Meta-Analytic Review of the Short-Term Effects of Media Exposure on Children's Attention and Executive Functions.

ABSTRACT: There are long-held concerns regarding the impact of screen media on children's cognitive development. In particular, fast pace and fantastical events have been theorized to deplete children's cognitive resources, leading to reductions in their attention and executive functions (EF). To date, however, empirical tests of short-term effects of media pace and fantasy on children's cognition have yielded mixed findings. In the present study, we conducted meta-analytic syntheses of previous findings on the impact of pace (19 studies involving 141 effect sizes based on 1431 1.5- to 10-year-olds) and fantasy (16 studies involving 121 effect sizes based on 1297 1.5- to 6-year-olds) on children's attention and EF immediately after media exposure. Overall, our findings revealed that media pace does

SUBMITTER: Hinten AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12412071 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature