The effects of fantastical television content on Chinese preschoolers’ executive function

Jiang, Ying; Fu, Rui; Xing, Shufen

doi:10.1002/pchj.277

Cited by 6 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 62 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Carey suggested that even very young children had a strong expectation about how things should happen [31]. Events that do not conform to children's expectations may overload information processing and weaken the children's subsequent cognitive behavior [50]. Second, the attention and processing of fantastical events might deplete the neurotransmitters in the lateral prefrontal cortex and reduce children's availability for subsequent cognitive tasks [51].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Short-Term Impact of Animation on the Executive Function of Children Aged 4 to 7

Fan

Zhan

Qing

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research has shown that animation plays an important role in the development of children’s executive function (EF), and the development of EF components, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, is asynchronous. Thus, this study explores the developmental trajectories and animation features (fantasy and pacing) that influence each EF component, by examining 218 children aged 4–7. Pretest information, mainly the childhood EF inventory, was provided by parents: child’s age, age of first exposure to animation, animation viewing time on weekdays and weekends, family income, and parents’ education. The children in each age group were randomly divided into four groups to watch animations comprised of different animation features. After watching, their EF were measured by a day-night task, backward digit-span task, and flexible item-selection task. The results showed that the children’s inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility levels all improved with age. Highly fantastical animations weakened children’s performance on each subsequent EF task. Pacing had no effect on any of the components of children’s EF. An interactive effect on inhibitory control was only found with fantasy in younger children; specifically, high-fantastical animations had a more pronounced short-lived weakening effect on inhibitory control in younger children (4–6 years) compared with low-fantastical animations. Future research should explore the long-term impact of content rather than the form of animation on younger children’s EF.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Short-Term Impact of Animation on the Executive Function of Children Aged 4 to 7

Fan

Zhan

Qing

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Physically impossible and hence fantastical events are commonly used in child-directed TV and videos. Comprehension of fantastical events may be cognitively taxing due to their novelty and rarity in daily life, resulting in excessive consumption of resources [115][116][117]. It has been suggested that executive functions and processing fantastical events may rely on the same cognitive resources; thus, watching fantastical events may have immediate negative effects on executive functioning (e.g., [118]).…”

Section: Fantastical Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been suggested that executive functions and processing fantastical events may rely on the same cognitive resources; thus, watching fantastical events may have immediate negative effects on executive functioning (e.g., [118]). To test this hypothesis, a series of studies investigated the short-term effects of watching fantastical content on young children's executive functions and reported poorer performance on executive function tasks after watching fantastical events [115][116][117]119]. These findings were complemented by higher activation of the brain and frequent and shorter eye fixations while watching a higher number of fantastical events, potentially indicating more cognitive effort [116].…”

Section: Fantastical Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation

Uzundağ

Altundal

Keşşafoğlu

2022

Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Self-regulation, the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and behavior for goal-directed activities, shows rapid development in infancy, toddlerhood, and preschool periods. Early self-regulatory skills predict later academic achievement and socioemotional adjustment. An increasing number of studies suggest that screen media use may have negative effects on children’s developing self-regulatory skills. In this systematic review, we summarized and integrated the findings of the studies investigating the relationship between young children’s screen media use and their self-regulation. We searched the ERIC, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science databases and identified 39 relevant articles with 45 studies. We found that screen time in infancy is negatively associated with self-regulation, but findings were more inconsistent for later ages suggesting that screen time does not adequately capture the extent of children’s screen media use. The findings further indicated that background TV is negatively related to children’s self-regulation, and watching fantastical content seems to have immediate negative effects on children’s self-regulatory skills. We suggest that future studies should take the content and context of children’s screen media use into account and also focus on parent- and home-related factors such as parental behaviors that foster the development of self-regulatory skills.

show abstract

“…In some studies, children's involvement in tasks during free play or direct testing has been used to measure attention [ 24 ]. Another substantial portion of these studies adopted the model of EF proposed by Miyake et al [ 25 ], which divided EF into three components: inhibitory control (the ability of a person to inhibit dominant or automatic responses in favor of less prominent data), working memory (the capacity to hold and manipulate various sets of information) and flexibility (shifting attention) [ 10 , 26 , 27 ]. Alternatively, some studies have measured EF through two dimensions: "hot" and "cool" [ 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The immediate impacts of TV programs on preschoolers' executive functions and attention: a systematic review

Namazi,

Sadeghi

2024

BMC Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Previous research has presented varying perspectives on the potential effect of screen media use among preschoolers. In this study, we systematically reviewed experimental studies that investigated how pacing and fantasy features of TV programs affect children's attention and executive functions (EFs). Methods A systematic search was conducted across eight online databases to identify pertinent studies published until August 2023. We followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines. Results Fifteen papers involving 1855 participants aged 2–7 years fulfilled all the inclusion criteria for this review and were entered into the narrative synthesis. Despite the challenge of reaching general conclusions and encountering conflicting outcomes, a nuanced analysis reveals distinct patterns within various subgroups. The impact of pacing on attention is discernible, particularly in bottom-up attention processes, although the nature of this effect remains contradictory. Conversely, consistent findings emerge regarding top-down attention, suggesting any impact. Moreover, a subgroup analysis of different EF components yields valuable insights, highlighting the negative effect of fantasy on inhibitory control within the EF framework. Conclusion The complexity of these outcomes highlights the need for further research, considering factors such as content, child-specific characteristics, environmental factors, and methodological approaches. These findings collectively emphasize the necessity of conducting more comprehensive and detailed research, especially in terms of the underlying mechanisms and their impact on brain function.

show abstract

The effects of fantastical television content on Chinese preschoolers’ executive function

Cited by 6 publications

References 62 publications

The Short-Term Impact of Animation on the Executive Function of Children Aged 4 to 7

The Short-Term Impact of Animation on the Executive Function of Children Aged 4 to 7

Screen Media Exposure in Early Childhood and Its Relation to Children’s Self-Regulation

The immediate impacts of TV programs on preschoolers' executive functions and attention: a systematic review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About