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Iconic Number Gestures: Naturalistic Use by Children and Parents in the Early Home Environment

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Title: Iconic Number Gestures: Naturalistic Use by Children and Parents in the Early Home Environment
Language: English
Authors: Madeleine Oswald (ORCID 0000-0002-0740-7343), Alana Foley, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Susan C. Levine (ORCID 0000-0002-8579-9290)
Source: Developmental Psychology. 2026 62(4):817-829.
Availability: American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 13
Publication Date: 2026
Sponsoring Agency: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (DHHS/NIH)
National Science Foundation (NSF), Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE)
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Contract Number: P01HD40605
0541957
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Numbers, Nonverbal Communication, Parents, Young Children, Parent Child Relationship, Vocabulary, Speech
DOI: 10.1037/dev0002058
ISSN: 0012-1649
1939-0599
Abstract: A growing body of research suggests that children's use and understanding of cardinal number gestures (e.g., raising two fingers to indicate "two") reflect greater cardinal number knowledge than their number words alone (e.g., Butts, 2025; Gibson et al., 2019, 2022; Gunderson et al., 2015; Orrantia et al., 2024; Oswald et al., 2025). The present study adds to these findings by examining how often, and in what contexts, parents and their young children use iconic number gestures, with a particular focus on how these gestures are used in relation to number words. In a naturalistic, at-home longitudinal study, we found that 14- to 58-month-old children and their parents used iconic number gestures far less often than number words. Parents used more number words than the children, but children used more number gestures than the parents. Both children and parents used number gestures more often for nonpresent entities than for present entities, even though they both displayed the opposite pattern for number words (i.e., more number words for present than nonpresent entities). Finally, children were more likely to use number gestures if their parents used them (some parents never used number gestures during the observations), but neither parents' nor children's use of number gestures early on predicted children's cardinal number knowledge at 46 months of age.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1503367
Database: ERIC
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Madeleine+Oswald%22">Madeleine Oswald</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0740-7343">0000-0002-0740-7343</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Alana+Foley%22">Alana Foley</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Susan+Goldin-Meadow%22">Susan Goldin-Meadow</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Susan+C%2E+Levine%22">Susan C. Levine</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8579-9290">0000-0002-8579-9290</externalLink>)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Developmental+Psychology%22"><i>Developmental Psychology</i></searchLink>. 2026 62(4):817-829.
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  Data: American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
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  Data: 13
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  Data: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (DHHS/NIH)<br />National Science Foundation (NSF), Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE)<br />National Science Foundation (NSF)
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  Data: A growing body of research suggests that children's use and understanding of cardinal number gestures (e.g., raising two fingers to indicate "two") reflect greater cardinal number knowledge than their number words alone (e.g., Butts, 2025; Gibson et al., 2019, 2022; Gunderson et al., 2015; Orrantia et al., 2024; Oswald et al., 2025). The present study adds to these findings by examining how often, and in what contexts, parents and their young children use iconic number gestures, with a particular focus on how these gestures are used in relation to number words. In a naturalistic, at-home longitudinal study, we found that 14- to 58-month-old children and their parents used iconic number gestures far less often than number words. Parents used more number words than the children, but children used more number gestures than the parents. Both children and parents used number gestures more often for nonpresent entities than for present entities, even though they both displayed the opposite pattern for number words (i.e., more number words for present than nonpresent entities). Finally, children were more likely to use number gestures if their parents used them (some parents never used number gestures during the observations), but neither parents' nor children's use of number gestures early on predicted children's cardinal number knowledge at 46 months of age.
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      – SubjectFull: Parents
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