ABSTRACT

This study tested the extent to which the presence and relevance of interactive features influence toddlers’ visual attention and learning from videos. Two-year-olds (N = 88) watched an animated bear hide on video and then searched for a bear sticker on a corresponding felt board. To watch the bear hide, toddlers watched without touching the screen (non-interactive condition), touched a relevant part of the screen (the bear; relevant condition), or touched an irrelevant part of the screen (a star; irrelevant condition). A subset of 60 children (68%) wore a head-mounted eye-tracker to record their eye movements while watching the bear hide. A relevant touchscreen feature did not increase toddlers’ learning compared to non-interactive video, despite increasing toddlers’ visual attention to target information. Conversely, the irrelevant touchscreen feature had a positive effect on learning, particularly on later search trials. The findings are discussed with respect to toddlers’ mental representations of on-screen versus real-life events and implications for the design of touchscreen media for children.

IMPACT SUMMARY

• a. Prior State of Knowledge:

Toddlers learn less from video than from real-life experiences. It is widely believed that interactive media support toddlers’ learning, but research is mixed, sometimes finding neutral or even negative effects of interactivity compared to noninteractive video.

b. Novel Contributions:

A simple, relevant touchscreen feature increased toddlers’ encoding of target information but did not improve learning. Conversely, an irrelevant touchscreen feature improved toddlers’ learning, perhaps by increasing slightly the effort required to complete an otherwise simple task.

c. Practical Implications:

Interactive media do not always increase toddlers’ learning. Simple learning tasks may not benefit from simple interactivity. Instead, media creators may be able to maximize educational value by balancing the difficulty of the lesson with the complexity of media features.

中文翻译：

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触摸屏交互性对美国幼儿选择性注意力和数字媒体学习的影响

摘要

这项研究测试了交互功能的存在和相关性在多大程度上影响幼儿的视觉注意力和从视频中学习。两岁（N= 88) 观看视频中的动画熊隐藏，然后在相应的毡板上搜索熊贴纸。为了观看熊皮，幼儿在不触摸屏幕的情况下观看（非交互条件）、触摸屏幕的相关部分（熊；相关条件）或触摸屏幕的不相关部分（星星；不相关条件）。一部分 60 名儿童 (68%) 佩戴头戴式眼动仪来记录他们在观看熊皮时的眼球运动。尽管增加了幼儿对目标信息的视觉注意力，但与非交互式视频相比，相关的触摸屏功能并未增加幼儿的学习。相反，不相关的触摸屏功能对学习产生了积极影响，尤其是在以后的搜索试验中。

影响总结

• 一种。先前的知识状态：

幼儿从视频中学到的东西比从现实生活中学到的要少。人们普遍认为交互式媒体支持幼儿的学习，但研究结果参差不齐，与非交互式视频相比，有时发现交互性的中性甚至负面影响。

湾。小说贡献：

一个简单的相关触摸屏功能增加了幼儿对目标信息的编码，但并没有改善学习。相反，一个无关紧要的触摸屏功能提高了幼儿的学习能力，也许是通过稍微增加完成一项原本简单的任务所需的努力。

C。实际影响：

互动媒体并不总能增加幼儿的学习。简单的学习任务可能不会从简单的交互中受益。相反，媒体创作者可以通过平衡课程的难度和媒体功能的复杂性来最大化教育价值。