Exercise 6.3

As in the experiment reported in the textbook, Jacobs and Garnham found in this second experiment that more gestures were produced when the message was new to listener. But in addition there were differences depending on whether the listener seemed to be attentive or inattentive listeners. The speakers gestured more for attentive listeners than for inattentive listeners, suggesting that speakers adapt their gesture usage what they perceive the interest and therefore the requirements of the listener to be. This of course supports the general conclusion that gestures have a communicative function for the listener as well as for the speaker.