Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue, MLC 2011, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA.
Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Sci Rep. 2022 Nov 9;12(1):19095. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-20922-0.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limits on digital media use ("screen time"), citing cognitive-behavioral risks. Media use in early childhood is ubiquitous, though few imaging-based studies have been conducted to quantify impacts on brain development. Cortical morphology changes dynamically from infancy through adulthood and is associated with cognitive-behavioral abilities. The current study involved 52 children who completed MRI and cognitive testing at a single visit. The MRI protocol included a high-resolution T1-weighted anatomical scan. The child's parent completed the ScreenQ composite measure of media use. MRI measures included cortical thickness (CT) and sulcal depth (SD) across the cerebrum. ScreenQ was applied as a predictor of CT and SD first in whole-brain regression analyses and then for regions of interest (ROIs) identified in a prior study of screen time involving adolescents, controlling for sex, age and maternal education. Higher ScreenQ scores were correlated with lower CT in right-lateralized occipital, parietal, temporal and fusiform areas, and also lower SD in right-lateralized inferior temporal/fusiform areas, with substantially greater statistical significance in ROI-based analyses. These areas support primary visual and higher-order processing and align with prior findings in adolescents. While differences in visual areas likely reflect maturation, those in higher-order areas may suggest under-development, though further studies are needed.
美国儿科学会建议限制儿童使用数字媒体（“屏幕时间”），并引用了认知行为风险。儿童在早期的媒体使用非常普遍，尽管已经进行了一些基于成像的研究来量化其对大脑发育的影响，但数量很少。皮质形态从婴儿期到成年期都在动态变化，与认知行为能力有关。本研究涉及 52 名儿童，他们在一次就诊中完成了 MRI 和认知测试。MRI 方案包括高分辨率 T1 加权解剖扫描。孩子的家长完成了媒体使用综合测量的 ScreenQ 测试。MRI 测量包括大脑皮质厚度（CT）和脑回深度（SD）。ScreenQ 首先作为全脑回归分析中 CT 和 SD 的预测因子，然后在一项涉及青少年的屏幕时间的研究的感兴趣区域（ROI）中应用，控制性别、年龄和母亲教育。更高的 ScreenQ 分数与右侧枕叶、顶叶、颞叶和梭状回的 CT 降低相关，与右侧颞叶/梭状回的 SD 降低相关，基于 ROI 的分析具有更大的统计学意义。这些区域支持主要的视觉和更高阶的处理，与青少年的研究结果一致。虽然视觉区域的差异可能反映了成熟度，但高阶区域的差异可能表明发育不足，但还需要进一步的研究。
