How reduced narrative processing demands impact preschoolers’ comprehension of educational television

The capacity model is designed to explain how children extract and comprehend educational content within an educational television program. The model focuses on children’s allocation of their limited cognitive resources during television viewing, with specific attention to the degree to which resources are allocated to comprehending the narrative versus the educational content. The model predicts that, when narrative processing demands are reduced, narrative comprehension should be improved. The model also posits that these reduced narrative demands should translate to improved educational content comprehension because greater cognitive resources are available to process the content. This prediction was tested with 172 preschoolers (102 females, Mean Age = 4.2 years). Story schema skills were used to operationalize narrative processing demands. Results supported the predictions of the capacity model. Advanced story schema supported narrative comprehension, and this reduction in narrative processing demands translated to educational content comprehension. Implications for children’s television programs are discussed.