Interactional Gestural Synchrony as a Mechanism of Embodied Learning: A Theoretical Account

This article develops a theoretical account of how interactional gestural synchrony may support embodied learning. Research on embodied cognition suggests that conceptual understanding is partly grounded in sensorimotor simulation, while research on gesture shows that bodily action can support communication, reasoning, and memory. However, most accounts of embodied learning treat gesture primarily as an individual cognitive resource or as an instructional aid produced by the teacher. The present article proposes that synchronized teacher-student gesture may constitute a distinct interpersonal mechanism of embodied learning. We argue that gestural synchrony can align three concurrent processes: the learner’s internal sensorimotor simulation, the learner’s overt gestural enactment, and the teacher’s overt gestural modelling. This temporal alignment may facilitate learning by strengthening shared attention, stabilizing sensorimotor representations, reducing ambiguity in concept-gesture mapping, and supporting the consolidation of embodied memory traces. The article distinguishes gestural synchrony from related constructs such as mimicry, behavioral matching, alignment, and collaborative gesture, and identifies testable predictions for future research. The proposed account suggests that embodied learning should be understood not only as an individual sensorimotor process, but also as an interactionally coordinated process that emerges through temporally structured bodily communication between teachers and learners.