Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
What co-speech gestures reveal about users’ thinking during interviews
Summary
Drs. DeSutter and Scopelitis discussed how User Experience (UX) researchers can triangulate and enrich information from one-on-one interviews by attending to users’ co-speech gestures—the spontaneous movements that humans make with their hands and body when communicating. Gestures are a “window to the mind” and can reveal unspoken information about users’ emotional states as well as the structure and composition of their mental models. They concluded with a practical guide for efficiently implementing gesture research.
Key Insights
-
•
Gestures provide a non-verbal window into users' mental models, often revealing thoughts not expressed in speech.
-
•
Representational gestures, especially those made in personal gesture space, indicate cognitive processes and implicit imagery.
-
•
Users commonly hold multiple, context-dependent mental models rather than a single static one.
-
•
In interviews, interviewer gestures increase participant gesturing and improve conversational rapport.
-
•
Video interviews pose challenges for capturing gestures fully; positioning and prompting can mitigate this.
-
•
Speech-gesture mismatches often signal ongoing mental model construction or word searching by users.
-
•
Gestures can reveal emotional attachment or disengagement with technology, influencing adoption and retention.
-
•
Mental models can be anchored by recent technology prototypes, such as chat GPT for AI understanding.
-
•
Structured interview protocols that elicit gesturing and separate talking from tool use optimize gesture data collection.
-
•
Open source motion tracking and gesture analysis tools can aid qualitative research by quantifying gesture patterns.
Notable Quotes
"Gestures are a window to the mind."
"Gesture and speech form an integrated system; they reinforce one another."
"We’re really leaving half of our data on the table by not attending to gesture when eliciting mental models."
"Gesture is not computer and smartphone gestures, but spontaneous movements people make with hands and arms."
"Four me gestures happen in that personal gesture space and serve as thinking tools for the speaker."
"When gestures and speech mismatch, it often means the speaker is still refining their mental model."
"Without looking at the gesture, we would have come to a less complete mental model."
"Users have more than one mental model; they can be constructed on the fly depending on context."
"The degree to which the user feels in control with an intelligent agent brings up conversational mental models."
"The more you gesture, the more your interviewee will gesture."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"When communicating with sign language interpreters remotely, remember to address the participant directly, not the interpreter."
Rebecca ToppsPlanning and conducting remote usability studies for accessibility
September 10, 2020
"We love small teams because we move fast and break things and figure things out on the fly."
Jacqui Frey Dan WillisPanel Discussion: Integrating DesignOps
November 7, 2018
"HIPAA isn’t that complicated; sending data to patients only needs two sentences."
Juhan SoninDesign Now! The Agenda for Action
September 4, 2025
"Designed alliances make explicit the implicit ways our relationships work and how it feels to be engaged with them."
Alla WeinbergCross-Functional Relationship Design
December 6, 2022
"The FDA-approved agile process is more like a controlled waterfall with strict traceability, especially for Class 3 devices."
Daniel J. RosenbergDigital Medicine Design
September 26, 2019
"Story pointing UX work would help us plan capacity and avoid being surprised by last minute discovery work."
Jack MoffettSAFe or Sorry?
May 29, 2019
"A strong, consistent design voice is critical so the organization understands what design really is."
Sabrina Mach Nina WainwrightHow to Design Your Design Operating Model
September 29, 2021
"Design ops is the heart, the connective tissue of our design organizations."
Alana WashingtonTheme 1: Introduction and Provocation
January 8, 2024
"When you allow people to share their story, it's not just sharing to share; it's to contribute to better products, policies, and services."
Yasmine KhanChecking Bias and Listening to Financially Vulnerable Americans
March 30, 2020