The influence of event type and frequency on episodic details and gesture production

In this study, we investigated episodic details and gesture use when people talk about past and future events that were experienced a single time or repeatedly. Furthermore, we investigated whether individual differences in visual imagery affected episodic details, gesture use, and phenomenological ratings of events. Earlier research showed that past events were narrated with more episodic details and received higher phenomenological ratings compared to future events. Moreover, episodic details and gesture use were associated in past event conditions. On the other hand, people produced more details about events in single-time events and rated those events as more vivid than repeated events. Lastly, visual imagery ability is associated with details and phenomenological ratings. Therefore, we asked how episodic details and gesture use change in different event types and frequencies. Participants produced more internal episodic details and non-representational gestures in past events compared to future events. They produced more external episodic details in single-time conditions compared to repeated event conditions. Our participants used significantly more gestures in past and single-time conditions. Those results were in line with earlier findings, showing the role of episodic details and gesture use in different event types and event frequencies, and contributed to a growing body of knowledge in this young area of research.