Form and content: Looking at visual features of television

Television viewing at home by 50 individuals in 5 age groups (2-, 5-, 8-, 1 2-year-olds, and adults) was recorded on 1-s. time-lapse videotapes over 10 -day periods. Coding was based on 5-min point samples. Analysis examined lo oking at the TV screen in relation to the visual presence of the features c uts, movement, animation, man, woman,child, and nonhuman; content features were child vs. adult programming and overt purposeful character behavior. C uts, movement, and overt purposeful character behavior were positively rela ted to looking independent of child vs. adult programming. Associations wit h looking for the remaining features depended on the viewer's age or sex or type of content within which they occurred.