The time course of co-speech gesture production: An MEG study

Abstract

People frequently gesture while speaking, even when listeners cannot see them--for instance, during phone calls or behind barriers. Congenitally blind individuals also gesture, indicating that gestures serve functions beyond visual communication. Previous models of gesture production (e.g., Kita & Ozyurek, 2003; Rauscher et al., 1996) suggest that gestures facilitate speech, but they rely heavily on behavioural data and provide limited insight into temporal dynamics. This study used magnetoencephalography (MEG), a neuroimaging technique with high temporal resolution, to investigate when gestures influence speech. Twenty-three native Japanese speakers took part in a storytelling task under two conditions: Gesture-Required (gesture use instructed) and Gesture-Prohibited (hands kept still). Participants described cartoon clips across multiple sessions (30 trials x 3 sessions per condition). Using speech onset as the reference point, we compared root mean square (RMS) values within a -0.25 to 0 second window. RMS values were higher in the Gesture-Prohibited condition, with increased activity in the bilateral anterior temporal lobes (Left ATL: p = .049; Right ATL: p = .027), but not in motor regions (p = .29). These findings suggest that gestures reduce neural load in language-related regions before articulation. Co-speech gestures may support speech planning by facilitating lexical retrieval or semantic structuring. The lack of motor region effects indicates that this influence is linguistic rather than motoric. This study provides direct direct neurophysiological evidence of the timing of gesture-speech interaction, supporting models that view gestures as an integral part of speech production.