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.
"Middle-class 6-year-olds matched for sex, age, pretest WPPSI IQ, and TV-viewing time were blindly assigned to a restricted TV-viewing group or an unrestricted group. Restricted parents halved subjects' previous TV-viewing rates and interacted 20 min./day with subjects for a 6-week period. Unrestricted TV parents provided similar interactions but did not limit viewing. Results tentatively suggest that TV restriction enhanced Performance IQ, reading time, and reflective Matching Familiar Figures scores." - Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology (Winter 1980)
"Subsequent work by Malach and colleagues has found that, when we're engaged in intense "sensorimotor processing" - and nothing is more intense than staring at a massive screen with Dolby surround sound while wearing 3-D glasses - we actually inhibit these prefrontal areas. The scientists argue that such "inactivation" allows us to lose ourself in the movie" - Frontal Cortex (Jan 2010)
"There was greater frontal lobe activation in children when they were engaged in a picture book reading task with their mothers, as opposed to passive viewing of a videotape in which the story was read to them. Social and verbal engagement of the mother in reading picture books with her young child may mediate frontal brain activity in the child." - Pubmed (Oct 2009)
"The EEG studies similarly show less mental stimulation, as measured by alpha brain-wave production, during viewing than during reading." - Scientific American (Feb 2002)
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."
New York Study - 2006
"This study examined whether high levels of televisionviewing are associated with attention problems and hyperactivityin preschool children."
"The limitations of this study do not diminish the veracity ofthe positive, and potentially disturbing, association betweentelevision viewing and ADHD-related behaviors as assessed viaparent and teacher ratings. It is likely that many physicians,teachers, and other professionals who work with families ofyoung children encourage parents to seek activities other thantelevision viewing for their preschool children. However, thisrecommendation may have particular importance to parents ofchildren with behavioral difficulties because of their tendencyfor social isolation and their need for the development of socialskills."
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
Massachusetts Study - 1989
"Family viewing patterns appear to be related to certain types of clinical indicators, especially attention deficit disorder and acting out. Of particular interest is the finding of a strong association between parental viewing habits and ADD on the part of children." - Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal (Fall 1989)
"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)
Neurofeedback & ADD/ADHD
"The study and 14 others were analyzed in the July issue of the Official Journal of the EEG and Clinical Neuroscience Society. Ten of the studies, involving a total of nearly 500 children, used a control group. "The clinical effects of neurofeedback in the treatment of ADHD can be regarded as clinically meaningful," the authors concluded. "I look at this article, and I'm persuaded that there's something here," says Mayo's Jensen, who also is president and CEO of the REACH Institute, a nonprofit group that trains pediatric health practitioners in the latest mental health therapies. "Previously, I was very skeptical that this treatment had much to offer," says Barkley. He says of the German study, "It looks like based on this study that there might be some promise to it," and he stresses "might" and "some." He is not ready to embrace the technique. "Should [neurofeedback] be offered to the public?" he says. "My answer would be no."" - U.S. News (Sept 2009)
"Epilepsy. ADD. Depression. PMS. Insomnia. What do all these conditions have in common? They're being treated with a new form of high-tech brain biofeedback." - Psychology Today (May 1998)
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?
"...dopamine is seen as rewarding us for paying attention, especially to things that are novel and stimulating. Screen entertainment causes our brain to release dopamine. It is increasingly clear that ADHD is linked to a change in dopamine functioning. Genes necessary for sjmthesis, uptake and binding have been implicated in ADHD, and dopamine underfunctioning is also found in the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat animal model of ADHD. This underfunctioning of dopamine may fail to reward the brain's attention systems, so they do not function effectively (Sagvolden et al, 2005). Interestingly, adults with attention deficit disorder given dopamine-boosting methylphenidate (Ritalin) before doing a maths test find it easier to concentrate. This is partly because the task seems more interesting." - Encyclopedia Britannica
"Volkow recently found that adults with attention deficit disorder who took dopamine-boosting Ritalin before taking a math test found it easier to concentrate, in part, because the task seemed more interesting, so they felt more motivated to do the problem." - Psychology Today (Nov 2004)
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)
Slow Brainwaves and ADHD
"Studies suggest that in ADHD, the brain generates insufficient beta waves, which are associated with focus and attention, and an overabundance of lower-frequency theta waves, produced during periods of daydreaming or drowsiness. " - U.S. News (Sept 2009)
"In terms of resting EEG, elevated relative theta power, and reduced relative alpha and beta, together with elevated theta/alpha and theta/beta ratios, are most reliably associated with AD/HD. Theta/alpha and theta/beta ratios also discriminate diagnostic subgroups of AD/HD. Recent studies of EEG heterogeneity in this disorder indicate the existence of different profiles of cortical anomalies which may cut across diagnostic types." - Clinical Neurophisiology (Sept 2002)
"Working memory, housed in the prefrontal cortex, is strongly related to executive control. People with less working memory have poor executive functioning and training working memory improves executive control. Because of this, Katrijn Houben and her colleagues at Maastricht University in the Netherlands set out to test whether strengthening people's working memory might help them control their impulses." - Psychology Today (July 2011)
"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)
"Functional imaging of human cortex implicates a diverse network of brain regions supporting working memory — the capacity to hold and manipulate information for short periods of time. Although we are beginning to map out the brain networks supporting working memory, little is known about its physiological basis. We analyzed intracranial recordings from two epileptic patients as they performed a working memory task. Spectral analyses revealed that, in both patients, gamma (30–60 Hz) oscillations increased approximately linearly with memory load, tracking closely with memory load over the course of the trial. This constitutes the first evidence that gamma oscillations, widely implicated in perceptual processes, support the maintenance of multiple items in working memory." - Cerebral Cortex (2003)
"Working memory is the ability to actively hold information in the mind. Recent results demonstrate that working memory is organized by oscillatory processes in the theta and gamma frequency range." - Current Biology (June 2010)
"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)
"One useful tool to identify and support students with working memory impairments is the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA; Alloway, 2007 published by Pearson). The benefit of the AWMA is that it is designed to provide a practical and convenient way for non-expert assessors such as teachers to screen their pupils for significant working memory problems, with a user-friendly interface. The automated presentation and scoring of tasks provide consistency in presentation of stimuli across participants, thus reducing experimenter error." - Psychology Today (Jan 2011)
Online Neuro-Cognitive Programs for ADHD - Attengo
Working Memory & Gamma Brainwaves
"Functional imaging of human cortex implicates a diverse network of brain regions supporting working memory — the capacity to hold and manipulate information for short periods of time. Although we are beginning to map out the brain networks supporting working memory, little is known about its physiological basis. We analyzed intracranial recordings from two epileptic patients as they performed a working memory task. Spectral analyses revealed that, in both patients, gamma (30–60 Hz) oscillations increased approximately linearly with memory load, tracking closely with memory load over the course of the trial. This constitutes the first evidence that gamma oscillations, widely implicated in perceptual processes, support the maintenance of multiple items in working memory." - Cerebral Cortex (2003)
"Working memory is the ability to actively hold information in the mind. Recent results demonstrate that working memory is organized by oscillatory processes in the theta and gamma frequency range." - Current Biology (June 2010)
"Maintenance of an increasing number of items elicited an incrementally negative shift of the DC potential and an increase in MTL gamma-band activity." - Journal of Neuroscience (July 2007)
"Studies of working memory load effects on human EEG power have indicated divergent effects in different frequency bands. Although gamma power typically increases with load, the load dependency of the lower frequency theta and alpha bands is uncertain." - Cerebral Cortex (2008)
"Playing a Memory Game to Improve Intelligence and Increase Your IQ Score?" - Inhuman Experiment
"Allow a laboratory mouse to run as much as it likes, and its brainpower improves. Force it to run harder than it otherwise might, and its thinking improves even more." - New York Times Blogs (Sept 2009)
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)
"In an American Journal of Psychiatry editorial, Rachel G. Klein Ph.D. reviews studies regarding the structure of the ADHD brain compared to controls (non-ADHD brains). The difference in the ADHD brain's cortical thinning is significant compared to a non-ADHD brain. In fact, there is almost no overlap between the ADHD brains and non-ADHD brains. This means that cortical thinning is seen almost exclusively in the ADHD brain." - Psychology Today (April 2011)
"The cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is in hot water from a study suggesting that watching just nine minutes of that program can cause short-term attention and learning problems in 4-year-olds." - 
