AbstractsCommunication

Television viewing by 17 dyads of mother and child at a laboratory with toys and books available was recorded. Children’s and their mothers’ looking behavior and formal features in the television programs were coded. Children’s attentional styles in relation to the occurrence of each formal feature, their age, gender, viewing experience, their mothers’ attention, and mediation were examined. With several exceptions, children paid more attention to perceptually salient features than reflective features and linguistic codes. Older children and children with more viewing experience paid more attention to some reflective features and linguistic codes, whereas younger children and children with less viewing experience paid more attention to some perceptually salient features. Boys paid more attention to adult male characters than girls did. Mothers’ attention and mediation further moderated developmental change and individual differences in children’s attention.