Viewing Fantastical Events in Animated Television Shows: Immediate Effects on Chinese Preschoolers’ Executive Function

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to test whether watching an animated show with frequent fantastical events decreased Chinese preschoolers’ post-viewing executive function (EF), and to test possible mechanisms of this effect. In all three experiments, children were randomly assigned to watch a video with either frequent or infrequent fantastical events; their EF was immediately assessed after viewing, using behavioral measures of working memory, sustained attention, and cognitive flexibility. Parents completed a questionnaire to assess preschoolers’ hyperactivity level as a potential confounding variable. In Experiment 1 (N = 90), which also included a control group, there was an immediate negative effect of watching frequent fantastical events, as seen in lower scores on the behavioral EF tasks. In Experiment 2 (N = 20), eye tracking data showed more but shorter eye fixations in the high frequency group, suggesting a higher demand on cognitive resources; this group also did more poorly on behavioral measures of EF. In Experiment 3 (N = 20), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data showed that the high frequency group had a higher concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (Coxy-Hb), an indicator of higher brain activation consistent with a greater use of cognitive resources; this group also had lower scores on the behavioral EF tasks. The findings are discussed in reference to models of limited cognitive resources.

Psychological Impact and Influence of Animation on Viewer’s Visual Attention and Cognition: A Systematic Literature Review, Open Challenges, and Future Research Directions

“…Animated films positively affect a child's involvement in symbolic mediation and the level of arbitrary behavior [ 54 ]. Also, it was observed that the executive functions of the preschoolers were disrupted after watching the animated fantastical events [ 28 ]. A significant effect of animated features in ebooks (motion and sound) was observed on children's vocabulary acquisition, story retelling, and visual attention [ 35 ].…”

“…Any fault with these devices will affect the data quality, data loss, and data interpretation bias. Li et al [ 28 ] have suggested that fixation data points showed the preschooler's more significant mobilization and limited processing capacity. Tummeltshammer et al [ 34 ] have determined the unfiltered eye movement data using SMI's BeGaze analysis software to overcome the error caused by the tracking device or participants in attention.…”

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

“…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]).…”

“…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].…”

Environmental opportunities facilitating cognitive development in preschoolers: development of a multicriteria index

“…The use of screens at home is part of the daily lives of families in the contemporary context (Strasburger 2015 ; Guedes et al 2019 ; Nobre et al 2021 ); however, evidence indicates that using some criteria is essential to favor child development (Nobre et al 2020 ). Excessive television exposure is associated with delays, for example, in language development (Valdivia Álvarez et al 2014 ; Duch et al 2013 ) and poorer performance on behavioral measures of executive function (EF) (Li et al 2020 ).…”