Viewing Fantastical Events Versus Touching Fantastical Events: Short-Term Effects on Children's Inhibitory Control

Hui Li, Kaveri Subrahmanyam, Xuejun Bai, Xiaochun Xie, Tao Liu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Three pretest-posttest experiments were conducted to compare the effects of viewing versus interacting with either fantastical or real events on 4- and 6-year-old children's inhibitory control. Experiment 1 (N = 72) suggested that although viewing fantastical events had a negative effect on inhibitory control, interacting with them produced no such disruption. Experiment 2 (N = 17) also found that children's inhibitory control decreased after viewing fantastical events but not after interacting with them. In addition, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data showed that viewing fantastical events resulted in greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Experiment 3 (N = 72) showed that children's inhibitory control increased after viewing and interacting with real events. The implications for studying the effects of mobile devices are discussed.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)48-57
Number of pages10
JournalChild Development
Volume89
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Child
  • Child Behavior (physiology)
  • Child Development (physiology)
  • Child, Preschool
  • Executive Function (physiology)
  • Fantasy
  • Female
  • Functional Neuroimaging (methods)
  • Humans
  • Inhibition, Psychological
  • Male
  • Prefrontal Cortex (diagnostic imaging, physiology)
  • Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared (methods)
  • Touch Perception (physiology)
  • Visual Perception (physiology)

Disciplines

  • Psychiatry and Psychology

Cite this