Communicative hand‐waving gestures facilitate object learning in preverbal infants

The theory of natural pedagogy has proposed that infants can use ostensive signals, including eye contact, infant‐directed speech, and contingency to learn from others. However, the role of bodily gestures, such as hand‐waving, in social learning has been largely ignored. To address this gap in the literature, this study sought to determine whether 4‐month‐old infants exhibited a preference for horizontal or vertical (control) hand‐waving gestures. We also examined whether horizontal hand‐waving gestures followed by pointing facilitated the process of object learning in 9‐month‐old infants. Results showed that 4‐month‐old infants preferred horizontal hand‐waving gestures to vertical hand‐waving gestures, even when featural and contextual information were removed. Furthermore, horizontal hand‐waving gestures induced identity encoding for cued objects, whereas vertical gestures did not. These findings highlight the role of communicative intent embedded in bodily movements and indicate that hand‐waving can serve as a new type of ostensive signal. In three studies, we investigated whether bodily movements such as hand‐waving gestures can serve as a new type of ostensive signal. We found that four‐month‐old infants preferred horizontal hand‐waving gestures to vertical hand‐waving gestures, even when featural and contextual information were removed. Moreover, we found that horizontal hand‐waving gestures induced identity encoding for cued objects, whereas vertical gestures did not in 9‐month‐old infants. These findings highlight the role of communicative intent embedded in bodily movements.