A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body. Gestures differ from physical non-verbal communication that does not communicate specific messages, such as purely expressive displays, proxemics, or displays of joint attention. Gestures allow individuals to communicate a variety of feelings and thoughts, from contempt and hostility to approval and affection, often together with body language in addition to words when they speak.
Gesture processing takes place in areas of the brain such as Broca's and Wernicke's areas, which are used by speech and sign language.
Read more about Gesture: Studies of Gesture, Categories of Gestures, Social Significance, Neurology, Electronic Interface
Famous quotes containing the word gesture:
“re-enact at the vestry-glass
Each pulpit gesture in deft dumb-show
That had moved the congregation so.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“Her heavenly form
Angelic, but more soft and feminine,
Her graceful innocence, her every air
Of gesture or least action, overawed
His malice, and with rapine sweet bereaved
His fierceness of the fierce intent it brought.
That space of Evil One abstracted stood
From his own evil, and for the time remained
Stupidly good, of enmity disarmed,”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“Actors cannot choose the manner in which they are born. Consequently, it is the one gesture in their lives completely devoid of self-consciousness.”
—Helen Hayes (1900–1993)