Finds support for the general notion of construct accessibility and its effect on judgments can help account for the influence of television viewing on social reality estimates. Shows that subjects who watch comparatively more television not only overestimate frequency or probability but also give faster responses to various types of cultivation…

Assesses the variable amounts of attention that are required for a viewer to process two kinds of interruptions common to television: the shift from one message to a different, unexpected message; and the reference to previously presented material. Interprets results in terms of limited capacity and attentional inertia models of attention. (RS)

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…

Examines psychological concepts and theories about people's restrictions in processing information, and relates the concepts and theories to multiple resource theory. Applies this approach to television viewing, and discusses four separate limiting factors. (SR)

Investigates whether selective attention to a particular television modality resulted in different levels of attention to the visual and auditory modalities. Finds that subjects were able to focus on a particular message channel but that reactions to cues were faster when the audio channel contained the most information and when viewers focused on…

Tests the hypothesis that processing strategy moderates the effect of television viewing on social perceptions of undergraduate students (cultivation effect). Examines views on prevalence of crime, occupations, affluence, and marital discord. Indicates that processing strategy moderated the cultivation effect such that cultivation effects were…

Investigates regular viewers' representations of soap opera characters to discover the nature of these representations, the extent to which they reflect the application of social knowledge, and the extent to which they reflect the structure of the program. (MS)

Finds that women's preferences for comedy television programs were strongest immediately prior to and during menses when negative affect was also most evident. Finds also that at the midpoint of the menstrual cycle, when positive affect proved the strongest, an elevated interest in suspense drama programs was apparent. (SR)

Surveys children and parents to examine children's active, conscious cognitive processing of television program information during home viewing. Finds that children's mental effort investment varies as a function of viewer age and the type of program being viewed. (SR)

Investigates long-standing familiarity with subtitled movies and processing efficiency as variables of total time spent in the subtitled area. Rules out subtitle reading resulting from habit from long-term experience. Suggests that reading subtitles is preferred because of efficiency in following a movie. (SR)

Examines psychophysiological and cognitive processing of television events to see what kinds of contextual information might be stored as a result of both real and fictional television events and mediated and unmediated television events. Examines decision processes that use this information. Suggests that television may result in contextual…

Reveals that, although there were no differences in the amount of television watched by high sensation seekers (HSS) or low sensation seekers (LSS), HSS preferred music formats and action-adventure programs, and used television to increase the complexity and arousal in their environment. (SR)

Examines those at the margins of television viewing (self-defined heavy viewers and non-viewers who neither own nor watch television) in order to understand how these groups situate television in their lives. Finds that both populations address themes of motivation, consequences, and importance but choose different actions based on those…

Investigates videocassette recorder (VCR) use in Hong Kong, finding that the VCR does not compete with cinema-going and television viewing, but complements these activities. Confirms research in Western nations regarding VCR use. (SR)

Finds that, among college students, (1) both related and unrelated cuts resulted in cardiac orienting responses; (2) processing unrelated cuts required more capacity than processing related cuts; and (3) memory was better for information presented after related cuts, with this effect greater for visual memory than for audio memory. (SR)