Abstract
BackgroundCo-speech gestures are omnipresent and a crucial element of human interaction by facilitating language comprehension. However, it is unclear whether gestures also support language comprehension in aphasic patients. Using visual exploration behavior analysis, the present study aimed to investigate the influence of congruence between speech and co-speech gestures on comprehension in terms of accuracy in a decision task.MethodTwenty aphasic patients and 30 healthy controls watched videos in which speech was either combined with meaningless (baseline condition), congruent, or incongruent gestures. Comprehension was assessed with a decision task, while remote eye-tracking allowed analysis of visual exploration.ResultsIn aphasic patients, the incongruent condition resulted in a significant decrease of accuracy, while the congruent condition led to a significant increase in accuracy compared to baseline accuracy. In the control group, the incongruent condition resulted in a decrease in accuracy, while the congruent condition did not significantly increase the accuracy. Visual exploration analysis showed that patients fixated significantly less on the face and tended to fixate more on the gesturing hands compared to controls.ConclusionCo-speech gestures play an important role for aphasic patients as they modulate comprehension. Incongruent gestures evoke significant interference and deteriorate patients’ comprehension. In contrast, congruent gestures enhance comprehension in aphasic patients, which might be valuable for clinical and therapeutic purposes.
Highlights
IntroductionHuman communication consists of both verbal (speech) and nonverbal (facial expressions, hand gestures, body posture, etc.) elements
Human communication consists of both verbal and nonverbal elements
We examined the influence of congruence between speech and gesturing on comprehension in terms of accuracy in a decision task in aphasic patients and healthy controls
Summary
Human communication consists of both verbal (speech) and nonverbal (facial expressions, hand gestures, body posture, etc.) elements. There is evidence that gesturing may be preserved in aphasic patients [6,7,8], either facilitating speech processing (e.g., [9, 10]) or compensating for its impairment [6, 11]. Understanding the role of gestures in language comprehension in aphasic patients is of clinical relevance. Research in this field may lead to new therapeutic approaches, e.g., the development of compensatory strategies for impaired verbal communication in aphasic patients, for instance during the activities of daily living. Co-speech gestures are omnipresent and a crucial element of human interaction by facilitating language comprehension. Using visual exploration behavior analysis, the present study aimed to investigate the influence of congruence between speech and cospeech gestures on comprehension in terms of accuracy in a decision task
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