@article{Parasympathetic:1392,
      recid = {1392},
      author = {Mangelsdorf, Heather Harden},
      title = {Using Parasympathetic Activity to Gain Insights into  Gesture and Learning},
      publisher = {The University of Chicago},
      school = {Ph.D.},
      address = {2018-12},
      pages = {135},
      abstract = {Children learn mathematics better when allowed to use  their hands to gesture—whether gesturing spontaneously or  instructed to produce specific gestures (Broaders et al.,  2007; Cook & Goldin-Meadow, 2006). One proposed mechanism  for why gesturing enhances learning is that it lightens  cognitive load. In this dissertation, I use a measure of  parasympathetic activity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) to  infer changes in cognitive load throughout the learning  process. Using this unobtrusive method, I investigate  differences in explicit understanding of math equivalence  and implicit knowledge reflected in gesture-speech  mismatches (chapter 1), differences in cognitive load  during spontaneous versus instructed gesture (chapter 2),  and effects of instructed gesture on learning for children  with varying levels of cognitive load imposed by anxious  thoughts about math (chapter 3). In my final chapter I  examine parasympathetic activity while children solve  problems in order to identify potential differences in  cognitive processing between children who learn a  mathematical concept and those whose knowledge stays the  same over time (chapter 4). My most intriguing findings  suggest that gesture-speech mismatch is a person-level  characteristic, as opposed to a problem-level state; that  gesture instruction is particularly beneficial for children  with higher levels of math anxiety; and that there is a  parasympathetic signature of learning that sticks and  remains stable over time, compared to learning that fades.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/1392},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.1392},
}