Seminars in term 2 will be held online weekly on Wednesdays at 12pm.

Foregrounding Gestures: An Audience Design Behaviour to Benefit Communication Speakers can communicate a message to a listener more effectively by producing gestures alongside speech (Hostetter, 2011). Previous observations suggest that speakers can produce specific behaviours to bring gesture into the foreground of an interaction so that gesture can greatly benefit communication (Cooperrider, 2018). Foregrounding behaviours include producing larger gestures, fixation gaze on gestures, and producing demonstratives alongside gestures. Previous studies have assumed that foregrounding behaviours lead to improved listener comprehension, but it has not been empirically shown. The upcoming study will compare listeners’ uptake and recall of information expressed by speakers in foregrounded and non-foregrounded gestures. We predict that foregrounded gestures will benefit the listener’s comprehension more than non-foregrounded gestures. References Cooperrider, K. (2018). Foreground gesture, background gesture. Gesture, 16(2), 176–202. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.16.2.02coo  Hostetter, A. B. (2011). When Do Gestures Communicate? A Meta-Analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 137(2), 297–315. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022128 

For TEAMS link, or if you are interested in giving a talk, please contact Dr Jesse Preston j.preston@warwick.ac.uk

"This departmental talk series is a good chance for us to gather as a group, and to hear about some of the cool work that is being done by colleagues in the department. Presentations are fairly low-key. These may be a lab-style presentation with discussion, or a more formal talk. Any PGR or post-grads who wish to give practice talks, this is your opportunity to do so! "