Abstract
Television’s introduction in the 1950s spurred long-lived concerns for the consequences of television viewing on children’s cognitive development that still persist today. Historically, critiques have focused on child-directed shows’ fast pacing (e.g., high number of camera cuts or scene changes), yet recent experimental research suggests that the fantasy (e.g., number of unrealistic or impossible characters and events) of the shows may be more detrimental than fast pacing. It is theorised that high pace and fantasy rates may overtax children’s cognitive abilities while viewing leading to lowered executive function abilities immediately and longitudinally. The overarching aim of this thesis was to explore whether the pace and fantasy rates of child-directed shows have negative effects on child viewers’ executive functioning. Study 1 involved a parental questionnaire to gather up-to-date data on children’s access to and technology use in Aotearoa New Zealand. The short-term effects of pace and fantasy were investigated through a partial replication experiment of the negative effect of fast-paced and fantastical content (Study 2A) and two meta-analyses of the existing experimental research (Study 2B). The long-term effects were explored in Study 3 by coding the pace and fantasy rates of the shows habitually watched by a longitudinal cohort of Aotearoa New Zealand children, and using regression analysis to see whether viewing in early childhood predicted executive functioning in later childhood. Together, these studies suggest that there are weak, non-significant relationships between pace or fantasy rates and executive functioning in both the short- and long-term.