Children's memory for auditory and visual information on television.

Examined the relationship between children's cognitive processing of video and audio information on TV. 96 5-yr-olds viewed a videotaped segment of Sesame Street followed by comprehension and recognition tests. Ss viewed experimental segments in which (a) the audio and video tracks were from the same segment (A/V match), (b) the audio and video tracks were not from the same segment (A/V mismatch), (c) the video track was presented alone, or (d) the audio track was presented alone. This design allowed unconfounded comparisons of modality-specific processing. In the A/V mismatch condition, memory for audio information was reduced more than memory for video information. However, comprehension and recognition of audio information was similar in the audio-only and A/V match conditions. Results suggest that in regular TV programs, the video information does not interfere with processing the audio information but is more salient and memorable than the audio material. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)