Parents commonly label objects on television and for some programs, verbal labels are also provided directly via voice-over. The present study investigated whether toddlers' imitation performance from television would be facilitated if verbal labels were presented on television via voice-over or if they were presented by parents who were co-viewing with their toddlers. Sixty-one 2-year olds were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups (voice-over video, parent video, parent video no label, parent live) or to a baseline control condition. Toddlers were tested with novel objects after a 24h delay. Although, all experimental groups imitated significantly more target actions than the baseline control group, imitation was facilitated by novel labels regardless of whether those labels were provided by parents or by voice-over on television. These findings have important implications for toddler learning from television.

We investigated the effects of instructions to "stay on task" on preschoolers' attention and cognitive performance in the face of either incomprehensible or comprehensible distraction. Three-and 4-year-olds completed problem-solving tasks while a distracting event played continuously in the background, under conditions of (a) no instruction, (b) moderate instruction, or (c) frequent instruction to "stay on task." Under conditions where an incomprehensible distractor was present, any amount of instruction reduced looking to the distracting event. Under conditions where a comprehensible distractor was present, however, frequent instruction was the most effective in increasing looking to the task and decreasing looking to the distracting event.Attention is a complex and multidimensional construct. Researchers have been interested recently in the development of an endogenous, voluntary, top-down-regulated form of attention that emerges late in the first postnatal year and develops rapidly during the second and third years (Colombo, 2001;Colombo & Cheatham, 2007;Courage, Reynolds, Richards, 2006; Ruff & Capozolli, 2003;Ruff & Rothbart, 1996). The ability to hold and maintain attention, especially under conditions where distraction is present, is crucial for learning and problem solving in natural environments (e.g., Choudhury & Gorman, 2000;Frick & Richards, 2001;Kannass & Colombo, 2007;Kirkham, Cruess, & Diamond, 2003;Oakes & Tellinghuisen, 1994). Endogenous attention is often conceptualized in terms of everyday constructs like distractibility, attention span, perseverance, and persistence (Colombo, 2001;Colombo & Cheatham, 2007). The goal of the present study was to investigate whether attention can be influenced by verbal instruction. In particular, we investigated how instruction to stay on task and ignore a distracting event affected young children's attention and task performance.In infancy and early childhood, endogenous attention is often studied through the use of distractibility and free-play paradigms (e.g., Choi & Anderson, 1991;Hale & Flaugher, 1977;Kannass & Colombo, 2007;Kannass, Oakes, & Shaddy, 2006;Lansink, Mintz, & Richards, 2000;Lansink & Richards, 1997;Oakes & Tellinghuisen, 1994;Ruff & Capozzoli, 2003;Ruff & Lawson, 1990;Turnure, 1970). In these paradigms, there is competition for the child's attentional focus. For example, in the distractibility paradigm, the child is presented with a target task (e.g., playing with a toy, putting together a puzzle, a Correspondence should be sent to Kathleen N. Kannass, Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, 6525 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626, USA. kkannas@luc.edu. NIH Public AccessAuthor Manuscript J Cogn Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 October 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript television program), and while the child is attending to the task, a multimodal event (e.g., a children's television program, pictures, computer images) is presented in the periphery, with the inte...

Infants rapidly accrue information via imitation from multiple sources, including television and electronic toys. In two experiments, we examined whether adding sound effects to video or live demonstrations would influence imitation by 6-, 12-, and 18-month-old infants. In Experiment 1, we added matching and mismatching sound effects to target actions presented by a televised model. We found that 6-month-olds reproduced the target actions regardless of whether the sound effects were matched or mismatched, but 12- and 18-month-olds reproduced the actions only when the sound effects were matched. In Experiment 2, we added matching sound effects to target actions presented by a live model. The addition of sound effects disrupted imitation performance by 6-, 12-, and 18-month-olds. Overall, imitation provides a clear behavioral measure of rapid changes in learning from television and electronic toys during infancy. These findings have practical implications for producers and parents regarding learning in the digital age and theoretical implications regarding the development of integrated action-perception representational systems.

We investigated the effects of distraction on attention and task performance during toddlerhood. Thirty toddlers (24‐ to 26‐month‐olds) completed different tasks (2 of each: categorization, problem solving, memory, free play) in one of two conditions: No Distraction or Distraction. The results revealed that the distractor had varying effects on performance scores depending on the task: The problem solving and memory tasks were more susceptible to distraction. In addition, the two conditions showed different patterns of attention over time. Toddlers in the No Distraction condition were more attentive, and their attention remained consistently high across the session. Toddlers in the Distraction condition increased their attention to the task and decreased their attention to the distractor in the second half of the session. This study demonstrates how the presence of distraction influences toddlers’ performance on individual cognitive tasks and contributes to our understanding of distractibility and endogenous attention during toddlerhood. This work also has implications for how environmental noise, such as background television, may influence cognitive development.