The Function of Gesture in Architectural-Design-Related Spatial Ability

Abstract

The architectural design process requires high levels of spatial ability. A battery of spatial ability tests specifically for architects is currently being developed by a team of educational psychologists and architectural scholars. The present study uses these test materials to investigate how gestures support architects’ mental spatial visualization. We conducted laboratory experiments to test two types of spatial visualization: mental cutting and mental transformation. We examined three aspects of the cognitive role of architects’ gestures in spatial visualization: (1) the beneficial effects of gestures on spatial visualization test performance, (2) the relations between gesture frequency and task difficulty, and (3) the relations between gesture frequency and the type of mental imagery. Our data analysis results did not support the general hypothesis that architects’ spontaneous gestures have a beneficial effect on spatial visualization test performance. However, there are noteworthy differences in the results when we look separately into the data from the two different task types, mental cutting and mental transformation. Most importantly, the frequency of gestures is significantly higher in the task that requires spatial imagery. This result could be explained by understanding the types of imagery underlying mental activities in solving the two tasks. We assume that spatial imagery involves more motor simulation compared to object imagery, and that this was reflected in the significant difference in the gesture frequencies observed.