Touch or Watch to Learn? Toddlers’ Object Retrieval Using Contingent and Noncontingent Video

Abstract

The experiment reported here was designed to examine the effect of contingent interaction with touch-screen devices on toddlers' use of symbolic media (video) during an object-retrieval task. Toddlers (24-36 months old; N = 75) were randomly assigned to watch an animated character hiding on screen either in a no-contingency video (requiring no action), a general-contingency video (accepting touch input anywhere on screen), or a specific-contingency video (requiring touch input on a particular area of interest). After the hiding event, toddlers searched for the character on a corresponding felt board. Across all trials, younger toddlers were more likely to search correctly after a specific-contingency video than after a no-contingency video, which suggests that contingent interaction designed to emphasize specific information on screen may promote learning. However, this effect was reversed for older toddlers. We interpret our findings with respect to the selective encoding of target features during hiding events and the relative strength of memory traces during search.

All Tapped Out: Touchscreen Interactivity and Young Children’s Word Learning

“…However, toddlers over 30 months learned better when only general tapping was required or if they simply watched events unfold; for them, the requirement to tap in the relevant spot actually detracted from learning. Choi and Kirkorian (2016) found the same results with a different learning task, except the children who were helped by specific contingency were 6 months younger than the comparable group in the previous study. Therefore, the particular kind of contingent screen interaction that aids learning may differ depending on the task and the age of the learner.…”

“…In essence, the individual child’s characteristics, preferences, and actions mold the medium, within the bounds of the interactive design. Based on the idea that physical, like social, contingency will make screen media better for learning, developmental researchers are now exploring this new technology (e.g., Choi and Kirkorian, 2016). …”

“…Important differences in these situations include additional information available from touch compared to watching (Smith and Olkun, 2005; Bara et al, 2007; Kalenine et al, 2011; Möhring and Frick, 2013), and the fact that active engagement in an experience changes how the event is processed and remembered (James and Swain, 2011; Kaplan et al, 2012; Kersey and James, 2013). The type of interactive behavior and its temporal and spatial correspondence to on-screen events also may affect memory and learning (Sapkota et al, 2013; Schwartz and Plass, 2014; Choi and Kirkorian, 2016; Kirkorian et al, 2016). …”

The Role of Interactional Quality in Learning from Touch Screens during Infancy: Context Matters

“…On the one hand, the inherent interactivity of touch screens may facilitate learning, such that learning may be less dependent on parental support. For example, toddlers who have contingent interactions with touch screens transfer learning in an object retrieval task (Choi and Kirkorian, 2016) and learn more words than children who view a non-interactive video (Kirkorian et al, 2016). On the other hand, children may appear to be proficient in their interactions with the device, but this may not allow for them to transfer information beyond the app (Moser et al, 2015; Neumann and Neumann, 2015).…”

Commentary: Mobile and Interactive Media Use by Young Children: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown

“…Interestingly, this condition appeared to be counterproductive for the oldest children who participated in the experiment. In a follow-up study, Choi and Kirkorian (2016) argued that contingent touch-based interactions mainly facilitate learning in younger children by supporting selective attention mechanism. Future research needs to specify under which conditions contingent touchscreen responses supplement learning.…”