1. Tablet Use Affects Preschoolers’ Executive Function: fNIRS Evidence from the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task
- Author
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Chunqi Chang, Jiutong Luo, Dandan Wu, Sha Xie, Hui Li, and Jinfeng Yang
- Subjects
2019-20 coronavirus outbreak ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,Article ,Task (project management) ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task ,preschoolers ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Function (engineering) ,Prefrontal cortex ,media_common ,General Neuroscience ,05 social sciences ,fNIRS evidence ,applied_psychology ,pad use ,Card sorting ,executive function ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,050104 developmental & child psychology ,Cognitive psychology ,RC321-571 - Abstract
This study aims to examine the impact of heavy use of tablets on preschoolers’ executive function during the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Altogether, 38 Chinese preschoolers (Mage = 5.0 years, SD = 0.69 years, 17 girls) completed the tasks before the COVID-19 lockdown. Eight children never used tablets, while 16 children were diagnosed as the ‘heavy-user’. The results indicated that: (1) the ‘non-user’ outperformed the ‘heavy-user’ with a significantly higher correct rate in the DCCS task, (2) the two groups differed significantly in the activation of the prefrontal cortex (BA 9): the ‘non-user’ pattern is normal and healthy, whereas the ‘heavy-user’ pattern is not normal and needs further exploration.
- Published
- 2021