Systematic review of sedentary behavior and cognitive development in early childhood

OBJECTIVE: To comprehensively review observational and experimental studies examining the relationship between sedentary behavior and cognitive development during early childhood (birth to 5years). METHOD: Electronic databases were searched in July, 2014 and no limits were imposed on the search. Included studies had to be peer-reviewed, published, and meet the a priori determined population (apparently healthy children aged birth to 5years), intervention (duration, types, and patterns of sedentary behavior), comparator (various durations, types, or patterns of sedentary behavior), and outcome (cognitive development) study criteria. Data extraction occurred in October and November 2014 and study quality and risk of bias were assessed in December 2014. RESULTS: A total of 37 studies, representing 14,487 participants from nine different countries were included. Thirty-one studies used observational study designs and six studies used experimental study designs. Across study designs, increased or higher screen time (most commonly assessed as television viewing (TV)), reading, child-specific TV content, and adult-specific TV content had detrimental (negative) associations with cognitive development outcomes for 38%, 0%, 8%, and 25% of associations reported, respectively, and beneficial (positive) associations with cognitive development outcomes for 6%, 60%, 13%, and 3% of associations reported, respectively. Ten studies were moderate quality and 27 studies were weak quality. CONCLUSIONS: The type of sedentary behavior, such as TV versus reading, may have different impacts on cognitive development in early childhood. Future research with reliable and valid tools and adequate sample sizes that examine multiple cognitive domains (e.g., language, spatial cognition, executive function, memory) are needed. Registration no. CRD42014010004.

Can Intersensory Redundancy and Social Contingency Enhance Memory in Bobwhite Quail Hatchlings?

Recent findings indicate that bimodal-redundant stimulation promotes perceptual learning and recruits attention to amodal properties in non-human as well as human infants. However it is not clear if bimodal-redundant stimulation can also facilitate memory during the postnatal period. Moreover, most animal and human studies have employed an operant paradigm to study memory, but have not compared the effectiveness of contingent versus passive presentation of information on memory. The current study investigated the role of unimodal versus bimodal presentation and, the role of a contingent versus passive exposure in memory retention in the bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus). Results revealed that contingently trained chicks demonstrated a preference for the familiarized call under both unimodal and bimodal conditions. Between-group analyses revealed that the contingent-bimodal group preferred the familiarized call as compared to the passive-bimodal group. These results indicate that the contingency paradigm accompanied with the bimodal stimulus type facilitated memory during early development.