![]() Similarly, Wilkins ( 2003) noted that the Arrernte people of Australia frequently give directions with whole-hand pointing gestures. Kendon and Versante ( 2003) analyzed the pointing gestures of Neapolitans, finding that different hand shapes signified different dialectical functions. Even within a culture, people display remarkable variety in their pointing hand shapes (Kendon and Versante 2003), with different shapes used for different functions. Humans use a diverse array of deictic gestures, from pointing with the lips (Enfield 2001), to index-finger pointing (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1989), to pointing with the whole hand (e.g. Thus, in a Western geographical context in which pointing with the index finger is the dominant form of pointing, a slight change in circumstances elicited a preference for pointing with the whole hand when it was the second or third manual gesture in a sequence. As in Study 1, few respondents produced more than one gesture when the target was in plain view and initial points were most likely to be index finger points. In Study 2, we covertly filmed the responses from 157 passersby we approached for directions, capturing both verbal and gestural responses. In contrast, when the landmark was not in view, respondents pointed initially with their index fingers, but often elaborated with a whole-hand point. ![]() When that landmark was in plain view behind the requester, most respondents pointed with their index fingers, and few respondents pointed more than once. In Study 1, we asked 605 passersby in three localities for directions to well-known local landmarks. We investigated how the visibility of targets influenced the type of point used to provide directions. ![]()
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