A brief self-rating scale for the assessment of individual differences in gesture perception and production

•A brief, subjective assessment tool for gesture perception and use was developed.•Good psychometric results (high reliability and internal consistency)•Assessment of individual differences in gesture production and comprehension•Relationship between gesture and social/empathic functioning•New and sensitive instrument for research in different fields of investigation

Gesture production and perception have a strong impact on speech perception and social-communicative functioning. Consequently, we created the ‘Brief Assessment of Gesture’ (BAG) tool, a set of 12 subjective statements relating to gesture production and perception in everyday life. German native speakers (n = 220) were asked to rate each statement. Individual differences in empathy were assessed to disentangle sensitivity to gesture production and perception from general empathic/social functioning. A PCA revealed a four-factor solution, reflecting one production and one perception factor, each occurring with and without an empathy component. The current investigation yielded good psychometric results, with a high reliability and internal consistency. Our findings suggest that BAG is a straightforward and useful tool to assess individual differences in gesture production and comprehension, as well as related empathic/social functioning. As such, BAG may serve as an important instrument for research in speech comprehension, cognitive development, language learning and social-communicative functioning.