mensional description of the commercial and the product. The major shift in recall from memory for one dimension to multidimensional memory seems to occur between kindergarten and third grade, according to Ward et al. (1977). The older children recalled both more information about the commercial and more different kinds of information--that is, information about the storyline, brand name, and product attributes. Studies of children's ability to remember commercials they had just been shown tends to support these findings. For instance, Atkin (1975a) reports several studies of children's memory for product elements in several specially produced commercials. In one study, a cereal commercial was produced which claimed that the cereal had four specific vitamins. Immediately after viewing the commercial, 90 percent of the eight- to 10-year-olds interviewed could recall two or more details from the commercials, while only about two-thirds of the four- to seven-year-old children interviewed could do so. Moreover, about half of the older age group could name all four of the vitamins mentioned in the commercial. One-seventh of the four- to seven-year-old children could name all four vitamins. Wackman et al. (1979) report three experimental studies of children's information-processing of specially produced television advertisements. Kindergarten and third-grade children were shown groups of television commercials for either candy products or toy products embedded in a half-hour cartoon show in viewing rooms in their schools. A post-viewing interview with each child was conducted to measure their recognition and recall of advertisement information. One general finding across studies was that kindergartners performed better on multiple-choice recognition measures than on open-ended recall measures of their memory for the commercials. Kindergartners generally performed at levels above chance on recognition measures (accurate recognition of about 40...
