Memory Recall for International Gestures

Abstract

The current project reviewed relevant research in the area of emblem gestures and created an electronic library of gestures that incorporates established population norms by culture and region. In order to present this information to assist learning and remembering the information, four displays were used (text only, text with gender-neutral and expressionneutral image, text with contextually relevant image, or text with detailed image of gesture) with 16 gestures (eight with the same meaning across countries, eight with different meanings). Accuracy was measured for the first set of 32 questions (learning) and the second set of 32 questions (transfer of knowledge to novel stimuli). Results showed a clear benefit for gestures with the same meaning across cultures. In addition, use of the detailed image produced significantly higher accuracy than textual information alone.