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Let us start with a commonplace situation. A person enters a room, sees many unfamiliar faces, and as he begins to talk, folds his hands and fidgets restlessly, one finger upon another. This example of “embarrassed hands,” as Ferenczi calls it (1914), signifies a whole range of experiences. The person's attention is split, partially focused on the strange surroundings and partially upon his bodily discomfort, his imagery is confused and, most probably, the organization of his utterances is fragmented or poorly planned. Take another example. A person is engaged in a heated discussion. As he makes a point, he punctuates his utterances with motions of the hands like a baton, neatly matched to the rhythm and content of speech. Here again the actions seem to reveal a matrix of inner experiences, an alert state of consciousness, a close and unified focus upon his thoughts, and a relatively succinct articulation evident in both his choice and ordering of words.
These examples are chosen to document that body movements “live” in two environments. One is the interpersonal sphere, where they may be viewed as an aspect of the transmission of information