Gestures obviously play a role in communicating very simple concepts like "pay close attention", "look at this", "stop a moment" or "hurry up" when the speak

Gestures 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