TV Guide: Two-Year-Old Children Learn to Use Video as a Source of Information

Learning to use symbols is a challenge for young children even when the symbol in question (e.g., a live video image) is iconic and seems transparent to adults. This research examined the effect of experience on children's use of video-presented information. Two-year-old children saw themselves...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychology 2003-01, Vol.39 (1), p.140-150
Main Author: Troseth, Georgene L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child Behavior
Child Development
Child psychology
Child, Preschool
Children & youth
Cognitive Development
Developmental psychology
Experience Level
Experiential learning
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Information
Information Sources
Learning
Male
Media
Media Research
Preschool children
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Representational Thinking
Search Behavior
Symbolic representation
Symbolic Thinking
Symbols
Television
Toddlers
Transfer of Training
Video
Videotape Recordings
Videotaped information
Videotapes
Visual Perception
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Summary:Learning to use symbols is a challenge for young children even when the symbol in question (e.g., a live video image) is iconic and seems transparent to adults. This research examined the effect of experience on children's use of video-presented information. Two-year-old children saw themselves "live" on their family television for 2 weeks and then participated in an object-retrieval task. The children reliably used a live video presentation of an adult hiding a toy in an adjoining room to find the toy. Most also transferred what they learned to a task involving another symbol (pictures) that typically is very difficult for this age group. The results reveal flexibility in 2-year-olds' symbol use that follows from successful representation of a symbolic relation.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/0012-1649.39.1.140