Child Characteristics, Media Characteristics, and Selective Attention Moderate Toddlers’ Learning From Screen Media

• In Event: Early Years, Early Media

Abstract

The study was designed to test the extent to which child characteristics (age, vocabulary, working memory), media characteristics (presence/relevance of interactive features), and cognitive processing (selective attention) predict toddlers’ learning from screen media. Two-year-olds (N = 88) played a hide-and-seek game in which they used information from a video (an animated bear hiding behind objects) to solve a real-life problem (finding a bear sticker on a corresponding felt board). To watch the bear hide, toddlers watched without touching the screen, touched a relevant part of the screen (the bear), or touched an irrelevant part of the screen (a star). Two-thirds of children (N = 58) were eye-tracked during each of four trials in order to record cognitive processing while the bear hid on the screen. Other games assessed vocabulary and working memory. Toddlers’ performance on the hide-and-seek game was moderated by age, working memory, media interactivity, and selective attention.

Authors

• Heather Kirkorian, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Koeun Choi, Rutgers U - Newark

• Seung Heon Yoo, U of Wisconsin-Madison

• Roxanne Etta, U of Wisconsin at Madison