Final answer:
The reasoning behind the tendency to produce co-thought gesture involves both 'thinking fast' intuitive processes and 'thinking slow' cognitive efforts. Gestures may have been the basis for the development of language, as suggested by theories examining the evolution of tool use and cognitive abilities in hominins, including the role of the mirror neuron system.
Step-by-step explanation:
The type of reasoning that results in people tending to produce co-thought gesture involves both intuitive and deliberate cognitive processes. According to the research, gestures may have paved the way for language development. This is evidenced by studies showing that great apes, having been taught gestures or tokens to communicate, demonstrate a capacity for what could be considered a protolanguage. The two main ways humans make decisions, as characterized by psychologist Daniel Kahneman, are "thinking fast" (intuitive) and "thinking slow" (deliberative). Gestures are possibly connected to the 'thinking fast' aspect, as they often emerge spontaneously and intuitively in conjunction with speech during communicative acts.
Two main theories link the evolution of hominin tool use with the development of language, both requiring sophisticated cognitive abilities that likely contributed to the capacity for quick planning and complex speech. One theory suggests that the same mirror neuron system seen in primates which supports imitation and gesture-based communication, provided a foundation for the brain structures involved in human language production. Moreover, the process of learning a symbolic system could have influenced the cognitive development of Gestures among hominins, suggesting that not only did gestural communication predate spoken language but also that our ability for complex language may have evolved from it.