ABSTRACT
Simulation was based on an information-processing model derived from psycholinguistic studies of co-verbal gestures and it described in detail the functioning of the specific component of the model that is devoted to individualized iconic gesture production. The present chapter develops an idea of multiple determinants of gesture production. The goal is to give a non-exhaustive overview of research in which gesture production is either the dependent variable of interest or a determinant of some aspects of speech production. The Lexical Retrieval Hypothesis, in particular, has inspired a large amount of work to support or to contest the idea that gestures are not performed for the listeners, but for the speakers themselves to facilitate access to the mental lexicon. A mental model of the addressee orients the selection of pieces of information to be conveyed through appropriate means, gestures as complement to speech. There is a natural coupling between vocal and manual gestures in a coordinated system.
