Relationship Between Fantastical Events and Children’s Executive Function

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to better understand the relationship between fantastical content in children’s TV shows and executive function (EF). This project examined the research question: Is there a relationship between the percent of fantastical shows selected and a child’s EF? Fantastical content is described as breaking naïve physics, impossible transformations (character's body changes shape, character spins and their clothes change, etc.), and fantastical beings (fairies, unicorns, etc.). Children aged 4- to 6-years and their parents/guardians were recruited for the study. Parents completed the demographic and EF section of the questionnaire by themselves. Following that section, they helped their child complete the fantastical section, comprised of forced-choice questions that required the child to choose between a fantastical show and a non-fantastical show. The percent of fantastical shows selected was calculated to gain an understanding of how many fantastical shows the child prefers to watch over non-fantastical shows. A Pearson correlation was computed to assess the relationship between the percent of fantastical shows selected and EF score. The findings suggest that there is no correlation between the percent of fantastical shows selected and EF score.