title: The relationship of visual attention to children's comprehension of television.
abstract: The study experimentally tested the relationship between visual attention and comprehension of a TV program. 72 5-year-old children watched a 40-min version of the TV program "Sesame Street." Half the children viewed the program in the presence of a variety of toys and half viewed without toys. The children were then tested for their comprehension of the program. Although visual attention to the TV in the no-toys group was nearly twice that in the toys group, there was no difference between the groups in comprehension. There were, nevertheless, significant within-group correlations between visual attention and comprehension even for questions concerning only auditorily presented material. The results were interpreted as indicating that in a normal TV viewing setting, variations in the comprehensibility of the TV program may determine variations in children's attention to the TV.
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013690:Television; D014796:Visual Perception