Seeing and knowing: Attention to illustrations during storybook reading and narrative comprehension in 2‐year‐olds

Abstract

Research (Evans & Saint‐Aubin, ) suggests systematic patterns in how young children visually attend to storybooks. However, these studies have not addressed whether visual attention is predictive of children's storybook comprehension. In the current study, we used eye‐tracking methodology to examine two‐year‐olds' visual attention while being read an unfamiliar storybook. Immediately following reading, they completed a comprehension assessment. Children who visually attended to illustrations depicting key narrative events during the initial reading demonstrated stronger comprehension than children who focused on other areas. Importantly, visual attention to pertinent illustrations was also positively related to parental reports of vocabulary knowledge. Collectively, this supports a reciprocal model of early knowledge development: vocabulary knowledge facilitates visual attention, and visual attention to storybook illustrations facilitates subsequent learning. Highlights The current study examines two‐year‐olds comprehension of storybooks and whether this comprehension is impacted by their visual attention to illustrations and extant vocabulary. This study uses eye‐tracking methodology to examine the relationship between extant vocabulary, visual attention to illustration and comprehension in two‐year‐olds. This study found that two‐year‐olds visual attention to relevant illustration is predicted by their extant vocabulary and predicts comprehension.

The role of topic‐related background knowledge in visual attention to illustration and children's word learning during shared book reading

“…Children who know some basic facts about a certain topic may have a cognitive structure of information that allows even the brief introduction of vocabulary words that are common in storybooks to be integrated into the overall schema for that topic. This study also supports and extends research, suggesting that background knowledge may act as a mechanism to guide of visual attention (Kaefer, Neuman, & Pinkham, in press; Evans & Saint‐Aubin, ). For children without a strong semantic framework of background knowledge, there may simply be too much new information to correctly direct attention, whereas those with relevant knowledge may be able to quickly orient to unknown elements.…”

Visual narrative comprehension: Universal or not?

“…More contemporary research has observed that children at the age of 4 years begin to understand cross-panel continuity and activity cues, reaching full understanding between 5 and 6 years (Bornens, 1990). These ages align with the shift from children describing isolated image units to narrating sequential events (Berman, 1988;Karmiloff-Smith, 1985;Paris & Paris, 2003;Poulsen et al, 1979;Shapiro & Hudson, 1991;Trabasso & Nickels, 1992;Trabasso & Stein, 1994). Children between 4 and 6 years also increasingly select accurate sequence-ending panels (Zampini et al, 2017), and are moderately good at discerning the causes or consequences of a sequence's main event (A. L. Brown & French, 1976).…”

“…Researchers rarely analyze or acknowledge these visual narrative structures (cf. Berman & Slobin, 1994;Trabasso & Nickels, 1992), or the processes necessary to understand them (e.g., Karmiloff-Smith, 1985), despite them laying the foundation for all subsequent interpretations.…”

Leitura compartilhada de histórias e aprendizagem de palavras em crianças típicas e com Síndrome de Down

“…Pesquisas mostram que crianças pré-escolares passam a maior parte do tempo olhando para as ilustrações do livro em um episódio de leitura compartilhada e que sua inspeção à ilustração, em geral, corresponde aos elementos que aparecem na história (Evans & Saint-Aubin, 2013). Além disso, a atenção às ilustrações de um livro durante sua leitura está positivamente correlacionada com a aprendizagem de palavras contidas na história e à compreensão do enredo (Kaefer, Pinkham & Neuman, 2017). Nesse sentido, se as ilustrações de um livro claramente apresentam figuras relacionadas às palavras que aparecem na história, a aprendizagem de novas palavras é facilitada (Evans & Saint-Aubin, 2013).…”