• Preschoolers (2- to 5-years-old)
  
• Young Children (6- to 8-years-old)
  
• Older Children (9- to 12-years-old)
  
• Key Links
  

Preschoolers (2- to 5-years-old)

• Dramatic increases in visual attention to TV
• Not yet well-developed story schemata
• Retain relatively little central content of drama
• Gradually increase recall of incidental content of drama
• Rarely or incorrectly infer missing content
• Do not infer relations among scenes well
• Typically recall isolated events rather than plots
• Tend to prefer magazine formats rather than plotted programmes
• Representations of dramatic programmes incomplete and disorganized
• Retain more stereotypical information than older children
• Common knowledge scripts feature more in their recall than with older children
• Can interpret some formal features of TV
• Comprehension better when content accompanied by salient formal features
• In process of learning that what’s on TV is generally not real
• High attention to ads
• 4- to 5-year-olds can usually distinguish between programmes and ads
• Have higher trust in ads than older children
• Lower recall and understanding of ads than older children

Young Children (6- to 8-years-old)

• Attention to TV continues to increase
• Attention is better with narration for 5- to 7-year-olds (audio and visual interdependence)
• Audio probably helps with monitoring of attention-worthy content
• Gains in comprehension skills but comprehension and retention still not great
• Recall of incidental content increases
• Inferences about missing content improve
• Inferences about relationships among scenes improve
• Story schemata improve so that well-developed by 7- to 8-years-old
• Like plotted programmes and continuity rather than segmented content
• Have better recall of plot than preschoolers
• Comprehension of content best when accompanied by salient formal features
• Greater understanding of formal features than preschoolers
• Judgements of social realism of drama may decrease
• Attention to ads still high: attention shifts to TV when ads start
• 6- to 8-year-olds can usually distinguish ads from programmes
• Lower recall and understanding of ads than older children
• Have higher trust in ads than older children, though by 7- to 9-years-old begin to understand persuasive intent of ads

Older Children (9- to 12-years-old)

• Attention to TV starts to level off and decline after about 10-years-old
• Capacity to process and monitor the audio and video channels more independently for attention-worthy content
• 8- to 14-year-olds improve in comprehension and recall of central content
• Decrease in recall of incidental content by 8- to 14-year-olds
• Story schemata are better developed
• Increased ability to infer missing content
• Better able to infer relations between scenes
• More complete and more organized representations of dramatic programmes
• Less stereotypical information retained
• Common knowledge scripts less likely to be recalled as plot events
• Comprehension of content less closely associated with salient features
• Social realism judgements of TV drama may continue to decrease
• Attention to ads starts to decrease
• Generally shift away from TV or tune out at onset of ads
• Readily perceive differences between programmes and ads
• Less trusting of ads
• Better recall and understanding of ads
• Understand persuasive intent, and, near adolescence, common persuasive techniques

Adapted from: Doubleday, Catherine N & Kristin L Droege (1993): ‘Cognitive Developmental Influences on Children’s Understanding of Television’. In Gordon L Berry & Joy Keiko Asamen (Eds.): Children and Television. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 23-37

Daniel Chandler
March 1997