Subbotsky, Eugene and Slater, Elizabeth (2011) Children's discrimination of fantastic vs realistic visual displays after watching a film with magical content. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 112 (2). pp. 603-609. ISSN 0031-5125
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Six- and nine-yr.-old children (n = 28 of each) were divided into equal experimental and control groups. The experimental groups were shown a film with a magical theme, and the control groups were shown a film with a non- magical theme. All groups then were presented with a choice task requiring them to discriminate between ordinary and fantastic visual displays on a computer screen. Statistical analyses indicated that mean scores for correctly identifying the ordinary and fantastic displays were significantly different between experimental and con- trol groups. The children in the experimental groups who watched the magical film had significantly higher scores on correct identifications than children in the control groups who watched the nonmagical film for both age groups. The results suggest that watching films with a magical theme might enhance children’s sensitivity to- ward the fantasy/reality distinction.