A study published in the Journal of Marketing Research concluded that when people make hand gestures that visually represent what they are saying, listeners perceive them as clearer, more competent, and more persuasive. To reach that conclusion, the authors analyzed 200,000 video segments from more than 2,000 TED talks. They conducted this review with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) tools capable of detecting and classifying hand gestures frame by frame. As a complement, the team carried out controlled experiments in which participants evaluated entrepreneurs presenting a product. Giovanni Cascio, an assistant professor of Marketing at the University of Southern California, is one of the authors of the research. He wrote an article for the academic outlet The Conversation in which he discussed the findings. He states that both in the video review and in the controlled experiments, they observed the same pattern of results. In the data from the talks, they saw that illustrative gestures predicted a better assessment by the audience, which was reflected in more than 33 million "likes." Likewise, in the experiments they conducted, 1,600 participants rated speakers who used illustrative gestures as clearer, more competent, and more persuasive. The most persuasive and clear people make these hand gestures when speaking, according to a study. Photo: illustrative. Which hand movements help you be clearer and more persuasive, according to the study. Cascio, who studies how language, voice, and body movement shape human communication and behavior, argues based on the findings that the key is for gestures to visually represent the idea being discussed. For example, when talking about distance, you can move your hands apart while saying something is "farther away"; when explaining how two concepts relate, you can bring your hands together while saying that "these ideas fit together"; or when describing how market demand "rises and falls," you can visually represent a wave shape with your hands. In his article for The Conversation, Cascio states: "These gestures offer listeners a visual shortcut to understanding the meaning of what you're saying. They turn abstract ideas into something more concrete, helping listeners form a mental image of your message." "This makes the message easier to process—a phenomenon psychologists call 'processing fluency.' Moreover, we have found that when ideas are easier to grasp, people tend to perceive the speaker as more competent and persuasive." However, adds the University of Southern California academic, not all gestures are useful. "Movements unrelated to the message—such as waving your hands aimlessly, making fidgety movements, or pointing at random objects in the environment—provide no benefit. In some cases, they can even be a distraction." To avoid those situations, Cascio suggests "prioritizing clarity over choreography." "Reflect on the moments when your hands naturally illustrate what you're saying—whether emphasizing size, direction, or an emotion—and let them move with purpose."