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Spencer Kelly, Associate Professor of Psychology

What role does the body play with language? My research investigates this question from different perspectives using different methods, but it is built on a single theoretical framework. Working from the position that language is an embodied ability that evolved from bodily communication systems (gestures, facial expressions, eye gaze, etc.) in our evolutionary past, my work investigates how language interacts with the body in present-day communication.

I focus primarily on hand gesture that spontaneously accompany speech. These gestures are interesting because they occur simultaneously with speech, but they convey additional visual information not often captured in speech.

Because of this relationship, one can view gesture and speech as two sides of the same coin, as an integrated system of meaning in communication. For example, imagine someone who recently had a car accident saying, "I didn't see it coming," while simultaneously making two flat-handed gestures coming together in a "T" shape. Only by combining gesture and speech does the full meaning of the message become clear.

My research on the relationship between speech and gesture spans social, psychological and neural levels. On the social and psychological levels, I use behavioral methods to demonstrate that gestures influence how children and adults comprehend language in different social contexts, and how they think during the explanation of difficult concepts. On the neural level, I use event-related potentials (ERPs) to show that gestures influence speech at multiple stages of language comprehension. See below for PDFs on these different topics.

Here is a video of my research on ScienCentral News and the original story that first appeared in Scientific American Mind. And here is a recent Seattle television story on the role that had gestures play in second language learning.

If you are interested in more research on gesture, brain and language, click here for a link to a special issue (June, 2007) on the topic in the journal, Brain and Language.

Contact Information

Office: Psychology
Current Courses
Mail: 105D Olin Hall
Phone: (315)228-7350
 Email: skelly@mail.colgate.edu

 Department Affiliation

Psychology Department

Teaching & Research

Title
Associate Professor of Psychology (2001)

Degree
BA Washington University, St. Louis 1991; MA, PhD University of Chicago 1997, 1999 (Complete curriculum vitae [PDF])

Specialties
Cognitive neuroscience, verbal and nonverbal communication, psycholinguistics, developmental psychology, research methods

Selected Publications
(Article links are PDF files)

Kelly, S. D., Creigh, P., & Bartolotti, J. (in press). Integrating speech and iconic gestures in a Stroop-like task: Evidence for automatic processing. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Kelly, S. D., McDevitt, T., & Esch, M. (2009). Brief training with co-speech gesture lends a hand to word learning in a foreign language. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24, 313-334.

Pratt, N., & Kelly, S. D. (2008). Emotional states influence the neural processing of affective language, 3, 434-442.

Kelly, S. D., Manning, S., & Rodak, S. (2008). Gesture gives a hand to language and learning: Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology and education. Language and Linguistics Compass, 2, 569-588.

Ozyurek, A. & Kelly, S. D. (2007). Gesture, brain and language. Brain and Language, 101, 181-184.

Kelly, S. D., Ward, S., Creigh, P., & Bartolotti, J. (2007). An intentional stance modulates the integration of gesture and speech during comprehension. Brain and Language, 101, 222-233.

Molfese, D. L., Fonaryova Key, A. Kelly, S., Cunningham, N., Terrell, S., Fergusson, M., Molfese, V. & Bonebright, T. (2006). Below-average, average, and above-average readers engage different and similar brain regions while reading. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39, 352-363.

Kelly, S. D., & Goldsmith, L. (2004). Gesture and right hemisphere involvement in evaluating lecture material. Gesture, 4, 25-42.

Kelly, S. D., Kravitz, C., & Hopkins, M. (2004). Neural correlates of bimodal speech and gesture comprehension. Brain and Language, 89, 253-260.

Molfese, D. L., Molfese, V. J., Key, S., Mogdlin, A. & Kelly, S., & Terrell, S. (2002). Reading and cognitive abilities: Longitudinal studies of brain and behavior changes in young children. Annals of Dyslexia, 52, 121-140.

Kelly, S. D., Iverson, J., Terranova, J., Niego, J., Hopkins, M., & Goldsmith, L. (2002). Putting language back in the body: Speech and gesture on three timeframes. Developmental Neuropsychology, 22, 323-349.

Kelly, S. D., Singer, M., Hicks, J., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2002). A helping hand in assessing children's knowledge: Instructing adults to attend to gesture. Cognition and Instruction, 20, 1-26.

Goldin-Meadow, S., Nusbaum, H., Kelly, S. D., & Wagner, S. (2001). Explaining math: Gesture lightens the load. Psychological Science, 12, 516-522.

Molfese, D., Molfese, V., & Kelly, S. D. (2001). The use of brain electrophysiology techniques to study language and reading: A basic guide for the beginning consumer of electrophysiology information. Learning Disabilities Quarterly, 24 (3), 177-188.

Kelly, S. D. (2001). Broadening the units of analysis in communication: Speech and nonverbal behaviours in pragmatic comprehension. Journal of Child Language, 28, 325-349.

Church, R. B., Kelly, S. D., & Lynch, K. (2000). Multi-modal processing over development: The case of speech and gesture detection. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24 (2), 151-174.

Kelly, S. D., Barr, D., Church, R. B., & Lynch, K. (1999). Offering a hand to pragmatic understanding: The role of speech and gesture in comprehension and memory.Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 577-592.

Kelly, S. D., & Church, R. B. (1998). A comparison between children's and adults' ability to detect children's representational gestures. Child Development, 69, 85-93.

Kelly, S. D., & Church, R. B. (1997). Children's ability to detect nonverbal behaviors from other children. Cognition and Instruction, 15(1), 107-134.



Professional Experience
Visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, The Netherlands (spring 2005, 2009); Allen Edwards Lecturer at the University of Washington in Seattle (fall 2008)

Distinctions
- Picker Research Fellowship, Colgate University (2005-2006, 2009)
- Picker Interdisciplinary Research Grant, Colgate University (2007-2009)
- Gastwissenschaftler (Visiting Scientist) at the MPI CBS, Leipzig, Germany (Summer, 2007)
- Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, University of Louisville (1999-2000)
- Pre-Doctoral National Research Service Award, University of Chicago, declined (1999)
- William Rainey Harper Dissertation Fellowship, University of Chicago (1998-1999)
- John Dewey Lectureship Prize, University of Chicago (1998)
- Division of Social Sciences Scholarship, University of Chicago (1994-1998)