The impact of animation in children’s picture books on engagement, cognitive development, and Reading enjoyment

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of animation in children's picture books on engagement, emotional response, and cognitive development using the ViSAR model. A mixed-method approach was applied, involving 300 valid survey responses and observations of children aged 4–8. Findings reveal that animated books significantly increase engagement, with average reading time rising to 12.5 minutes compared to 8.2 minutes for traditional books (p = 0.001). Engagement scores were higher for animated books (8.6 ± 2.9) than traditional ones (4.7 ± 2.3; p = 0.002). Emotional responses improved, with mean scores of 4.4 versus 3.2 (p = 0.005). Cognitive outcomes also showed gains, including vocabulary recognition (17.3 vs. 14.7), memory retention (19.1 vs. 16.5) and problem-solving (16.4 vs. 14.2). Regression analysis indicated that attention (β = 0.45) and emotional engagement (β = 0.38) significantly predicted comprehension (R²s = 0.56).