Thesis Defense - Mukaddes Kevser Kırbaşoğlu (MSPSYC)

You are cordially invited to join the online M.A. thesis defence by M. Kevser Kırbaşoğlu on Thursday May 23, 2022 at 16:00 am. 

The title and the meeting links are as follows: 

Join Zoom Meeting: https://ozyegin-edu-tr.zoom.us/j/95295431596?pwd=bmxrT3RsL1dpOXE3UUVlWnJPcXNnUT09 

Meeting ID: 952 9543 1596

Passcode: 126567

Thesis Subject: Development of Multimodal Expressions of Space in Speech and Gesture: The Case of Sagittal and Topological Spatial Relations

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Ercenur Ünal

 Abstract:  Previous literature has shown that learning to communicate about space follows a lengthy timetable. However, prior work has shown that children can express some concepts, including spatial relations, in gestures prior to expressing them in speech. Do children use gestures with under-informative descriptions for spatial relations that are acquired earlier in development such as topological and viewpoint dependent sagittal spatial relations? Furthermore, within those spatial relations that are acquired earlier, are there differences in the use of under-informative speech plus gesture combinations? Finally, when speech and gesture are both considered, do developmental differences between adults and children diminish or disappear completely? The present study addresses these questions by looking at children's spatial expressions in speech only, gestures, and speech plus gesture. We contrasted descriptions of two spatial descriptions that vary in their complexity. Participants (24 children and 23 adults) were monolingual Turkish speakers who described a target picture (indicated by an arrow) to an addressee. Target pictures depicted either topological relations (in-on) or viewpoint-dependent relations in the sagittal axis (front-behind). Our results showed that children and adults produced informative spatial expressions equally frequently for topological spatial relations in their speech. However, children produced informative spatial expressions less frequently than adults for viewpoint dependent sagittal spatial relations in their speech. Children produced spatial expressions that informative when gesture were considered more for viewpoint dependent sagittal spatial relations. Children produced spatial expressions that informative when gesture were considered less for topological spatial relations because they were already informative in their speech. Lastly, children’s frequency of informative spatial expressions reached the adults’ level in speech plus gestures. Gestures revealed earlier expression of viewpoint dependent sagittal spatial relations. However, the total speech plus gesture frequency of informative spatial expression did not add new information for topological spatial relations. This study demonstrated the interactions between multimodal expressions of spatial relations and their complexity as seen in their order of acquisition.

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