Babies develop memories from the time they are born. Shortly after birth, newborns can recognise their mother's voice.1- DeCasper A.J., Fifer W.P. (1980). Of human bonding: newborns prefer their mothers’ voices. Science. ;208(4448):1174–1176.
By three to four days old, they can remember and recognise their mothers' face.2- Simion, F., & Giorgio, E. D. (2015). Face perception and processing in early infancy: inborn predispositions and developmental changes. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 969. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00969
Studies found that infants initially preferred to look at that which is familiar as they begin to process a stimulus. Once processing becomes more advanced, their preference shifts to the novel. Hence providing new things for infants to look at will help stimulate the brain and encourage memory and processing.3- Rose SA, Feldman JF, Jankowski JJ. (2001). Attention and recognition memory in the 1st year of life: A longitudinal study of preterm and full-term infants. Dev Psychol.; 37(1):135-151.
Talking to your baby about the environment provides verbal labelling and contextual cues, helps focus attention, and promotes memory.4, 5, 6Gregory, Samantha & Jackson, Margaret. (2016). Joint Attention Enhances Visual Working Memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 43. 237-249. 10.1037/xlm0000294.
Ross, Josephine; Anderson, James R.; Campbell, Robin N. (2011). ""I remember me: Implications, limitations, and applications"". Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 76 (3): 68–79.
Wang, Q., & Gülgöz, S. (2019) New perspectives on childhood memory: introduction to the special issue, Memory, 27:1, 1-5.
Research has confirmed the negative relationship between the amount of TV viewing in infancy, and cognition in childhood. There are associations between screen time and cognitive development outcomes, such as short-term memory skills, academic achievement in reading and math, and language development in very young children.7- Duch, H., Fisher, E. M., Ensari, I., & Harrington, A. (2013). Screen time use in children under 3 years old: a systematic review of correlates. The international journal of behavioural nutrition and physical activity, 10, 102. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-10-102
A longitudinal study on TV viewing and child cognition, conducted in Singapore among the Growing up towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort of children, showed that too much infant TV exposure was negatively associated with later cognition.8- Aishworiya, R., Cai, S., Chen, H. Y., Phua, D. Y., Broekman, B. F. P., Daniel, L. M., Chong, Y. S., Shek, L. P., Yap, F., Chan, S. Y., Meaney, M. J., & Law, E. C. (2019). Television viewing and child cognition in a longitudinal birth cohort in Singapore: the role of maternal factors. BMC Pediatrics, 19, 286. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-019-1651-z
This was because more time spent watching TV meant less time for the child to spend interacting with caregivers and people around them. Since face-to-face interaction is crucial for children below three to develop their social-emotional, cognitive and language skills, it is suggested that children not be allowed too much screen time. Even during screen time, parent-child interaction is recommended.
The kinds of programmes children were exposed to also affected cognitive development and their executive function skills, e.g., the ability to pay attention, plan and store information in working memory.9- Barr, R., Danziger, C., Hilliard, M., Andolina, C., & Ruskis, J. (2010). Amount, content and context of infant media exposure: A parental questionnaire and diary analysis. International journal of early years education, 18(2), 107–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2010.494431
Screen time reduces the time children have for interaction, movement and sleep. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that children under one should not be exposed to screen time at all. As children two and older should not be sedentary for more than one hour, the less screen time they are exposed to, the better.10- World Health Organisation. (2019). Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age: summary. World Health Organisation.
Read more at CD-MEM-C05.
