Young children's processing of television: Modality differences in the retention of temporal relations

Two experiments were conducted to examine modality differences in pre-schoolers' ability to recognize or recall temporally related events. Results of both experiments demonstrated that temporally related events were remembered more frequently when they were conveyed visually rather than aurally. This modality effect was found both when the semantic content of the auditory and visual sequences was either the same or different, and for shows designed for educational and purely entertainment purposes. The data suggest that children show relatively impoverished integration of the temporal parameters of auditory information, which may contribute to their misunderstandings about the plot of a televison show.