Minnets mysterier: En studie om samspelet mellan visuellt beteende, verbal förmåga, delad uppmärksamhet, inkodning och minne hos barn i treårsåldern

The aim of this study was to investigate the verbal ability, visual behavior and memory in preschoolers, in relation to an animated picture book with narration. Furthermore, the purpose was to study the effect of joint attention on visual behavior and memory. Data was collected in a sample of 63 children between 33 and 48-months-old. Children were matched into two different groups. To operationalize joint attention children in the experiment group watched the movie together with the test leader while children in the control group looked at the movie by themselves. Throughout the movie, visual behavior was registered by an eye-tracker. The results showed a positive linear relation between the verbal ability of the children and their memory of the movie. However, there was no linear relationship between visual behavior and memory, and joint attention did not affect the visual behavior or memory. In conclusion, while verbal ability had a clear impact on children’s memory of the movie, visual behavior is a complex construct that needs to be investigate further in relation to memory. Finally, different levels of joint attention need to be examined further in relation to learning.