Toward a more embedded/extended perspective on the cognitive function of gestures

Gestures are often considered to be demonstrative of the embodied nature of the mind (Hostetter & Alibali, 2008). In this article we review current theories and research targeted at the intra-cognitive role of gestures. We ask the question how can gestures support internal cognitive processes of the gesturer? We suggest that extant theories are in a sense disembodied, because they focus solely on embodiment in terms of the sensorimotor neural...