Toddlers viewing fantastical cartoons: Evidence of an immediate reduction in endogenous control without an increase in stimulus-driven exogenous control

Essex, Claire, Bedford, Rachael, Gliga, Teodora and Smith, Tim J. (2025) Toddlers viewing fantastical cartoons: Evidence of an immediate reduction in endogenous control without an increase in stimulus-driven exogenous control. Developmental Science, 28 (3). ISSN 1363-755X

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Abstract

Empirical studies have shown immediate detrimental effects of TV viewing on children's executive functions (EFs). Existing theories of TV viewing have proposed that such depletion could occur due to fantastical cartoons triggering an attention bias towards salient features of the stimuli (e.g., stimulus-driven exogenous attention). However, a co-occurrence of salient visual features known to drive attention exogenously in fantastical cartoons means it is unclear which aspect of the content is problematic. In the present study, we matched clips on visual saliency to isolate and test the short-term impact of fantastical content. Specifically, we tested (1) performance on an inhibitory control (IC) task (a gaze-contingent anti-saccade task) as a measure of EF depletion, whilst 36 toddlers (18 months) viewed cartoons with and without fantastical events (7-min viewing duration), and (2) whether differences in IC are associated with increased stimulus-driven exogenous attention. Results confirmed an immediate detrimental effect of fantastical cartoons on toddlers’ endogenous control (indexed by anti-saccade behaviours), with toddlers less able to inhibit looks to a distractor to make anticipatory looks to a target. However, fixation durations (FDs) during cartoon viewing and speed of orienting to a distractor on the anti-saccade task did not differ between the two viewing conditions, suggesting no effects on exogenously driven attention. These results point to a detrimental impact of fantastical cartoons on endogenous control mechanisms, which may have arisen from cognitive processing difficulties.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Developmental Science
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	03 Mar 2025 14:30
Last Modified:	31 Mar 2025 10:32
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/98633
DOI:	10.1111/desc.70008

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