Difference between Action and Gesture

Ok, I came up with a simple way of explaining the difference between action and gesture: actions can be measured, gestures cannot.

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Alexander Refsum Jensenius is a music researcher and research musician living in Oslo, Norway. View all posts by alexarje

Jeroen Arendsen says:

Thursday 22 February 2007 at 00:34

Simple gestures with a fixed form-meaning relationship can be measured as well as we can measure a word being spoken.

The extent to which some human’s actions are intended to communicate more than just the direct result of that action (gesture-complex) is not measurable, unless your machine (say a robot) has gone through a learning process comparable to that of a child growing up in some environment.
alexarje says:

Thursday 22 February 2007 at 17:31

Saying that the gesture is a mental construct based on the intention/perception of actions, it would not be possible to measure even a gesture-simplex (to borrow your concept). But it is possible to measure the action and then “recognise” the gesture from this?
Jeroen Arendsen says:

Friday 23 February 2007 at 14:00

I would not say that the gesture-simplex is a mental construct, or at least not one without a counterpart in the physical world. The actual form of the gesture (like a word) is present in the signal (visual or auditory). The form-meaning relations of gestures (and words) form the ‘language’, ‘code’ or ‘semiotic system’ that is shared by the producer and perceiver of the gesture.

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