Scientific study proves: Personalized children’s books have a positive effect on memory and attention.
3 Minute ReadBack in July, we told you all about how our wonderful Mrs. Owl, aka Patricia Brüniger, is researching the benefits of personalized children’s books. Now at last, we can show you some of the findings! With a total of 71 children tested, it’s the world’s largest scientific study dealing with personalized children’s books.
What was investigated?
Personalized children’s books have something magical about them. They allow children to dive deep into a story and discover a new world. But how do they differ from conventional children’s books? This question was examined with special attention paid to how they affect the strength of a child’s memories and also to their general interest in what they’re reading.
How was the study conducted?
The study was carried out in cooperation with the University of Bern and involved a total of 19 different kindergartens in Switzerland. At these kindergartens 71 children were read the book “Welcome to School“. One half of the children were read a personalized version, the other half a non-personalized version. To find out how well the children paid attention, the reading was recorded on video and the children were then asked various questions about the content of the story. Through doing this, it was possible to note any differences between the behavior and the answers of the two groups of children.
Positive effects on memory and attention.
Overall, it turned out that children who were read a personalized book could recount the story in more detail. They could also remember what actually happened in the story better (see image re memory). In addition, this group was significantly more attentive during its being read to them (see image re attention).
Personalized children’s books can therefore help children to remember the content of a story better and be more attentive during reading. These results suggest a positive benefit of personalized children’s books on the memory and attention of kindergarten children.
Average number of memorized content (including richness of detail) of the children who received a personalized children’s book vs. that of children who had been read a non-personalized children’s book.
Average points for behavioural involvement (eg. focus on book, interaction with book) of the children who have a personalized children’s book vs. children who were read a non-personalized children’s book.
Overview
This scientific study with personalized children’s books is the largest study in this field to date. How effective it can be for children to find themselves in a book is shown here.
Some children of our society are either rarely portrayed or not portrayed at all in traditional children’s books. For example, children with a dark skin color are strongly underrepresented in children’s books. Do these children benefit even more from personalised children’s books? This fascinating question is pursued in another scientific study with Librio’s personalized children’s books – watch this space!
Source: Brüniger, P. (2022) Diversity in children’s books (unpublished master thesis, supervised by Dr Neuenschwander). University of Bern.