Object-Related Knowledge and the Production of Gestures with Imagined Objects by Preschool Children

Previous research suggests that the gestural representation of preschool age children has a symbolic quality in the absence of real objects. It has shown a developmental progression from use of concrete body parts to more abstract imaginary-object gestural representations during the preschool years. The present study examined whether object-related knowledge is involved in the production of imaginary-object gestures. 35 children (12 3-, 11 4-, and 12 5-yr.-olds) performed gestural tasks in which they were asked to pretend to use common objects, e.g., “pretend to brush your teeth with a toothbrush.” In addition, they were asked to describe the relationship between the performed gesture and object when they were pretending. Analysis indicated that, when an imaginary-object gesture was performed, it was through an evoked prior knowledge of the function and context of the use of objects. This may suggest that object-related knowledge is a key factor involved in developmental changes from body part to imaginary-object gestures and that it is involved in freeing preschool children from object substitution, which is prescribed by perceptual support.