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How using gestures can make you smarter
- jamesbritt 17y agoI've noticed that various physical activities alter how I think. Typing out comments in code prior to writing the code or tests (i.e. comment-driven development) helps me think better about what I want to do than simply sitting and musing inside my head. Maybe it's the typing, maybe it's being forced to actually find words for what I think I'm thinking. Same goes for drawing stuff on a white board. The physical act of standing up, moving my arms, pacing around in front of the board, all seem to alter my thinking. Finally, I seem to be better able to find stuff in my house if I move my fingers a lot while wandering around looking. Seems to help me focus.
- jyothi 17y agoVery interesting research. A very explicit & clear observation: Playing Dumb charades: enact movie names or phrases. I find myself far more creative by the end of game. Out of the box thinking comes so naturally post that.
- bayareaguy 17y agoGestures obviously play a role in communicating very simple concepts like "pay close attention", "look at this", "stop a moment" or "hurry up" when the speaker is playing the role of a guide. However I strongly doubt they have a positive correlation with deep understanding on the audience's part. If anything I suspect they more often serve to distract, confuse, misdirect or supply a false sense of understanding. Consider the antics of a stage magician whose gestures are purposely deceptive. I generally distrust anyone who relies on gestures to communicate their point, e.g. http://images.google.com/images?q=Henry+Paulson http://images.google.com/images?q=Henry+Paulson