According to a study published in the November issue of Developmental Psychology by a University professor, parents who read picture books to their children are not only encouraging early reading skills, but are also teaching toddlers about the world around them.
The study, conducted by University Psychology Chair Judy DeLoache and Gabrielle Simcock, a University of Queensland psychology professor, demonstrates that books with lifelike pictures aid childhood learning.
"We were trying to determine the educational potential of picture books," DeLoache said. "We wanted to know if the nature of the pictures in the books made a difference in how children learn."
Participants, who ranged in age from 15 months to 2 years, were given pictures of one familiar object and two "novel" objects that no child would know, she said.
Each object was presented as a black-and-white drawing, color drawing or color photo. The images were used to teach the children the names of the respective objects, DeLoache said.
The study found that children best remembered the objects from the color photos when presented with the actual objects from the respective pictures, she noted.
"The more realistic the pictures were, the better the children learned what the objects were," DeLoache said. "They were able to interact with them better."
In the long run, it is best for parents to employ both educational and entertaining books, according to Jumpstart Charlottesville Site Manager Sarah Rude.
Rude said some Jumpstart programs --- which bring at-risk preschool children together with adults in one-on-one relationships -- involve 15-minute reading sessions with children who having a hard time reading.
"From my personal experience and from studies that I have read, children, whose parents focus mainly on the learning aspect of reading during the early years, often lose interest in reading later on in life," Rude said, noting that children who are exposed to reading as entertainment tend to become lifelong readers.
DeLoache noted that realistic pictures are more important for educational purposes than for pleasure reading.
"If a parent is reading to [his] child for entertainment, then it should not matter what picture books they read to them," she said. "But if they want to teach their child something new, then they should use books with more realistic pictures."
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