Poor air quality is associated with impaired visual cognition in the first two years of life: A longitudinal investigation
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Updated: Aug 1, 2025
A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking
Published on: July 9, 2016
John P Spencer1, Samuel H Forbes2, Sophie Naylor1
1School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom.
Insights
Poor indoor air quality, especially from solid cooking fuels, is linked to impaired infant visual cognition. This study highlights the need for interventions targeting cooking emissions to support early brain development.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Poor air quality is a known risk factor for cognitive deficits in children.
- The impact of air quality on cognition during the first year of life, a critical period for brain development, remains understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between in-home air quality and cognitive development in infants.
- To examine visual working memory and visual processing speed in relation to indoor air pollution.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of infants in rural India.
- Measurement of in-home air quality, focusing on fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
- Assessment of infant cognition using visual working memory and visual processing speed tests.
Main Results:
- Homes using solid cooking materials exhibited poorer air quality.
- Infants exposed to poorer air quality showed lower visual working memory scores at 6 and 9 months.
- Slower visual processing speed was observed in infants from homes with poorer air quality from 6 to 21 months.
Conclusions:
- Poor indoor air quality is associated with impaired visual cognition in the first two years of life.
- This study provides the first evidence of an air quality-cognition link in the first year of life using direct measures.
- Reducing indoor air pollution from cooking emissions is a potential intervention target for supporting infant cognitive development.
Background:
Poor air quality has been linked to cognitive deficits in children, but this relationship has not been examined in the first year of life when brain growth is at its peak.
Methods:
We measured in-home air quality focusing on particulate matter with diameter of <2.5 μm (PM2.5) and infants' cognition longitudinally in a sample of families from rural India.
Results:
Air quality was poorer in homes that used solid cooking materials. Infants from homes with poorer air quality showed lower visual working memory scores at 6 and 9 months of age and slower visual processing speed from 6 to 21 months when controlling for family socio-economic status.
Conclusions:
Thus, poor air quality is associated with impaired visual cognition in the first two years of life, consistent with animal studies of early brain development. We demonstrate for the first time an association between air quality and cognition in the first year of life using direct measures of in-home air quality and looking-based measures of cognition. Because indoor air quality was linked to cooking materials in the home, our findings suggest that efforts to reduce cooking emissions should be a key target for intervention.
Funding:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant OPP1164153.
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