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Associations Between Infant Screen Use, Electroencephalography Markers, and Cognitive Outcomes
Evelyn C Law1,2,3, Meredith X Han1, Zhuoyuan Lai3
1Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
JAMA Pediatrics
|January 30, 2023
Summary
Infant screen time is linked to altered brain activity (EEG) and poorer executive functions by school age. These EEG changes partially explain how early screen exposure impacts later cognitive skills.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Infant screen time is increasingly common, raising concerns about potential negative impacts on cognitive development, particularly attention and executive functions.
- The precise neural mechanisms and developmental trajectories linking early screen exposure to cognitive outcomes remain unclear.
- Electroencephalography (EEG) offers a method to investigate the neural correlates of cognitive impairments associated with screen time.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between infant screen time and electroencephalography (EEG) markers.
- To examine how these EEG markers mediate the relationship between early screen exposure and cognitive outcomes in school-aged children.
- To utilize mediation analysis with structural equation modeling to understand these complex relationships.
Main Methods:
- A prospective cohort study (GUSTO) followed maternal-child dyads from pregnancy.
- Infant screen time was reported at 12 months; EEG was recorded at 18 months.
- School-age cognitive functions (attention and executive functions) were assessed at 9 years using questionnaires and tasks.
Main Results:
- Higher infant screen time correlated with altered EEG patterns (theta/beta ratio) at 18 months.
- EEG markers (frontocentral and parietal theta/beta ratios) partially mediated the association between 12-month screen time and 9-year executive functions.
- This indirect pathway accounted for 39.4% of the association between infant screen time and executive function outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Infant screen use is associated with measurable changes in cortical EEG activity before age 2.
- These EEG alterations act as mediators, linking early screen exposure to impaired executive functions in later childhood.
- Further research is needed to differentiate direct effects of screen time from confounding family factors.
