IRADS Collaborative Research: Influences of Digital Media on Very Young Children

在过去的四年里，针对婴儿和幼儿的数字媒体产品已经爆炸式地进入市场。随着这些数字产品渗透到家庭中，美国婴儿和幼儿现在平均每天投入大约两个小时的媒体，从生命的头几个月看DVD开始，然后在大约2岁时在父母的腿上接触电脑。尽管美国儿科学会建议儿童在2岁之前不要接触屏幕，但这些早期媒体使用模式仍然存在。虽然初步数据确实表明，当婴儿大量接触为成人观众设计的电视节目时，屏幕暴露会产生负面影响，但目前对为非常年幼的儿童设计的节目的正面或负面影响知之甚少，或者婴儿和幼儿如何理解这些第一次媒体体验。儿童数字媒体中心的一个跨学科研究小组将使用多理论和多方法来跟踪早期数字媒体接触以及这种接触如何影响婴儿和幼儿的注意力和学习。指导研究计划是两个不同但互补的理论，一个涉及内容的可理解性，另一个侧重于媒体的语法（形式特征，如动作，音乐和声音效果）。作为该计划的一个组成部分，国家调查将记录幼儿接触和使用各种数字媒体平台（如DVD、计算机和音乐）的变化和连续性模式。第二个组成部分将涉及对面向年轻人的流行数字产品中使用的正式制作功能进行内容分析。这种形式特征分析将部分用于为实验和观察研究选择和创建刺激物奠定基础。第三个组成部分将涉及确定婴儿和幼儿如何从数字媒体曝光中学习。实验研究也将被用来检查影响主要认知成就的因素，例如理解屏幕上呈现的事件可以代表现实生活中的事件。与其他方法一起，实验研究将包括眼动跟踪研究，以确定非常年幼的儿童如何学习阅读屏幕。与流行的看法相反，婴儿的数字媒体使用的功能不仅仅是保姆的替代品。相反，数字媒体的使用是生命最初几个月的主要环境影响。该项目将提供关于幼儿早期接触专门为他们创建的媒体的新信息，并促进目前对这些产品构建中所涉及的最关键特征的理解。该项目还将产生婴幼儿理解象征性媒体展示的方法的知识，这是理解婴儿智力发展的关键。该项目的成果可能会指导为年幼儿童设计的数字产品的开发，可能会影响联邦媒体政策，并告知父母他们为婴幼儿提供的媒体选择和早期媒体曝光的决定。

Over the past four years, digital media products directed at infants and very young children have exploded into the market place. With the penetration of these digital products into households, the average U.S. infant and toddler now invests approximately two hours each day with media, beginning with DVD viewing in the first months of life followed by computer exposure in a parent's lap at about age 2. These early media use patterns persist despite the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics that children should not experience screen exposure before the age of 2. Although preliminary data do suggest negative effects of screen exposure when infants are heavily exposed to television programs designed for adult audiences, little is currently known about the positive or negative effects of programs designed for very young children, or how infants and toddlers come to understand these first media experiences. An interdisciplinary research team from the Children's Digital Media Center will use a multi-theoretical and multi-method approach to track early digital media exposure and how that exposure influences infants' and very young children's attention and learning. Guiding the research program are two distinct but complementary theories, one involving the comprehensibility of the content and the other focusing on the grammar of media (formal features such as action, music, and sound effects). As one component of the program, national surveys will document patterns of change and continuity over time in very young children's access to, and uses of, various digital media platforms, such as DVDs, computers, and music. A second component will entail content analyses of the formal production features used in popular digital products for the very young. This formal feature analysis will be used, in part, to set the stage for selecting and creating stimuli for experimental and observational research. This third component will involve determining how infants and very young children learn from digital media exposure. Experimental studies will also be employed to examine factors that influence major cognitive accomplishments, such as understanding that events presented on a screen can represent real-life events. Together with other methods, the experimental research will include eye-tracking studies to pinpoint how very young children learn to read a screen. In contrast to popular belief, infants' digital media use functions as more than a surrogate for a babysitter. Rather, digital media use is a major environmental influence from the earliest months of life. This project will provide new information about the early exposure of very young children to media specifically created for them and advance current understanding of the most critical features involved in the construction of these products. The project will also generate knowledge of the means by which infants and toddlers come to understand symbolic media presentations, a key to understanding infants' intellectual development. The outcomes of this project will likely guide the development of digital products designed for the very young, may influence federal media policies, and inform parental decisions about the media choices and early media exposure that they provide for their infants and young children.