Screen use in infancy may adversely affect executive function

According to a recent study published in , infant screen use can cause a decline in executive function as measured by changes in cortical electroencephalogram (EEG) activity in children under 2 years of age. JAMA Pediatrics.

Infants aged 6 months to 18 months are exposed to screens for an average of 2 to 3 hours per day, and the U.S. Pediatrics Department recommends that children under 18 months use no screen media other than video chats. It largely passes the recommendations of the academic society. This risks impaired attention and executive function, based on findings from previous studies.

Links have been found between screen use in preschool children and changes in white matter tracts that are essential for executive function. However, although infants are most vulnerable to impairments in executive function, there are few data on the potential for neural correlates in this age group and whether impairments persist into school age.

The neural correlates of many cognitive functions can be determined by EGG. An association between screen exposure and greater functional connectivity of his EGG theta waves has also been documented.

Researchers conducted a study to determine the association between screen use at 12 months of age and neural signals indicative of impaired attention control at 18 months of age, and at 9 years of age We analyzed whether any changes lead to different attentional and executive functions.

Data were collected through a population-based cohort known as Growing Up in Singapore Toward Healthy Outcomes. She was 506 mother-infant pairs who completed learning measures when the child was 12 months old and her 9 years old. Exclusion criteria included being born small for gestational age, part of a twin pregnancy, or having a major neurological condition.

Behavioral data of 9-year-old children were analyzed and EGG data were collected in a subset of 157 children. Parents reported screen time for their 12-month-old child in the previous month. Data on children’s screen usage time on weekdays and weekends were reported.

Parents answered the same question about their child’s screen time at five time points between 12 and 54 months of age. Divide the total hours of screen time per week by her 7 days to get an estimated screen time per day.

To record resting eggs, investigators had the children sit on the caregiver’s lap and watched as bubbles were blown into the room. The Harvard Automated Processing Pipeline for EEG (HAPPE) was used to process the data. According to the study authors, “Data were divided into consecutive His 2-second segments, and segment rejection was performed by Her HAPPE criteria.”

Executive function was measured as the primary outcome. The three major executive function components were nomenclature suppression, shifting, and working memory. is showing.

At 12 months of age, the average recorded screen time was approximately 2 hours. When applied to the regression model, we found a reduction of 0.30 to 0.56 points in each task for each additional hour of his screen time.

A linear correlation was observed between screen time and neural correlations at 12 months, with longer screen times leading to greater neural correlations, including theta ratios. Higher theta ratios were associated with decreased executive function performance as measured by EGG. This indicates that more screen time reduces executive function in young children.

reference

Law EC, Han MX, Lai Z, Lim S, Yan Ong Z, Ng V, et al. Associations between screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes in infants. JAMA Pediatrics 2023. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.5674