Abstract
Research has shown that animation plays an important role in the development of children’s executive function (EF), and the development of EF components, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, is asynchronous. Thus, this study explores the developmental trajectories and animation features (fantasy and pacing) that influence each EF component, by examining 218 children aged 4–7. Pretest information, mainly the childhood EF inventory, was provided by parents: child’s age, age of first exposure to animation, animation viewing time on weekdays and weekends, family income, and parents’ education. The children in each age group were randomly divided into four groups to watch animations comprised of different animation features. After watching, their EF were measured by a day-night task, backward digit-span task, and flexible item-selection task. The results showed that the children’s inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility levels all improved with age. Highly fantastical animations weakened children’s performance on each subsequent EF task. Pacing had no effect on any of the components of children’s EF. An interactive effect on inhibitory control was only found with fantasy in younger children; specifically, high-fantastical animations had a more pronounced short-lived weakening effect on inhibitory control in younger children (4–6 years) compared with low-fantastical animations. Future research should explore the long-term impact of content rather than the form of animation on younger children’s EF.
Highlights
Most of the current studies agree that the three main components of executive function (EF) are: (a) inhibitory control, namely, the ability to stop focusing on information and/or inhibit dominant responses; (b) working memory (WM), namely, the ability to revise items in working memory by replacing old items with new ones; and (c) flexibility, namely, the ability to transform from one set of rules to another [4,8]
The analysis indicated that no significant group differences were found with respect to gender (F(3, 214) = 0.05, p = 0.98), family income (F(3, 214) = 1.62, p = 0.91), parental education (F(3, 214) = 0.36, p = 0.78), age of first exposure to animations (F(3, 214) = 0.52, p = 0.67), amount of animation viewing on weekdays (F(3, 214) = 2.58, p = 0.08), and the pre-test EF scores (F(3, 214) = 0.66, p = 0.58), were not significant (n.s.)
There was a significant difference in animation viewing on weekends among children in the four groups, (F(3, 214) = 3.09, p < 0.05, η 2 = 0.04)
Summary
Executive function (EF) refers to the ability of individuals to consciously control their thoughts and actions [1,2]. The development of EF during childhood is of great significance for the individual’s future life, education, and employment [3,4]. Most of the current studies agree that the three main components of EF are: (a) inhibitory control, namely, the ability to stop focusing on information and/or inhibit dominant responses;. Researchers found that the development of each component of EF is asynchronous [3,9,10].
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