Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Some researchers argue that gestures serve an interpersonal function, such as making the intended message clear(e.g., Gallagher & Frith, 2003; cf. Kita, 2000). In this study, we tested whether gestures serve an interpersonal function,specifically predicting that the higher participants’ autism spectrum quotient, the less frequently they would gesture. Participantscompleted the Autism Spectrum Quotient questionnaire (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Skinner, Martin, & Clubley, 2001). Toelicit gestures, participants did two tasks. In one, they explained spatial and social concepts. In another, they told the story ofa cartoon. The dependent variable is the gesture rate (gestures per word), to account for individual differences in volubility.Participants completed a standardized vocabulary test. The initial results show no correlation between gesture rate in either taskand ASQ scores. There is a negative correlation between ASQ and vocabulary scores. These results are inconsistent with theargument that gestures serve an important interpersonal function.