kinesics

n. The study of facial expressions, nonverbal aspects of voice, gestures, gaze, visual attention, and other body movements in communication. Voice kinesics include pitch, tone, cadence, pauses, intonation, and silence. Gestural kinesics include emblems like waving to say good-bye, illustrators such as using the hands to show size, adaptors which help cope with emotion such as putting one's hands in front of the face when embarrassed, and regulators that help turn taking in speech such as holding the hand palm outward to stop someone else from speaking. Kinesics vary widely from culture to culture so that a single gesture can have opposite or unrelated meanings in different cultures. Also called nonverbal communication.