VOA标准英语2011--Study: Fast-paced TV Cartoons Reduce Kid

Study: Fast-paced TV Cartoons Reduce Kids' Learning

Young children have difficulty learning immediately after watching fast-paced television cartoons full of images and activities that are not possible in real life, according to a new study.
It's what some people are calling the "SpongeBob effect."
"SpongeBob SquarePants" is a cartoon character whose surreal and improbable undersea adventures are watched by children around the world.
University of Virginia researchers wanted to find out whether watching "SpongeBob" affected¹ kids' ability to learn immediately after seeing the show.
To find out, a group of four-year-old children watched either a short video of "SpongeBob," or a slower-paced and more realistic animated² show called "Caillou."
A third group of children spent time drawing instead of watching television.
Afterward³, explains researcher Angeline Lillard, they all took standardized⁴ tests designed to measure their ability to concentrate, learn, and solve problems - what psychologists call "executive function."
"And what we found is that children who had been in the "SpongeBob" group were performing only about half as well as the other children. So they were at about 50 percent capacity."
The four-year-olds in this study are at a critical age, when the prefrontal cortex is still developing. That is the part of the brain where problem-solving and related functions are located.
Lillard says one reason why a show like "SpongeBob SquarePants" might affect learning is its combination of speed and content.
"It's fast-paced and it's fantastical. So the child is needing to process all this new stuff really, really fast, and it's difficult to process since it doesn't really happen in real life."
Lillard cautions that her study looked only at how young children learned immediately after watching the TV shows, so she cannot say whether watching these kinds of programs have a permanent effect on learning.
"But I would say that parents might want to think about when children watch such shows and perhaps how frequently they watch them as well because they are certainly compromised immediately afterwards."
Lillard's study is published in the journal Pediatrics.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

3 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

4 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。