Preschoolers’ ability to build inferences about a film protagonist’s emotional state

In this study, we investigated whether preschool children can draw inferences about the emotional state of a film protagonist. A sample of 59 children aged 4 and 5 watched 20 scenes from a television show. Their ability to understand the protagonist’s emotional states was assessed using a reaction time task. Media sign literacy, theory of mind abilities, and the general understanding of the scenes were also evaluated. Our results show that even children aged 4 drew emotional inferences but only on a valence-based level (i.e., distinguishing between emotions of different valences). No exact inferences (i.e., distinguishing between emotions of the same valence) were drawn. There were no significant influences of media sign literacy or theory of mind on the inference generation, but general understanding of the film scenes was important.