The question of how cartoons influence children’s thinking has been discussed for many years. Rapid changes of frames, bright effects and dynamic plots often cause anxiety among parents: it seems that the child’s brain simply does not have time to process the flow of stimuli. For a long time, pace was considered the main suspect. But a new analysis of dozens of independent studies shows that intuition was misleading adults.The danger lies not in speed, but in content.

What the researchers found

The team of psychologists decided to separate two factors – pace and degree of fantasy. To do this, they conducted two large meta-analyses, the results of which were published in Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

The first analysis covered 19 experiments involving 1,431 children aged one and a half to ten years. Children were shown fast-paced videos and calmer videos, and then their attention and ability to control behavior were tested. Contrary to popular belief, the results of both groups were almost the same.

The second analysis examined 16 studies involving 1297 children. This time, scientists compared cartoons with fantastic elements – magic, impossible transformations, violations of the laws of physics – and plots where the events shown could happen in reality.Here the differences were significant.

Why fiction is harder on the brain

“Children performed similarly on cognitive tasks immediately after viewing, regardless of pacing. But children who watched fantasy media performed worse on tasks than those who saw realistic programs,” explained study author Ashley Hinten.

The mechanism is quite simple. The child’s brain tries to comprehend what is happening on the screen. The realistic plot fits into an already familiar picture of the world. Fantastic, on the contrary, violates conventional ideas. To understand why objects float in the air or why animals talk, the brain has to process the information deeper. This takes up the same “mental energy” that is then needed for concentration and impulse control.

Which functions are most affected?

Researchers noticed that attention and the ability to quickly suppress unwanted reactions decline the most. These are basic functions that are needed at school, when following instructions, when learning new things.

This is the child’s ability to restrain himself from impulsive actions. In experiments, children often made automatic, thoughtless reactions – for example, they pressed a button when, according to the rules, they should have done nothing, or were distracted by bright stimuli instead of following instructions. Researchers explain this by saying that the brain spends a lot of resources processing impossible events that violate the laws of reality, and therefore it is difficult for it to quickly “inhibit” impulses immediately after viewing.

It is also important that the age, gender of the child or the duration of the video had almost no effect on the result. Fantasy content reduced the scores of both toddlers and primary schoolchildren equally.

Higher-level skills, such as planning, suffered less, but the effect was still recorded.

Why did some studies show different effects?

Scientists noted significant variability in results. In some experiments the influence of fiction was pronounced, in others it was barely noticeable. This suggests that context plays an important role. Children who watch with their parents can ask questions, discuss what they see and thus compensate for the load. And single viewing makes the perception tiring.

Despite the persistent negative effect, the authors emphasize:This is not a reason to completely ban fantasy cartoons.

“It is important to remember that laboratory conditions are different from real life. In experiments, children do not choose what to watch, for how long, or with whom. This impacts the bottom line,” notes Hinten.

According to her, the purpose of the study is not to scare parents, but to give them clear guidelines. For example, after watching a fantastic cartoon, it is better to give the child a little time to switch, and not require immediate concentration from him.Scientists also advise not to turn on cartoons of the same genre to your child in a row, so that the brain has time to rest and process what it sees.