Introduction
All around the world, children regularly tune in to television shows; in fact, characters such as Elmo or Kermit the Frog have become icons that seem to transcend time and language barriers. However, despite the scale of children's TV, little is actually known about the immediate effects of television on children's executive function (working memory, self-regulation, etc.). A study in the Pediatrics journal decided to systematically compare different forms of television on human processing for the first time.
Method
Sixty four-year-olds were divided into 3 groups: one group watched fast-action cartoons for 9 minutes, another watched an educational cartoon for 9 minutes, and a third drew pictures for 9 minutes. They were then given 4 tasks that measure executive function, including the classic delay-of-gratification and Tower of Hanoi tasks.
Result
Figure 1.
The graph above shows that kids exposed to the fast-paced action cartoon performed significantly worse in all of the tasks compared with students in the other groups.
Conclusion
The study showed that watching fast-paced cartoons significantly worsened children's executive function. Despite the big finding, the study still has some limitations. It is unclear what aspect of the fast-paced cartoons was responsible for the effects, though researchers theorize that it may be due to the presence of fantastical elements and fast cuts. Furthermore, the same trend may not hold true in older kids or for longer periods of watching television.
