People frequently gesture when a word is on the tip of their tongue (TOT), yet research is mixed as to whether and why gesture aids lexical retrieval. We tested three accounts: the lexical retrieval hypothesis, which predicts that semantically related gestures facilitate successful lexical retrieval; the cognitive load account, which predicts that matching gestures facilitate lexical retrieval only when retrieval is hard, as in the case of a TOT; and the motor movement account, which predicts that any motor movements should support lexical retrieval. In Experiment 1 (a between‐subjects study; N = 90), gesture inhibition, but not neck inhibition, affected TOT resolution but not overall lexical retrieval; participants in the gesture‐inhibited condition resolved fewer TOTs than participants who were allowed to gesture. When participants could gesture, they produced more representational gestures during resolved than unresolved TOTs, a pattern not observed for meaningless motor movements (e.g., beats). However, the effect of gesture inhibition on TOT resolution was not uniform; some participants resolved many TOTs, while others struggled. In Experiment 2 (a within‐subjects study; N = 34), the effect of gesture inhibition was traced to individual differences in verbal, not spatial short‐term memory (STM) span; those with weaker verbal STM resolved fewer TOTs when unable to gesture. This relationship between verbal STM and TOT resolution was not observed when participants were allowed to gesture. Taken together, these results fit the cognitive load account; when lexical retrieval is hard, gesture effectively reduces the cognitive load of TOT resolution for those who find the task especially taxing.

中文翻译：

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手势有帮助，仅在您需要时：禁止手势可降低短期记忆力较弱的人的舌尖分辨率

当一个词出现在舌尖 (TOT) 时，人们经常会做手势，但关于手势是否以及为什么有助于词汇检索的研究却褒贬不一。我们测试了三个帐户：词汇检索假设，它预测语义相关的手势有助于成功的词汇检索；认知负荷帐户，它预测匹配手势只有在检索困难时才促进词汇检索，如 TOT 的情况；和运动运动帐户，它预测任何运动运动都应该支持词汇检索。在实验 1（受试者间研究；N = 90)，手势抑制，但不是颈部抑制，影响 TOT 分辨率但不影响整体词汇检索；手势抑制条件下的参与者解决的 TOT 比允许手势的参与者少。当参与者可以做手势时，他们在解决期间比未解决的 TOT 产生了更多的代表性手势，这种模式在无意义的运动运动（例如，节拍）中没有观察到。然而，手势抑制对TOT分辨率的影响并不统一；一些参与者解决了许多 TOT，而另一些参与者则在挣扎。在实验 2 中（受试者内研究；N = 34)，手势抑制的影响可追溯到语言的个体差异，而不是空间短期记忆 (STM) 跨度；那些语言 STM 较弱的人在无法做手势时解决了较少的 TOT。当参与者被允许做手势时，没有观察到口头 STM 和 TOT 分辨率之间的这种关系。综合起来，这些结果符合认知负荷；当词汇检索困难时，手势有效地减少了那些发现任务特别繁重的人的 TOT 解析的认知负担。