The effect of cartoon on the immediate motor executive function of 4-6 year old children

Abstract

Background: Children’s television viewing has been of concern to parents, educators and health care providers for almost as long as the television itself has been in existence. Objective of present study was to investigate the effect of cartoon viewing on the immediate motor executive function of 4-6 year old children.Methods: 279 children, aged 4-6 year old children were administered the Seguin Form board test to confirm they were all developmentally equal. These children were then randomly assigned to watch a fast paced television cartoon, a slow paced cartoon or colour an image. Following this they were then given 3 tasks to assess motor executive function, including the colour match, 4 two piece puzzle and separating coloured beads. The time taken to complete the task was noted and the data was analyzed.Results: Children who watched the fast-paced cartoon performed slower on the motor executive function tasks than the children in the other two groups. (p<0.001).Conclusions: Even ten minutes of viewing a fast paced television cartoon had immediate negative effects on 4-6 year old children’s motor executive function. Parents should be aware that fast paced cartoon shows could at least temporarily impair young children’s motor executive function.

The immediate impacts of TV programs on preschoolers' executive functions and attention: a systematic review

“…This finding underscores the significant influence of pacing on children's EF. Additionally, Sanketh et al [ 28 ] investigated the impact of a TV program's pacing on children's motor EF. Involving a sample of 279 four- to six-year-olds, the study began with a pre-viewing test to ensure developmental equivalence among participants.…”

“…Little Einsteins (slow-paced & fantastical) 4. Little Bill (slow-paced & non-fantastical) Parent Questionnaires • Dimensional Changes Card Sort (DCCS) • Auditory Working Memory • Luria’s Hand game • Gift Wrap DoG Cool EF: • Tower of Hanoi task • Head, Toes, Knees, and Shoulders task (HTKS) • Auditory Working Memory • Day/Night task Hot EF: • Forbidden Toy DoG No immediate effect of pacing Negative effect of fantastical TV programs on Cool EF * The two Hot EF tasks were left out of all analyses 17/21 Sanketh et al [ 28 ] n = 279 4- to 6-year-olds Pace 10 min Motor EF 1. Tom and Jerry (fast-paced) 2.…”

“…For Cool and Hot EF, Lillard and Peterson [ 13 ] reported a negative impact of pacing, while Lillard et al [ 14 ] did not observe any. Moreover, in the realm of general EF, only Sanketh et al [ 28 ] delved into the effect of pacing on EF (motor EF), revealing a negative influence.…”

“…Another subset of related research has focused on higher-order EF tests, encompassing domains such as planning and problem-solving. Additionally, a few studies have measured EF in a very general way, with tasks that address different parts of EF (assessed through tasks involving color separation or completing puzzles as quickly as possible) [ 28 ].…”

“…Research examining the immediate impact of these two features on children's attention and EF has yielded conflicting outcomes. Several studies indicate that fast-paced television programs have a negative effect on children's attention and EFs [ 13 , 28 , 37 , 38 ]. In contrast, some studies have shown positive results [ 12 , 39 ], while other studies found no significant impact [ 14 , 27 , 29 , 40 ].…”