The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between 64 six- and seven-year-old children's perception of the reality of television and the Piagetian construct of cognitive development. The children were asked to view two television episodes (a highly similar, closely matched pair from the television series "Star Trek") and to respond to the Degree of Perceived Reality Scale (DPRS). One of the two episodes used live actors (human fantasy) and the other used animated representations (cartoon fantasy) of the live actors. The Concept Assessment Kit--Conservation (CAKC) was administered to determine each child's ability to conserve and level of cognitive development. A significant correlation was found between scores on CAKC and DPRS. A t-test generated a significant difference between conservers' and nonconservers' scores on the DPRS, favoring conservers. The conclusion is that young children's degree of perceived reality is dependent on their level of cognitive development. (Author/JM)