A study recently published in the journal Journal of Marketing Research suggests something many Italians already knew—certain hand gestures really do make people seem more competent and persuasive. They compared hundreds of thousands of video clips of hand features to audience engagement metrics, and asked study participants to rate the speakers and products in videos of sales pitches with different hand movements. This approach “demonstrates that hand movement can boost impact,” the researchers wrote in the study, but also revealed that not all gestures work. The team then classified hand movements into categories, including illustrators and highlighters. “But if you pay more attention and understand the impact, it can make a big difference.”