Note: the argument is that watching fast-paced TV will increase the attention problems of viewers (especially young children), not that fast-paced shows will be the cause of the viewer developing ADD/ADHD.
Essex UK Study - 2009
"Conditioning attentional skills: examining the effects of the pace of television editing on children's attention"
"Methods: School children (aged 4–7 years) were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Each group was presented with either a fast- or slow-edit 3.5-min film of a narrator reading a children's story. Immediately following film presentation, both groups were presented with a continuous test of attention."
"Results: Performance varied according to experimental group and age. In particular, we found that children's orienting networks and error rates can be affected by a very short exposure to television."
"Conclusion: Just 3.5 min of watching television can have a differential effect on the viewer depending on the pacing of the film editing. These findings highlight the potential of experimentally manipulating television exposure in children and emphasize the need for more research in this previously under-explored topic." - Acta Pædiatrica (June 2009)
Baltimore Study - 2007
"Researchers found that children who watched more than two hours of television per day from age 2 1/2 until age 5 1/2 were more likely to develop sleep, attention, and aggressive behavior problems than those who watched less." - WebMD (Oct 2007) and Arizona Republic (Oct 2007) via Unplug Your Kids (Oct 2007)
"Teenagers who watch television for three or more hours per day may have a higher risk of attention and learning difficulties in their adolescent and early adult years, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine." - News-Medical.net (May 2007) and New Scientist (May 2007)
Seattle Study - 2007
"toddlers and babies who watched an hour a day of violent TV, on average, would double their risk of developing attention problems five years later, a report from Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute said." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Nov 2007)
"RESULTS. Viewing of educational television before age 3 was not associated with attentional problems 5 years later. However, viewing of either violent or non-violent entertainment television before age 3 was significantly associated with subsequent attentional problems, and the magnitude of the association was large. Viewing of any content type at ages 4 to 5 was not associated with subsequent problems." - Pediatrics - Abstract (Nov 2007)
Quoting from the Full Version: "The theory of formal features suggests that the fast pacing and rapid scene changes that are characteristic of television reward fixed attention to a constantly changing stimulus and do not reward self-directed attention to opportunities for learning. Here again, educational shows would be expected to be less damaging because their pacing is typically much slower."
Seattle Study - 2004
A study looking at the link between TV viewing by young children and attention problems has found that "Frequent TV viewers in early childhood were most likely to score in the highest 10% for concentration problems, impulsiveness and restlessness". - USA Today (April 2004)
"According to Dr. Christakis, the rapidly moving images on TV and in video games may rewire the brains of very young children, making it difficult for them to focus on slower tasks that require more thought. Others say that TV may, at least temporarily, idle the centers in the pre-frontal cortex that are responsible for organizing, planning, and sequencing thought." - Additude Mag
"Too much TV during the day could mean too little sleep for kids, according to a new study." - Science Central (June 2004)
"Reducing the amount of sleep students get at night has a direct impact on their performance at school during the day. According to classroom teachers, elementary and middle school students who stay up late exhibit more learning and attention problems, Brown Medical School and Bradley Hospital research shows." - Science Daily - (Nov 2005)
"Of the 280 examined in the Pediatrics study, those who slept for fewer than eight hours were the most hyperactive." - BBC News (April 2009)
According to this Scientific American article, the rapid pacing and scene changes typical of almost all television causes the adult brain to produce slower brainwaves (this is part of why television is so mesmerizing.)
Note: Violent cartoons, commercials and MTV are much more fast-paced than "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood". The more fast-paced the TV show, the slower the brainwaves.
Presumably, television has a similar effect on young children of slowing down their brainwaves, hence the "zombie look".
But an important difference between adults and young children, is that the brains of young children are much more plastic (or malleable) than those of adults. How young children spend their time every day will effect how their brains become wired.
If young children are spending 2-3 hours, every day, watching TV, then that means they are spending 2-3 hours every day with their brainwaves artificially slowed down. Could this effect how their brains wire themselves? Critical period
Normal everyday active interactions help children learn to focus their attention. Could hours spent every day with their attention "grabbed" by the TV, be teaching their brains to slow down and disengage? Could it be that someone with slower (than normal) brainwaves finds it difficult to focus unless their attention is "grabbed" by fast moving images?
Orienting Response
"Children’s programmers use a technique called the ”orienting reflex," known as OR, to capture and keep a child’s attention. OR works in this way: If we see or hear something the brain doesn’t recognize as the correct sequence or a typical life event — such as a dancing alphabet or quick zooms and pans, we focus on it until the brain recognizes that it doesn’t pose a threat. The problem with watching too many programs that rely on OR is that real life becomes slow and boring by comparison."
”We think that with continued exposure to high intensity, unrealistic action, you’re conditioning the mind to expect that level of input,“ Christakis explains. When the child doesn’t get the fast-paced input that television provides, he or she becomes bored and inattentive." - MSNBC (Sept 2004)
"What's to blame for the rise in ADHD?
Researchers point fingers at TV, genetics, overdiagnosis" - MSNBC (Sept 2004)
"Beta waves are the target of therapies for children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. "It is exactly these higher-frequency brain waves that are, in children with ADHD, weaker compared with those in healthy children" - Scientific American Mind (Feb 2006)
"But whatever their working environment, it's clear that some people are simply better at focusing on the task at hand. What makes people's minds more or less likely to wander? Several studies point to working memory capacity as the key." - Cognitive Daily (March 2009)
"The researchers say this shows that training in working memory can have significant effects in other cognitive skills, even in four- and five-year-olds. Since improving working memory has been shown to reduce symptoms of ADHD in older kids, they say their short training program might also be effective for preschoolers." - Cognitive Daily (March 2009)
"The findings validate that working memory training makes significant and lasting improvements in the lives of students who suffer from attention problems," said Bozylinski. "This is very promising for a range of people who would otherwise struggle with these debilitating issues for the rest of their lives." - Medical News Today (Dec 2007)
Play, Exercise and ADHD
Researchers at the University of Illinois used the great outdoors to treat ADD/ADHD. The results were very promising. But, perhaps part of the benefit from being outdoors was the fact that these children were also away from the television.
"Nature's Ritalin for the Marathon Mind: Nurturing Your ADHD Child With Exercise" by Stephen C. Putnam - Amazon
"This research has led him to propose a connection between rough-and-tumble play and ADHD. In fact, based on their findings that "abundant access to rough-and-tumble play" reduces the hyperplayfulness and impulsivity of rats with frontal lobe damage, he and his colleagues propose that a regimen of social rough-and-tumble play might be one way to help children with ADHD control impulsivity." - American Psychological Association (March 2002)
"Can PLAY Diminish ADHD and Facilitate the Construction of the Social Brain?" - PubMed (May 2007)
Drug To Treat ADHD Has Similar Effect On Children With Reading Disorders - Science Daily (Dec 2004)
"Fidgeting, as it turns out, helps kids with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder focus. So just like grown-ups need a cup of coffee before tackling a problem, kids with ADHD may tap their feet, swivel in their chairs or bounce in their seats while their brains are busily figuring out that math test." - Physorg.com (May 2009)
