Re-examining links between screen time, health behaviors, and executive functioning

Validating an objective measure of screen exposure in a sample of young children

Principal Investigator: Cathi Propper, PhD
Funded by: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

The specific impact of television or screen exposure on young children’s cognitive development is thought to relate to the amount of exposure, the program content, and the social context of viewing, yet few studies have taken these factors into consideration. For children younger than two years old, television viewing has mostly negative associations, especially for language and executive function.

For preschool-aged children, television viewing has been found to have both positive and negative outcomes, and a large body of research suggests that educational television has a positive impact on cognitive development. Beyond the preschool years, children mostly consume entertainment programming, and cognitive outcomes are not well explored in research. Moreover, no study to date has used an objective measure of screen exposure in children. All studies of this topic include parent reports, which have well-recognized limitations.

This study will examine the impact of digital screen devices, including television, in relation to the emergence of executive functions (i.e., working memory, attention, inhibitory control) in five-year-old children.

Study Aims

  1. This pilot research program will be the first study to use an objective measure of children’s screen exposure using small wearable cameras that we have previously designed. Images will be automatically analyzed for the presence, type and duration of screen exposure using our previously developed artificial intelligence algorithms.
  2. This study will also investigate the mediating relationship between children’s screen use and their sleep hygiene and physical activity. This will be the first study to systematically investigate these relationships using objective measures of each variable.
  3. We will develop a novel measurement system to further characterize the context surrounding children’s screen exposure, pairing the screen sensor with the LENA language recording device will allow us to determine the kind of educational programming versus programming produced for adults), the social context of viewing, as well the particular kind of media (e.g., passive viewing or interactive (computer games).

Results from this proposed work will validate the use of our wearable camera as the first objective measure of screen exposure in children and will provide necessary pilot data for a future R01 proposal where we plan to investigate the impact of early screen exposure on the development of neural networks that are important for executive functions and academic potential in children.