepted: 9 April 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
2022
Gestures Enhance Executive Functions for the Understating
of Mathematical Concepts
OmidKhatin-Zadeh1· ZahraEskandari2· FernandoMarmolejo-Ramos3
Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... They add that motor components may play a key role in mental imagery. The role of the motor system in the understanding of abstract concepts has been emphasized in a large number of works (e.g., Glenberg and Kaschak, 2002;Nathan and Walkington, 2017;Khatin-Zadeh et al., 2019, 2022aMacedonia, 2019;Harpaintner et al., 2020). The following section discusses several examples in which mathematical entities are described in terms of visual representations and motion domains. ...
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