Publications

Grants

Research

Supervision History 

Biographical and Other Information 

A Brief Sketch of Myself

- I have extensive experience in research and teaching in the area of psychology of language and communication.
- I have a multi-disciplinary backgrounds: I have degrees in engineering, psychology and linguistics, and worked in departments of linguistic anthropology and psychology.
- I have studied or worked in the higher education sector in various countries: Japan, US, the Netherlands, Germany, UK.
- I have taken leadership roles in research quality enhancement, equality & diversity, research culture.

Administrative Roles

I am a former Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Warwick, and was responsible for research culture. During my tenure in the Research Executive in the University (2021-2024), I established (1) the annual International Research Culture Conference with its proceedings published in the journal, ExchangesLink opens in a new window, (2) National Centre for Research Culture, which facilitate sharing of good practice and relevant research in the research community across the UK and internationally, (3) the Warwick PATHWAY programme, a positive acton programme to facilitate research careers of Black students and researchers.

I am highly active in work on equity, diversity and inclusion. I founded the Ethnic Minority Researcher Careers Forum and Teaching Race Equality Taskforce, in Psychology. I am member of the Race Equality Task force at the University.

I am the head of the Language and Learning Group, one of the three research groups of the Department of Psychology

I led the Department of Psychology's submission for the nation-wide research quality assessment, Research Excellence Frameowrk 2021.

Research Areas

My lab carries out two strands of research.

1. We study development of language and gesture in children and also development of socio-cognitive abilities such as joint action and goal reading. This line of work is carried out as a part of Warwick Research with Kids.

2. We study how adults communicate with speech and gesture and how gesture contributes to thinking.

Joining the lab

I am always looking for people who are keen to pursue research in my lab. I welcome applications from historically under-represented groups. Out of 14 current and past PhD students of mine, 6 are a member of ethnic minority and 10 are female. I am the founding organiser of the Ethnic Minority Early Researcher Careers Forum at Psychology. I founded Warwick PATHWAY programmeLink opens in a new window to facilitate black researchers' careers. I have inclusive approaches to supervision (e.g., I received a "Commended" award in Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence in 2022 for my inclusive supervision).

1. Undergraduate research volunteers Undergraduate research placement student (for those who are in a degree programme with a placement year)Undergraduate summer research bursary holders (I can guide you in funding application)

2. Ph.D. or Master's students (The University has PhD funding for both UK/EU students and non-EU students. Please get in touch by December/January to discuss PhD funding for the following academic year).

3. Postdocs (I am happy to discuss fellowship applications, e.g., from the Marie Curie scheme, Royal Society's Newton fellowship, etc.)

Please drop me an email if you would like to discuss this further.

PUBLICATIONS

Virtually all of my publications are listed at my Google Scholar page.

All recent journal articles and some other publications (including some older journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings papers) are in the OPEN ACCESS pre-print archvie of the University <http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/view/author_id/28488.html>.

Books

Jeon, H.-S., Sells, P., You, Z., Kita, S., & Yeon, J. (Eds.). (2022). Japanese/Korean Linguistics Volume 28. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.

Kita, S. (Ed.) (2003). Pointing: where language, culture, and cognition meet. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Saito, H., & Kita, S. (Eds.) (2002). Jesuchaa, kooi, imi [Gesture, action, meaning]. Tokyo: Kyooritsu Shuppan.

Kita, S. (2002). Jesuchaa: kangaeru karada [Gesture: the body that thinks]. Tokyo: Kaneko Shobo.

Journal Articles

2024

Engesser, S., Ridley, S. K., Watson, S., Kita, S., & Townsend, S. W. (2024). Seeds of language-like generativity in bird call combinations. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 291 (2033), 20240922. doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.0922 Open Access accepted version: https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/187659/

Aussems, S., Devey Smith, L., & Kita, S. (2024). Do 14–17-month-old infants use iconic speech and gesture cues to interpret word meanings?a). The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 156(1), 638-654. doi:10.1121/10.0027916. Open Access accepted version: https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/175048/Link opens in a new window

Matyjek, M., Kita, S., Torralba Cuello, M., & Soto Faraco, S. (2024). Multisensory integration of speech and gestures in a naturalistic paradigm. Human Brain Mapping, 45(11), e26797. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26797 (Open Access)

Kita, S. (2024). Five adjectives to convey what good research culture looks lik. Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 11(3), 315-320. doi:10.31273/eirj.v11i3.1568. https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/article/view/1568 (Open Access)

Nair, R., & Kita, S. (2024). Why Do We Need an International Research Culture Conference?: Lessons from IRCC23 and future directions. Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 11(3), 1-12. doi:10.31273/eirj.v11i3.1540 https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/article/view/1540 (Open Access)

2023

Kita, S., & Emmorey, K. (2023). Gesture links language and cognition for spoken and signed languages. Nature Reviews Psychology, 2, 407-420. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-023-00186-9. Open Access (view only): rdcu.be/dcX3ULink opens in a new window. Open Access accepted version (downloadable): https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/175048/.

Mumford, K. H., Aussems, S., & Kita, S. (2023). Encouraging Pointing with the Right Hand, but not the Left Hand, Gives Right-Handed 3-Year-Olds a Linguistic Advantage. Developmental Science, 26, e13315. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13315. Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/168066/.

2022

Michael, J., Green, A., Siposova, B., Jensen, K., & Kita, S. (2022). Finish what you started: Two-year-olds motivated by a preference for completing others' unfinished actions in instrumental helping contexts. Cognitive Science, e13160. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13160 (Open Access).

Aussems, S., Mumford, K. H., & Kita, S. (2022). Prior experience with unlabeled actions promotes 3-year-old children’s verb learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151(1), 246-262. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001071

2021

Kita, S. (2021). Letter to the Editors of Psychological Science: How to measure a psychological construct in cross-national comparison: Regarding Rhoads et al. (2021). Psychological Science, 32. doi: https://doi.org/10.25384/SAGE.17197862.v1

Zuniga Montanez, C., Kita, S., Aussems, S., & Krott, A. (2021). Beyond the shape of things: Infants can be taught to generalise nouns by function. Psychological Science, 32(7), 1073-1085. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797621993107 (Open Access). Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/147457/

Green, A., Siposova, B., Kita, S., & Michael, J. (2021). Stopping at nothing: Two-year-olds differentiate between interrupted and abandoned goals. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 209, 105171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105171 (Open Access)

Pearson, E., Nielsen, E., Kita, S., Groves, L., Nelson, L., Moss, J., & Oliver, C. (2021). Low speech rate but high gesture rate during conversational interaction in people with Cornelia de Lange syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 65(6), 601-607. doi:10.1111/jir.12829 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/149145/

Fritz, I., Kita, S., Littlemore, J., & Krott, A. (2021). Multimodal language processing: How preceding discourse constrains gesture interpretation and affects gesture integration when gestures do not synchronise with semantic affiliates. Journal of Memory and Language, 117, 104191. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2020.104191 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/144061/

Aussems, S., & Kita, S. (2021). Seeing iconic gesture promotes first- and second-order verb generalization in preschoolers. Child Development, 92(1), 124-141. https://dx.doi/org/10.1111/cdev.13392Link opens in a new window (Open Access)

2020

Kashiwadate, K., Yasuda, T., Fujita, K., Kita, S., & Kobayashi, H. (2020). Syntactic structure influences speech-gesture synchronization. Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science, 11(1), 10-14. https://lebs.hbesj.org/index.php/lebs/article/view/lebs.2020.73Link opens in a new window (Open Access)

2019

Aussems, S., & Kita, S. (2019). Seeing iconic gestures while encoding events facilitates children’s memory of these events. Child Development, 90(4), 1123-1137. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12988 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/93164/

Saji, N., Akita, K., Kantartzis, K., Kita, S., & Imai, M. (2019). Cross-linguistically shared and language-specific sound symbolism in novel words elicited by locomotion videos in Japanese and English. PloS ONE, 14(7), e0218707. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218707 (Open Access)

Kantartzis, K., Imai, M., Evans, D., & Kita, S. (2019). Sound symbolism facilitates long-term retention of the semantic representation of novel verbs in three-year-olds. Languages, 4(2), 21. Open Access https://doi.org/10.3390/languages4020021

Fritz, I., Kita, S., Littlemore, J., & Krott, A. (2019). Information packaging in speech shapes information packaging in gesture: The role of speech planning units in the coordination of speech-gesture production. Journal of Memory and Language, 104, 56-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2018.09.002 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/108471/

2018

Aussems, S., Kwok, N., & Kita, S. (2018). GestuRe and ACtion Exemplar (GRACE) Video Database: Stimuli for Research on Manners of Human Locomotion and Iconic Gestures. Behavior Research Methods, 50(3), 1270-1284. https://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0942-2 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/78492/

Sekine, K., Wood, C., & Kita, S. (2018). Gestural depiction of motion events in narrative increases symbolic distance with age. Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 9(1), 40-68. https://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lia.15020.sek Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/96946/

2017

Sekine, K., & Kita, S. (2017). The listener automatically uses spatial story representations from the speaker's cohesive gestures when processing subsequent sentences without gestures. Acta Psychologica, 179, 89-95. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.07.009Link opens in a new window Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/90950/Link opens in a new window

Montero-Melis, G., Eisenbeiss, S., Narasimhan, B., Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I., Kita, S., Kopecka, A., . . . Bohnemeyer, J. (2017). Satellite- vs. Verb-Framing Underpredicts Nonverbal Motion Categorization: Insights from a Large Language Sample and Simulations. Cognitive Semantics, 3(1), 36-61. https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-00301002 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/84268/

Kita, S., Alibali, M. W., & Chu, M. (2017). How do gestures influence thinking and speaking? The gesture-for-conceptualization hypothesis. Psychological Review, 124(3), 245-266. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rev0000059 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/84187/

Argyriou, P., Mohr, C., & Kita, S. (2017). Hand matters: Left-hand gestures enhance metaphor explanation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 43(6), , 874-886. Open Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000337

Milward, S. J., Kita, S., & Apperly, I. A. (2017). Individual Differences in Children's Corepresentation of Self and Other in Joint Action. Child Dev, 88(3), 964-978. https://dx.do.org/10.1111/cdev.12693 Open Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12693

2016

Mumford, K. H., & Kita, S. (2016). At 10-12 months, pointing gesture handedness predicts the size of receptive vocabularies. Infancy, 21(6), 751–765. Open Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/infa.12138

Chu, M., & Kita, S. (2016). Co-thought and co-speech gestures are generated by the same action generation process. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 42(2), 257-270. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000168 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/69233/

2015

Sekine, Kazuki, & Kita, Sotaro. (2015). The parallel development of the form and meaning of two-handed gestures and linguistic information packaging within a clause in narrative. Open Linguistics, 1(1), 490-502. Open Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/opli-2015-0015

Sekine, K., & Kita, S. (2015). Development of multimodal discourse comprehension: cohesive use of space by gestures. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 30(10), 1245-1258. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2015.1053814 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/67617/

Sekine, K., Sowden, H., & Kita, S. (2015). The development of the ability to semantically integrate information in speech and iconic gesture in comprehension. Cognitive Science, 39(8), 1855-1880. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12221 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/66219/

Imai, M., Miyazaki, M., Yeung, H., Kantartzis, K., Okada, H., & Kita, S. (2015). Sound symbolism facilitates word learning in 14 month olds. PlosOne, 10(2), e0116494. Open Access: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0116494

Asano, M., Imai, M., Kita, S., Kitajo, K., Okada, H., & Thierry, G. (2015). Sound symbolism scaffolds language development in preverbal infants. Cortex, 63, 196-205. Open Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.08.025.

Argyriou, P., Byfield, S. & Kita, S. (2015). Semantics is crucial for the right-hemisphere involvement in metaphor processing: Evidence from mouth asymmetry during speaking. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 20(2), 191-210. Open Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2014.951654.

2014

Kita, S., van Gijn, I., & van der Hulst, H. (2014). The non-linguistic status of the Symmetry Condition in signed languages: Evidence from a comparison of signs and spontaneous co-speech gestures. Sign Language and Linguistics, 17, 215-238. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/sll.17.2.04kit Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/65928/

Imai, M., & Kita, S. (2014). The sound symbolism bootstrapping hypothesis for language acquisition and language evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369(1651). http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0298 Link opens in a new window Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/65926/

Milward, S., Kita, S., & Apperly, I. (2014). The development of co-representation effects in a joint task: Do children represent a co-actor? Cognition, 132, 269-279. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2014.04.008 Link opens in a new window. Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/64334/

Clay, Z., Pople, S., Hood, B., & Kita, S. (2014). Young children make their gestural communication systems more language-like: Segmentation and linearization of semantic elements in motion events. Psychological Science, 25(8), 1518-1525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797614533967 Link opens in a new windowOpen Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/65192/

Mumford, K. H., & Kita, S. (2014). Children use gesture to interpret novel verb meanings. Child Development, 85(3), 1181-1189. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12188Link opens in a new window Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/65784/

Chu, M., Meyer, A., Foulkes, L., & Kita, S. (2014). Individual differences in frequency and saliency of speech-accompanying gestures: The role of cognitive abilities and empathy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(2), 694-709. Open Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0033861.

2013

Cappuccio, M., Chu, M., & Kita, S. (2013). Pointing as an instrumental gesture: gaze representation through indication. Humana.Mente Journal of Philosophical Studies, 24, 125-149. Open Access: http://www.humanamente.eu/PDF/Issue24_Paper_Cappuccio_Chu_Kita.pdf

So, W. C., Kita, S., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2013). When do speakers use gestures to specify who does what to whom? The role of language proficiency and type of gestures in narratives. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 42(6), 581-594. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10936-012-9230-6.

2012

Matsuo, A., Kita, S., Shinya, Y., Wood, G. C., & Naigles, L. (2012). Japanese two-year-olds use morphosyntax to learn novel verb meanings. Journal of Child Language, 39(3), 637-663. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000911000213

2011

Alibali, M. W., Spencer, R. C., Knox, L., & Kita, S. (2011). Spontaneous gestures influence strategy choices in problem solving. Psychological Science, 22(9), 1138-1144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611417722

Cocks, N., Morgan, G., & Kita, S. (2011). Iconic gesture and speech integration in younger and older adults. Gesture, 11(1), 24-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/gest.11.1.02coc

Chu, M., & Kita, S. (2011). The nature of gestures' beneficial role in spatial problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140(1), 102-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0021790

Habets, B., Kita, S., Shao, Z., Özyürek, A., & Hagoort, P. (2011). The role of synchrony and ambiguity in speech-gesture integration during comprehension. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(8), 1845-1854. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2010.21462

Kantartzis, K., Mutsumi, I., & Kita, S. (2011). Japanese sound symbolism facilitates word learning in English speaking children. Cognitive Science, 35(3), 575-586. http://dx.do.org/%2010.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01169.x

2010

Alibali, M. W., & Kita, S. (2010). Gesture highlights perceptually present information for speakers. Gesture, 10(1), 3-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/gest.10.1.02ali

2009

Gullberg, M. & Kita, S. (2009). Modulating addressees’ attention to speech-accompanying gestures: Eye movements and information uptake. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 33(4), 251-277. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10919-009-0073-2

Kita, S., & Davies, T. S. (2009). Competing conceptual representations trigger co-speech representational gestures. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24(5), 761-775. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01690960802327971

Cocks, N., Sautin, L., Kita, S., Morgan, G., & Zlotowitz, S. (2009). Gesture and speech integration: an exploratory study of a case of a man with aphasia. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 44(5), 795-804. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13682820802256965

Kita, S. (2009). Cross-cultural variation of speech-accompanying gesture: A review. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24(2), 145-167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01690960802586188 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/66214/

So, W. C., Kita, S., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2009). Using the hands to keep track of who does what to whom: Gesture and speech go hand-in-hand. Cognitive Science, 33, 115-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2008.01006.x

2008

Chu, M., & Kita, S. (2008). Spontaneous gestures during mental rotation tasks: Insights into the microdevelopment of the motor strategy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 137(4), 706-723. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0013157

Imai, M., Kita, S., Nagumo, M., & Okada, H. (2008). Sound symbolism between a word and an action facilitates early verb learning. Cognition, 109(1), 54-65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.07.015

Seyfeddinipur, M., Kita, S., & Indefrey, P. (2008). How speakers interrupt themselves in managing problems in speaking: Evidence from self-repairs. Cognition, 108(3), 837-842. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.05.004

Özyürek, A., Kita, S., Allen, S., Brown, A., Furman, R., & Ishizuka, T. (2008). Development of cross-linguistic variation in speech and gesture: Motion events in English and Turkish. Developmental Psychology, 44(4), 1040-1054. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.4.1040

Kita, S., & Lausberg, H. (2008). Speech-gesture discoordination in split brain patients' left-hand gestures: Evidence for right-hemispheric generation of co-speech gestures. Cortex, 44(2), 131-139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2006.04.001

2007

Kita, S., Özyürek, A., Allen, S., Brown, A., Furman, R., & Ishizuka, T. (2007). Relations between syntactic encoding and co-speech gestures: Implications for a model of speech and gesture production. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22(8), 1212-1236. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01690960701461426

Enfield, N. J., Kita, S., & de Ruiter, J. P. (2007). Primary and secondary pragmatic functions of pointing gestures. Journal of Pragmatics 39(10), 1722-1741. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2007.03.001

Kita, S., & Ide, S. (2007). Nodding, aizuchi, and final particles in Japanese conversation: How conversation reflects the ideology of communication and social relationships. Journal of Pragmatics, 39(7), 1242-1254. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2007.02.009

Bohnemeyer, J., Enfield, N., Essegbey, J., Ibarretxe-Antuñano, I. Kita, S., Lüpke, F., & Ameka, F. K. (2007). Principles of event segmentation in language: The case of motion events. Language, 83, 495-532.

Kita, S., de Condappa, O., & Mohr, C. (2007). Metaphor explanation attenuates the right-hand preference for depictive co-speech gestures that imitate actions. Brain and Language, 101, 185-197. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2006.11.006

Özyürek, A., Willems, R. M., Kita, S., & Hagoort, P. (2007). On-line integration of semantic information from speech and gesture: Insights from even-related brain potentials. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 605-616. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0021790

Melinger, A., & Kita, S. (2007). Conceptualization load triggers gesture production. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22(4), 473-500. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01690960600696916

Hostetter, A. B., Alibali, W. M., & Kita, S. (2007). I see it in my hand's eye: Representational gestures are sensitive to conceptual demands. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22(3), 313-336. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01690960600632812

Allen, S., Özyürek, A., Kita, S., Brown, A., Furman, R., Ishizuka, T., & Fujii M. (2007). How language specific is early syntactic packaging of Manner and Path? A comparison of English, Turkish, and Japanese. Cognition, 102, 16-48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2005.12.006

2006

Vigliocco, G. & Kita, S (2006). Language-specific properties of the lexicon: Implications for learning and processing. Language and Cognitive Processes, 21(7-8), 790-816. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/016909600824070

2005

Senghas, A., Özyürek, A., & Kita, S. (2005). Language emergence in vitro or in vivo? A reply to Russo and Volterra’s technical comment on children creating core properties of language. Science, 309 (5731), 56c. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1110901

Özyürek, A., Kita, S., Allen, S., Furman, R., & Brown, A. (2005). How does linguistic framing of events influence co-speech gestures? Insights from crosslinguistic variations and similarities. Gesture, 5(1), 215-237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/gest.5.1.15ozy

2004

Senghas, A., Kita, S., & Özyürek, A. (2004). Children creating core properties of language: Evidence from an emerging sign language in Nicaragua. Science, 305(5697), 1779-1782. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1100199 Open Access Pre-Print: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/66237/

Majid, A., Bowerman, M., Kita, S., Haun, D. B. M., & Levinson, S. C. L. (2004). Can language restructure cognition? The case of space. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 108-114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2004.01.003

2003

Kita, S., & Özyürek, A. (2003). What does cross-linguistic variation in semantic coordination of speech and gesture reveal?: Evidence for an interface representation of spatial thinking and speaking. Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 16-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0749-596X(02)00505-3 Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/66232/

Lausberg, H., & Kita, S. (2003). The content of the message influences the hand preference in co-speech gestures and in gesturing without speaking. Brain and Language, 86, 57-69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0093-934X(02)00534-5

Lausberg, H., Kita, S., Zaidel, E., & Ptito, A. (2003). Split-brain patients neglect left personal space during right-handed gestures. Neuropsychologia, 41, 1317-1329. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(03)00047-2

Lausberg, H., Cruz, R. F., Kita, S., Zaidel, E., & Ptito, A. (2003). Pantomime to visual presentation of objects: left hand dyspraxia in patients with complete callosotomy. Brain, 126, 343-360. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/awg042

2002

Lausberg, H., & Kita, S. (2002). Dissociation of right and left hand gesture spaces in split-brain patients. Cortex, 38, 883-886. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70062-5

Levinson, S.C., Kita, S., Haun, D. B. M., & Rasch, B. H. (2002). Re-turning the tables: Language affects spatial reasoning. Cognition, 84, 158-188. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00045-8

2001

Kita, S. (2001). Semantic schism and interpretive integration in Japanese sentences with a mimetic: A reply to Tsujimura. Linguistics, 39, 419-436. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00045-8

Kita, S., & Essegbey, J. (2001). Pointing left in Ghana: How a taboo on the use of the left hand influences gestural practice. Gesture, 1, 73-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/gest.1.1.06kit

2000

Kita, S. (2000). Hito wa naze jesuchaa o suru noka [why do people gesture?]. Ninchikagaku [Cognitive Studies], 7(1), 9-21.

Alibali, M. W., Kita, S., & Young, A. J. (2000). Gesture and the process of speech production: we think, therefore we gesture. Language and Cognitive Processes, 15, 593-613.

1999 or earlier

Kita, S. (1999). Japanese Enter/Exit verbs without motion semantics. Studies in Language, 23(2), 307-330. http://dx.doi/org/10.1075/sl.23.2.04kit

Pederson, E., Danziger, E., Wilkins, D., Levinson, S. C., Kita, S., & Senft, G. (1998). Semantic typology and spatial conceptualization. Language, 74, 557-589. http://www.jstor.org/stable/417793

Kita, S. (1997). Two-dimensional semantic analysis of Japanese mimetics. Linguistics, 35(2), 379-415. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ling.1997.35.2.379

Brugman, H., & Kita, S. (1995). Impact of digital video technology on transcription: a case of spontaneous gesture transcription. KODIKAS/CODE: Ars Semiotica, An international journal of semiotics, 18, 95-112.

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Book Chapters with Open Access accepted versions

Kita, S. (2014). Production of speech-accompanying gesture. In V. Ferreira, M. Goldrick & M. Miozzo (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Language Production (pp. 451-459). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/65931/

Alibali, M. W., Church, R. B., Kita, S., & Hostetter, A. B. (2014). Embodied knowledge in the development of conservation of quantity: Evidence from gesture. In L. Edwards, F. Ferrara & D. Moore-Russo (Eds.), Emerging perspectives on gesture and embodiment in mathematics (pp. 27-49). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Press. Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/65932/

Kita, S. (2000). How representational gestures help speaking. In D. McNeill (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp. 162-185). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/66257/

Kita, S., van Gijn, I., & van der Hulst, H. (1998). Movement Phases in signs and co-speech gestures, and their transcription by human coders. In I. Wachsmuth & M. Fröhlich (Eds.), Gesture and sign language in human-computer interaction, International Gesture Workshop Bielefeld, Germany, September 17-19, 1997, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 1317, pp. 23-35). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Open Access accepted version: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/66259/

GRANTS

Selected Research Grants

- Impact of audience on imperative pointing gestures by infants (Leverhulme Research Fellowship, 2017-2019)

- Infants' communicative nonverbal behaviour as indicators of their referential understanding of sound symbolism (British Academy / Leverhulme Trust, 2017-2018)

-Phonological properties of hand shapes in home signs used by deaf children in hearing family (ESRC, 2012-2013)

-Infant word learning investigated through the habituation technique (BBSRC Research Development Fellowship, 2009-2012)

-Impact of mimicry of communicative gestures on pro-social behaviours (British Academy, 2009-2010)

-Individual differences in the production of speech-accompanying gestures (ESRC, 2009-2011)

-Hand preference for spontaneous representational gestures during metaphoric speech (British Academy, 2006)

-Verb learning and the use of syntactic cues: evidence from an argument drop (ESRC, 2005-2009)

-Integration of speech and gesture: Neurophysiological investigation (BBSRC, 2003-2008)

-A cross-linguistic developmental study of spatial thinking and speaking: What do spontaneous gesture reveal? (National Science Foundation, 2000-2003)

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RESEARCH

My research interests are psycholinguistics and psychology of communication. The main focus is on gestures that are spontaneously produced during speaking and thinking. The second focus is development of communicative abilities in children. I am also interested in issues concerning speech production (e.g., self-monitoring), semantics and pragmatics of spatial expressions (e.g., motion events), the relationship between language and thought, and sign language, cross-cultural variation of conversational style.

Gestures

My research on gesture spans both production and comprehension. It also includes investigation of patients and neurophysiological methods.

Some of the key questions include:

- How are gesture and speech production processes inter-related?

- Do gestures have self-oriented (as opposed communicative) functions? If so, what is the nature of such functions?

- How do we integrate information from speech and gesture in comprehension?

- How does the brain produce and comprehend gestures in relation to speech?

- What is the relationship between gesture development and speech development in children?

Development of Language and Gesture

I have studied mechanisms of word learning and the development of gestural communication.

- Does sound symbolism (an inherent link between form and meaning of a word) facilitate word learning in children?

- Does accompanying gestures facilitate word learning in children?

- What is the relationship between language and gesture development?

- How does the ability to integrate speech and gesture (in production and comprehension) develop in children?

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SUPERVISION HISTORY

PhD supervisees

- Mandana Seyfeddinipur (Director of Endangered Languages Documentation Programme, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany)

- Mingyuan Chu (faculty member, University of Aberdeen)

- Katerina Kantartzis (faculty member, University of Glouscester)

- Sophie Milward (faculty member, University of Portsmouth)

- Katherine H. Mumford (speech language therapist)

- Paraskevi Argyriou (faculty member, Queen Mary, University of London)

- Suzanne Aussems (faculty member, University of Warwick)

- Isabella Fritz (postdoc, Oxford University)

- Mai Al-Subhi (faculty member, University of Jedda, Saudi Arabia)

- Jiahao Eric Yang (a research fellow, Univ. of Warwick)

- Alexander Green ("data coach", Multiverse)

- Charlotte Hills (training design consultant)

- Jacob Barker (professional service staff, Univ. of Bath)

- Melissa Reddy (University of Coventry)

- Kirstie Green (current, Univ. of Warwick)

- Mingtong Lee (current, Univ. of Warwick)

- Ying Guo (current, Univ. of Warwick)

BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER INFORMATION

Biography

After studying engineering in Japan (B.Eng. Mathematical Engineering, M.Eng. Information Engineering, University of Tokyo), I received a Ph.D. in psychology and linguistics from the University of Chicago (1993). After the PhD I joined Cognitive Anthropology Research Group (lead by Stephen Levinson) at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands as a postdoc and then a Senior Researcher (1994-2003). At the Max Planck Institute, I was the founding leader of the Gesture Project, one of the research foci of the Institute. I was a Senior Lecturer at the Dept. of Experimental Psychology in the University of Bristol (2003-2006), and a Reader at the School of Psychology in the University of Birmingham (2006-2013). I have been in the current position (Professor of Psychology of Language) at the University of Warwick since 2013. I have been the President for the International Society for Gesture Studies (2012-2014) and the Editor of the journal, GESTURE (2017-2023). I am also a former Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) (2023-2024), with research culture as the main remit.

Other activities

I founded and lead the Gesture Project at Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (1993-2003), which layed a foundation for the Nijmegen Gesture CentreLink opens in a new window. I have served as a founding member of the Race Charter Mark Working Group (currently Race Equality Taskforce) for the University of Warwick (2015-2017, 2021- 2024).

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