Watching fast-paced television cartoons such as "Spongebob Squarepants" could negatively impact preschool-aged children's readiness for learning, a University study published Monday in the October issue of the journal "Pediatrics" reports.
University Psychology Prof. Angeline Lillard and graduate student Jennifer Peterson spearheaded the study, which examined 60 4-year-olds after they were stimulated by an activity for nine minutes.
The children were randomly divided into three groups. The first was presented with a nine-minute segment of the show "Spongebob Squarepants," a "fast-paced, fantastical cartoon" which is "constantly reorienting to new perceptual scenes," Lillard said.
In contrast, the second group was shown a segment of "Caillou," a slower, more educational show with less frequent scene changes. Psychologists assigned the third control group a drawing exercise.\nFollowing the nine-minute segments, the children were given four tasks which tested executive function, including self-regulation and memory. Researchers found the Spongebob children performed "significantly worse on the executive function tasks than children in the other 2 groups when controlling for child attention, age, and television exposure," the study stated.
In shows such as "Spongebob Squarepants" where "reality principles are constantly violated," children struggle more as they are "watching and trying to assimilate it," which in turn inhibits their ability to pay attention and moderate their behavior, Lillard said.
Dimitri Christakis, a child development specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital, noted weaknesses in the study "including its small sample and lack of adequate blinding," in an editorial published Monday which accompanied the study in the same issue of "Pediatrics" journal.
"Similar to many initial forays into a new area, it raises as many (or more) questions than it answers," Christakis wrote.
Christakis also criticized the narrow age range selected for the study and noted the total viewing time was "considerably less than that of a typical show or what is typically watched in a day."
Lillard said criticism of the narrow age range and short viewing time mirrored concerns that spurred her and Peterson to conduct a second study in March 2011 to mend those factors.
In the replication study, groups of 4-year-olds as well as 6-year-olds were shown full 11-minute episodes of "Spongebob." The second study confirmed the hypothesis that fast-paced, fantastical shows harm executive function, Lillard said.
Although Lillard and Peterson submitted the second study to "Pediatrics" to be included with the initial one, Lillard said "Pediatrics" refused to accept supplemental data.
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