Does the use of hand gestures slow language learning?
David Munger
This isn't really about physics, but it's about gestures and language development, which should be of interest to us. Plus, it's a neat blog.
From the article:
But what happens if a child is particularly successful at expressing her needs using gestures? Does development of spoken language suffer? One approach to this problem is to look language development in cultures that tend to use more gestures. Many studies have confirmed the "stereotype" that Italians are more physically expressive than other groups. It stands to reason that even Italian infants probably learn more gestures at an earlier age than babies in other cultures.
