of the "less serious" televiewing by the American children; that is, American children may not be trying as hard to make sense of the television programs and extract information from them. Salomon's research represents an unusual hypothesis in the literature and has not been replicated by other studies. To summarize, our knowledge of children's understanding of the various techniques used in production of television programs is still rudimentary. The research to date suggests that children's understanding of some of the symbols of the audio-visual medium probably does not develop until they acquire mastery of other abstract information-processing abilities--such as relating parts to wholes--and have greater experience with watching television. Unfortunately, we have little evidence pinpointing where confusions arise in interpreting television messages as a result of the use of particular production techniques. Children's understanding of the television medium. The content of television can be real-life, as in a news show, and it can be fantasy, as in many comic or dramatic programs. Sometimes television tries to entertain without engaging the viewer's intellect; other times it tries to persuade the viewer to adopt a certain point of view or to buy certain products. How do children understand the nature of television programming? Can they recognize reality from fantasy? Can they distinguish among different kinds of programming? When do they understand that advertising is different from other programming? In short, do they understand the medium of television? Several studies have reported that as children grow older they are less likely to report that television is "real" or that television people are like people in real life (Greenberg et al., 1976; Lyle and Hoffmam. 1972; Noble 1975). In particular, preschoolers and kindergartners have been shown to have difficulty understanding that television programs are "make believe" and televisio...
