The effect of flashback on children's understanding of television crime content

Abstract

First, third, and fifth graders viewed an edited version of a televised police drama presented in canonical order, jumbled order, or flashback. Children who viewed the canonical version were able to sequence central scenes better than those who viewed other versions. Contrary to expectations, sequencing of the flashback version was not superior to sequencing of the jumbled version. Temporal order did not affect children's comprehension of central, peripheral, or implicit content. Memory for central content was better than for peripheral and implicit content. Results indicate children remember a police drama equally well across different temporal orders, but can sequence events better when viewed in correct temporal order.