The temporal relation between beat gestures and speech

Abstract

The temporal relation between beat gestures and accompanying speech is examined in two experiments. In the first, we find that subjects are very quick to spot altered timing between gesture and speech if the gesture is later than normal, but are considerably less sensitive to alterations that result in an earlier gesture. This suggests an asymmetry in the expectation on the part of listeners/watchers and raises immediate questions about which elements within the speech are being perceived as linked to which elements in the gestural series. We therefore examine the variability between several kinematic landmarks in a beat gesture, and three potential anchor points in the accompanying speech. We find the least variable relationship obtains between the point of maximum extension of the gesture and the accompanying pitch accent. Together, these findings contribute to our understanding of both the production and perception of beat gestures along with speech, and support an account of speech communication as a strongly embodied activity.