Finnish study suggests active screen engagement may boost adolescent cognition

A Finnish longitudinal study finds that children who engage in active thinking during screen time may perform better on cognitive tests in adolescence, challenging the notion that all screen use is harmful.

A Finnish study is challenging the assumption that all screen time is bad for children. Researchers found that youngsters who spent more time on screens as they grew older tended to perform better on tests of cognitive processing in their teenage years, according to a report from ScienceDaily on the work published in Pediatric Exercise Science.

The result does not mean every kind of device use is beneficial. Petri Jalanko, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, said the key question is what children are doing on their screens. He argued that parents and teachers should steer device use towards activities that involve active thinking, such as problem-solving, creativity and learning, rather than treating screen use as harmful in itself.

The study also found that the relationship between movement and thinking was more complicated than a simple more-is-better message. Among girls, more light-intensity activity from childhood onwards was linked with stronger working memory in adolescence. Among boys, more guided physical activity over the same period was tied to better working memory. By contrast, lower levels of self-reported unsupervised physical activity were linked with better cognitive processing, while sensor-based measures of activity and sedentary time were not associated with cognition.

The findings come from an eight-year follow-up of the PANIC study, with 260 adolescents in the final analysis, and relied on questionnaire data, device-based monitoring and CogState tests of learning, attention and working memory. Jalanko said the results show that the links between activity, screen use and brain function are complex and may differ by sex, but he also stressed that the study shows association, not cause and effect. He said more intervention research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.