Young Children's Processing of a Televised Narrative: Is a Picture Really Worth a Thousand Words?

This article examines why young children often exhibit superior knowledge acquisition when televised information is presented in an audiovisual format than when an audio mode of transmission is used. The results indicate that an audio televised presentation promotes learning equivalent to that of an audiovisual presentation when the audio transmission facilitates both the learning of individual acts or items and the learning of the causal and temporal connections between these acts. In addition, knowledge acquisition differences between older and younger children for audio televised information are eliminated when both types of learning are facilitated. Copyright 1993 by the University of Chicago.