Final answer:
Studies reveal that initiating gestures indicates a larger communicative repertoire, as gestural communication is foundational for language development and cognitive skills.
Step-by-step explanation:
Those who were more likely to initiate carrying gestures had an overall larger repertoire than those who were carried after gesturing once, according to psychological and biological studies. This concept revolves around the idea that early communication skills and mimicry found in the development of both human infants and great apes, such as chimpanzees and bonobos, are critical. Babies and apes that actively use and initiate gestures demonstrate complex cognitive and communicative capabilities, possibly indicating a greater range of communicative behavior or repertoire. Research suggests that gestural communication is a precursor to language development, known as a protolanguage, and it emphasizes the critical role of imitation. For instance, the production of Oldowan tools by early hominins required the ability to imitate the actions of others, which directly ties into the capacity for gestural communication, and thus, a larger repertoire of communicative gestures. The act of gesturing is not only a stepping stone for language but also signifies cognitive development and the ability to engage in complex communication. Therefore, it can be inferred that there is a correlation between the propensity to initiate gestures and the size of an individual's communicative repertoire.