Examines children's understanding of temporal order as depicted on television through three techniques: canonical sequencing, reversed sequencing, and time leaps. A study of four-, six-, and eight-year olds is described, and findings suggest that cognitive skills associated with the ability to comprehend liquid conservation contribute to…

Describes television production techniques used to convey nonverbal messages to viewers (laugh tracks, flashbacks, zooms to close-ups, voice-overs, time continuity) and presents selections from interviews with five- to nine-year-old children to demonstrate that the understanding of these telegenic nonverbals is a learned phenomenon. Implications…