Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Role of Online Processing in Young Children’s Learning from Interactive and Noninteractive Digital Media

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Media Exposure During Infancy and Early Childhood

Abstract

In the current chapter, we consider the role of information processing in young children’s learning from screens. We describe methods for assessing online processing while children watch video, including physiological measures such as eye movements and heart rate, and argue for the importance of considering both selective and sustained attention in order to fully understand how children process digital media content. We also explore techniques that have proven successful in facilitating transfer from screens to real-life objects. In particular, we discuss the benefits of clarifying the symbolic nature of screen media, reducing cognitive load, and creating interactive experiences with screens. We conclude with a synthesis of these disparate literatures and suggestions for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alwitt, L. F., Anderson, D. R., Lorch, E. P., & Levin, S. R. (1980). Preschool children’s visual attention to attributes of television. Human Communication Research, 7, 52–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. R., & Kirkorian, H. L. (2015). Media and cognitive development. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. R., & Levin, S. R. (1976). Young children’s attention to Sesame Street. Child Development, 47, 806–811.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. R., & Lorch, E. P. (1983). Looking at television: Action or reaction? In J. Bryant & D. R. Anderson (Eds.), Children’s understanding of television: Research on attention and comprehension (pp. 1–34). New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. R., Alwitt, L. F., Lorch, E. P., & Levin, S. R. (1979). Watching children watch television. In G. A. Hale & M. Lewis (Eds.), Attention and cognitive development (pp. 331–361). New York, NY: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. R., Lorch, E. P., Field, D. E., & Sanders, J. (1981). The effects of television program comprehensibility on preschool children’s visual attention to television. Child Development, 52, 151–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. R., Choi, H. P., & Lorch, E. P. (1987). Attentional inertia reduces distractibility during young children’s TV viewing. Child Development, 58, 798–806.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aslin, R. N. (2007). What’s in a look? Developmental Science, 10, 48–53. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00563.x.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Barr, R. (2013). Memory constraints on infant learning from picture books, television, and touchscreens. Child Development Perspectives, 7, 205–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barr, R., & Wyss, N. (2008). Reenactment of televised content by 2-year-olds: Toddlers use language learned from television to solve a difficult imitation problem. Infant Behavior and Development, 31, 696–703.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Barr, R., Muentener, P., Garcia, A., Fujimoto, M., & Chavez, V. (2007). The effect of repetition on imitation from television during infancy. Developmental Psychobiology, 49, 196–207.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burns, J. J., & Anderson, D. R. (1993). Attentional inertia and recognition memory in adult television viewing. Communication Research, 20, 777–799.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvert, S. L., Huston, A. C., Watkins, B. A., & Wright, J. C. (1982). The relation between selective attention to television forms and children’s comprehension of content. Child Development, 53, 601–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carver, L. J., Meltzoff, A. N., & Dawson, G. (2006). Event-related potential (ERP) indices of infants’ recognition of familiar and unfamiliar objects in two and three dimensions. Developmental Science, 9, 51–62. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.00463.x.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, H. P., & Anderson, D. R. (1991). A temporal analysis of toy play and distractibility in young children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 52, 41–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, K., & Kirkorian, H. L. (2016). Touch or watch to learn? Toddlers’ object retrieval using contingent and noncontingent video. Psychological Science. doi:10.1177/0956797616636110.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, K., Kirkorian, H. L., Pempek, T. A., & Schroeder, E. (2015, March). Toddlers’ object retrieval using touchscreens: The role of working memory skills. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colombo, J., Mitchell, D. W., Coldren, J. T., & Freeseman, L. J. (1991). Individual differences in infant visual fixation: Are short lookers faster processors or feature processors? Child Development, 62, 1247–1257.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colombo, J., Richman, W. A., Shaddy, D. J., Greenhoot, A. F., & Maikranz, J. M. (2001). Heart rate-defined phases of attention, look duration, and infant performance in the paired-comparison paradigm. Child Development, 72, 1605–1616.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colombo, J., Shaddy, D. J., Richman, W. A., Maikranz, J. M., & Blaga, O. (2004). Developmental course of visual habituation preschool cognitive language outcome. Infancy, 5, 1–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Courage, M. L., Reynolds, G. D., & Richards, J. E. (2006). Infants’ attention to patterned stimuli: Developmental change from 3 to 12 months of age. Child Development, 77, 680–695.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • DeLoache, J. S. (1987). Rapid change in the symbolic functioning of very young children. Science, 238, 1556–1557.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeLoache, J. S. (1991). Symbolic functioning in very young children: Understanding of pictures and models. Child Development, 62, 83–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeLoache, J. S. (2000). Dual representation and young children’s use of scale model. Child Development, 71, 329–338.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeLoache, J. S., Miller, K. F., & Rosengren, K. S. (1997). The credible shrinking room: Very young children’s performance with symbolic and nonsymbolic relations. Psychological Science, 8, 308–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickerson, K., Gerhardstein, P., Zack, E., & Barr, R. (2013). Age-related changes in learning across early childhood: A new imitation task. Developmental Psychobiology, 55, 719–732.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dorr, M., Martinetz, T., Gegenfurtner, K., & Barth, E. (2010). Variability of eye movements when viewing dynamic natural scenes. Journal of Vision, 10, 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, M. C., Vul, E., & Johnson, S. P. (2009). Development of infants’ attention to faces during the first year. Cognition, 110, 160–170.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gola, A. A. H., & Calvert, S. L. (2011). Infants’ visual attention to baby DVDs as a function of program pacing. Infancy, 16, 295–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gola, A. A. H., Kirkorian, H. L., Anderson, D. R., & Calvert, S. (2011, May). Attention-eliciting versus attention-maintaining formal features of infant DVDs. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Boston, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gola, A. A. H., Richards, M. N., Lauricella, A. R., & Calvert, S. L. (2013). Building meaningful parasocial relationships between toddlers and media characters to teach early mathematical skills. Media Psychology, 16(4), 390–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, R. B., Woods, R. L., & Peli, E. (2007). Where people look when watching movies: Do all viewers look at the same place? Computers in Biology and Medicine, 37, 957–964.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gredeback, G., Johnson, S., & von Hofsten, C. (2010). Eye tracking in infancy research. Developmental Neuropsychology, 35, 1–19.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayhoe, M. M., Shrivastava, A., Mruczek, R., & Pelz, J. B. (2003). Visual memory and motor planning in a natural task. Journal of Vision, 3, 49–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, J. M. (2003). Human gaze control during real-world scene perception. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 498–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huston, A. C., & Wright, J. C. (1983). Children’s processing of television: The informative functions of formal features. In J. Bryant & D. R. Anderson (Eds.), Children’s understanding of television: Research on attention and comprehension (pp. 35–68). New York, NY: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkorian, H. L., & Anderson, D. R. (in press). Anticipatory eye movements while watching movement across shots in video sequences: A developmental study. Child Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkorian, H. L., Anderson, D. R., & Keen, R. (2012). Age differences in online processing of video: An eye movement study. Child Development, 83, 497–507. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01719.x.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkorian, H. L., Hanson, K. G., Lavigne, H. J., Demers, L. B., Lauricella, A., Gola, A. A. H., … Calvert, S. L. (2012, June). Toddlers’ processing of familiar and novel video characters: An eye movement study. Poster presented at the biannual International Conference on Infant Studies, Minneapolis, MN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkorian, H. L., Lavigne, H. J., Hanson, K. G., Troseth, G., & Anderson, D. R. (2014, July). Dissociations between toddlers’ visual attention to and subsequent memory for information presented in-person and on video. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society on Infant Studies in Berlin, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkorian, H. L., Choi, K., Schroeder, E., & Etta, R. (2015, March). Object retrieval using interactive video: The role of visual selection in learning from screens. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development in Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkorian, H. L., Choi, K., & Pempek, T. A. (2016). Toddlers’ word learning from contingent and noncontingent video on touchscreens. Child Development, 87, 405–413. doi:10.1111/cdev.12508.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkorian, H. L., Lavigne, H. J., Hanson, K. G., Troseth, G., Demers, L. B., & Anderson, D. R. (2016). Video deficit in toddlers’ object retrieval: What eye movements reveal about online cognition. Infancy, 21, 37–64. doi:10.1111/infa.12102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhl, P. K. (2007). Is speech learning ‘gated’ by the social brain? Developmental Science, 10(1), 110–120.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Land, M. F., Mennie, N., & Rusted, J. (1999). Eye movements and the roles of vision in activities of daily living: Making a cup of tea. Perception, 28, 1311–1328.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lauricella, A. R., Pempek, T. A., Barr, R., & Calvert, S. L. (2010). Contingent computer interactions for young children’s object retrieval success. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31(5), 362–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lauricella, A. R., Gola, A. A. H., & Calvert, S. L. (2011). Toddlers’ learning from socially meaningful video characters. Media Psychology, 14, 216–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Meur, O., Le Callet, P., & Barba, D. (2007). Predicting visual fixations on video based on low-level visual features. Vision Research, 47, 2483–2498.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lorch, E. P., & Castle, V. J. (1997). Preschool children’s attention to television: Visual attention and probe response times. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 66, 111–127.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McClure, E., & Barr, R. (2016). Building family relationships from a distance: Supporting connections with babies and toddlers using video and video chat. In R. Barr & D. N. Linebarger (Eds.), Media exposure during infancy and early childhood: The effects of content and context on learning and development. New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-45102-2_15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mital, P. K., Smith, T. J., Hill, R., & Henderson, J. M. (2010). Clustering of gaze during dynamic scene viewing is predicted by motion. Cognitive Computation, 3, 2–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, M., Simcock, G., & Jenkins, L. (2008). The effect of social engagement on 24-month-olds’ imitation from live and televised models. Developmental Science, 11, 722–731.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pempek, T. A., Kirkorian, H. L., Richards, J. E., Anderson, D. R., Lund, A. F., & Stevens, M. (2010). Video comprehensibility and attention in very young children. Developmental Psychology, 46, 1283–1293.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, G. D., & Richards, J. E. (2007). Infant heart rate: A developmental psychophysiological perspective. In L. A. Schmidt & S. J. Segalowitz (Eds.), Developmental psychophysiology: Theory, systems, and methods (pp. 173–212). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. E. (2008). Attention in young infants: A developmental psychophysiological perspective. In C. A. Nelson & M. Luciana (Eds.), Handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience (2nd ed., pp. 479–497). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. E. (2010). The development of attention to simple and complex visual stimuli in infants: Behavioral and psychophysiological measures. Developmental Review, 30, 203–219.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. E., & Anderson, D. R. (2004). Attentional inertia in children’s extended looking at television. In R. V. Kail (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 32, pp. 163–212). San Diego, CA: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, M. N., & Calvert, S. L. (2016). Media characters, parasocial relationships, and the social aspects of children’s learning across media platforms. In R. Barr & D. N. Linebarger (Eds.), Media exposure during infancy and early childhood: The effects of content and context on learning and development. New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-45102-2_9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. E., & Casey, B. J. (1991). Heart-rate variability during attention phases in young infants. Psychophysiology, 28, 43–53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. E., & Cronise, K. (2000). Extended visual fixation in the early preschool years: Look duration, heart rate changes, and attentional inertia. Child Development, 71, 602–620.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. E., & Gibson, T. L. (1997). Extended visual fixation in young infants: Look distributions, heart rate changes, and attention. Child Development, 68, 1041–1056. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00170.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. E., & Turner, E. D. (2001). Extended visual fixation and distractibility in children from six to twenty-four months of age. Child Development, 72, 963–972. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00328.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rideout, V. (2013). Zero to eight: Children’s media use in America 2013. Retrieved from http://www.commonsensemedia.org

  • Roseberry, S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Parish-Morris, J. (2009). Live action: Can young children learn verbs from video? Child Development, 80, 1360–1375. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01338.x.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Roseberry, S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2014). Skype me! Socially contingent interactions help toddlers learn language. Child Development. doi:10.1111/cdev.12166.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, M. E., Crawley-Davis, A. M., & Anderson, D. R. (2007). Two-year-olds’ object retrieval based on television: Testing a perceptual account. Media Psychology, 9, 389–410. doi:10.1080/15213260701291346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, M. E., Pempek, T. A., Kirkorian, H. L., Lund, A. F., & Anderson, D. R. (2008). The effects of background television on the toy play behavior of very young children. Child Development, 79, 1137–1151.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, K. L., & Anderson, D. R. (2002). Television and reality: Toddlers’ use of visual information from video to guide behavior. Media Psychology, 4(1), 51–76. doi:10.1207/S1532785XMEP0401_03.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, K. L., Anderson, D. R., & Collins, P. A. (1999). Form and content: Looking at visual features of television. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1156–1167.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaddy, D. J., & Colombo, J. (2004). Developmental changes in infant attention to dynamic and static stimuli. Infancy, 5, 355–365. doi:10.1207/s15327078in0503_6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharon, T., & DeLoache, J. S. (2003). The role of perseveration in children’s symbolic understanding and skill. Developmental Science, 6(3), 289–296. doi:10.1111/1467-7687.00285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer, J. L. (1980). The power and limits of television: A cognitive-affective analysis. In P. Tannenbaum (Ed.), The entertainment function of television (pp. 312–360). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stelmach, L., Tam, W. J., & Hearty, P. (1991). Static and dynamic spatial resolution in image coding: An investigation of eye movements. Human Vision, Visual Processing, and Digital Display II, 1453, 147–152. doi:10.1117/12.44351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strouse, G. A., & Troseth, G. L. (2008). “Don’t try this at home”: Toddlers’ imitation of new skills from people on video. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 101, 262–280. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2008.05.010.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Suddendorf, T. (2003). Early representational insight: Twenty-four-month-olds can use a photo to find an object in the world. Child Development, 74, 896–904. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00574.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, G., & Herbert, J. S. (2013). Eye tracking infants: Investigating the role of attention during learning on recognition memory. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 54, 14–19. doi:10.1111/sjop.12002.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, G., & Herbert, J. S. (2014). Infant and adult visual attention during an imitation demonstration. Developmental Psychobiology, 56, 770–782. doi:10.1002/dev.21147.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tosi, V., Mecacci, L., & Pasquali, E. (1997). Scanning eye movements made when viewing film: Preliminary observations. International Journal of Neuroscience, 92, 47–52. doi:10.3109/00207459708986388.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Troseth, G. L. (2003). TV guide: Two-year-old children learn to use video as a source of information. Developmental Psychology, 39, 140–150. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.39.1.140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Troseth, G. L. (2010). Is it life or is it Memorex? Video as a representation of reality. Developmental Review, 30, 155–175. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2010.03.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Troseth, G. L., & DeLoache, J. S. (1998). The medium can obscure the message: Young children’s understanding of video. Child Development, 69, 950–965. doi:10.2307/1132355.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Troseth, G. L., Saylor, M. M., & Archer, A. H. (2006). Young children’s use of video as socially relevant information. Child Development, 77, 786–799. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00903.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Troseth, G., Casey, A., Lawver, K., Walker, J., & Cole, D. (2007). Naturalistic experience and the early use of symbolic artifacts. Journal of Cognition and Development, 8, 309–331. doi:10.1080/15248370701446772.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tseng, P. H., Carmi, R., Cameron, I. G. M., Munoz, D. P., & Itti, L. (2009). Quantifying centre bias of observers in free viewing of dynamic natural scenes. Journal of Vision, 9, 1–16. doi:10.1167/9.7.4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zack, E., Barr, R., Gerhardstein, P., Dickerson, K., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2009). Infant imitation from television using novel touch screen technology. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27, 13–26. doi:10.1348/026151008X334700.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This chapter was supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Heather L. Kirkorian, Principal Investigator, BCS-1226550, BCS-1525726) and Hollins University (Tiffany A. Pempek, Principal Investigator, BCS-1524539). Findings and opinions expressed in this chapter do not reflect endorsement by the National Science Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Heather Kirkorian

  2. Hollins University, Roanoke, VA, USA

    Tiffany Pempek

  3. University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA

    Koeun Choi

Authors
  1. Heather Kirkorian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tiffany Pempek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Koeun Choi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heather Kirkorian .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Rachel Barr

  2. Department of Human Development, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

    Deborah Nichols Linebarger

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kirkorian, H., Pempek, T., Choi, K. (2017). The Role of Online Processing in Young Children’s Learning from Interactive and Noninteractive Digital Media. In: Barr, R., Linebarger, D. (eds) Media Exposure During Infancy and Early Childhood. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45102-2_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation