This experiment tests the hypothesis that background, adult television is a disruptive influence on very young children's behavior. Fifty 12-, 24-, and 36-month-olds played with a variety of toys for 1 hr. For half of the hour, a game show played in the background on a monaural TV set. During the other half hour, the TV was off. The children…

Finds that inertial engagement sustains looks across boundaries between programs and commercials; inertial engagement does not carry over from one look to the next; inertial engagement was associated with greater recognition memory for television content; and look length distributions are approximately lognormal, and hazard functions are…

This study analyzed 1- to 4-year-old children's attention to television as a function of age, sex, and the presence or absence of a number of relatively simple auditory and visual characteristics of a TV program. (Author/JMB)

Presents the first investigation of the effects of experience with a particular program series on children's subsequent television viewing behavior and comprehension. Notes three- to five-year-old regular, experienced viewers of "Blue's Clues" were compared to new, inexperienced viewers. Suggests that a television series can teach children a style…

Studies investigating selected aspects of children's television viewing are described and the findings are used as the basis of a theoretical formulation in which young children's television viewing is seen as a transactional process similar to other normal information processing activities. According to this formulation, the child's motivation to…

The TV viewing situation involves an active transaction between the child, the TV, and the TV viewing environment. The TV viewing transaction is a blend of passive and active cognitive activities. Children begin to watch TV systematically at around 2 1/2 years of age because at that time they have the cognitive ability to aappreciate the meaning…

Finds, studying 491 adults, stress (measured by life events) was unrelated to time spent viewing TV but, for women, was positively related to television "addiction." Finds, studying 329 families, confirmation of mood management theory--stress was associated with increased comedy and decreased news viewing. Finds, studying 140 adults,…

Reveals that 46% of the time with television was spent in some activity instead of or in addition to looking at the TV. Notes that social interaction was the most common nonviewing activity for all viewers, followed by playing and eating for children and reading for adults. Considers how nonviewing behaviors occurred most often during programming…

Recorded home television viewing of 2-, 5-, 8-, 12-year olds, and adults on time-lapse videotapes over 10-day period. Found that cuts, movement, and overt purposeful character behavior were positively related to viewer's looking behavior, independent of child versus adult programming. Associations with looking behavior for other features depended…

The purpose of this review is to determine the scientific status of the proposition that viewing television in general or viewing "Sesame Street" in particular affects children's attentional skills, abilities, or behaviors. It has been frequently claimed that television viewing negatively affects children's attentional abilities. The…

Describes a continuing research program concerned with what U.S. preschoolers look at on television and how often they watch and notes implications for the production of television material for young children. (MH)

Decribes age trends in television viewing time and visual attention of children and adults videotaped in their homes for 10-day periods. Shows that the increase in visual attention to television during the preschool years is consistent with the theory that television program comprehensibility is a major determinant of attention in young children.…

It is widely believed that television viewing has a negative impact on school achievement. This belief is supported by negative statistical associations sometimes found between school achievement and amount of television viewing; that is, heavy TV viewers tend to show poorer achievement than light viewers. One possible explanation of this…

Followed up on 570 adolescents studied as preschoolers. Found that preschoolers' viewing of educational television programs was associated with achieving higher grades, reading more books, placing more value on achievement, exhibiting greater creativity, and behaving less aggressively as adolescents more consistently for boys than girls. Found…