of a television program adults consider essential to understanding the plotline. Furthermore, there is some evidence that children at this age level also are less proficient at drawing inferences about the relationship between scenes of the plot, and may not be attempting to organize the plotline information in a meaningful fashion as they watch the program. Similarly, during the elementary school years children have difficulty understanding characters, motivations for actions. Kindergartners through third graders have been found to be less adept at recalling characters' motivations for actions than are older children. There is evidence that by the fifth grade children begin to describe motivations for characters' behaviors when asked to give a description of a television character; children recognize motive cues in multiple-choice tests about a particular television character's actions; and they offer explanations of characters' motives when describing television plotlines. However, there is some evidence that the underlying dimensions or traits children use to compare on television character with another may not change as children grow older; humor, attractiveness, activity, and strength are four dimensions which children of different age levels have been found to use in comparing television characters. What little research exists on children's understanding of audiovisual techniques and the economics of television as a business suggests that understanding of these aspects of the medium increases as children grow older. Elementary school children appear less adept at understanding various sorts of production techniques, such as flashbacks and slow motion, than older children and adults. Furthermore, children in the elementary grades appear to have little comprehension of the economic relationship among advertising, programming, and viewership or other characteristics of the economics of television. Further examination of the developm...
