Abstract
Although the media can have both negative and positive effects on children’s cognitive and motor functions, its influence on their perceptual bias and manual dexterity is unclear. Thus, we investigated the association between media viewing time, media preference level, perceptual bias, and manual dexterity in 100 school-aged children. Questionnaires completed by children and their parents were used to ascertain media viewing time and preference levels. Perceptual bias and manual dexterity were measured using the visual-tactile temporal order judgment task and Movement Assessment Battery for Children—2nd edition, respectively. There were significant positive correlations between age and media viewing time and between media viewing time and media preference level. There was also a significant negative correlation between visual bias and manual dexterity. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that increasing visual bias was a significant predictor of decreasing manual dexterity. Further, children with low manual dexterity showed significant visual bias compared to those with high manual dexterity, when matched for age and gender. The present results demonstrated that, in school-aged children, although viewing media was not associated with perceptual bias and manual dexterity, there was a significant association between perceptual bias and manual dexterity.
Highlights
Studies have suggested that media can have both positive and negative effects on health, cognitive abilities, and motor function in children [1,2,3,4]
There was a significant correlation between perceptual biases and manual dexterity (p < 0.001, r = 0.537; Table 3, Figure 2)
There was no significant correlations between age, media viewing time, and media preference level and perceptual biases or manual dexterity (Table 3)
Summary
Studies have suggested that media can have both positive and negative effects on health, cognitive abilities, and motor function in children [1,2,3,4]. The term media includes broadcast media, such as TVs and movies, and interactive media, such as social media and video games, which allow users to consume and create content [1,2,3,4]. The former is passive media, while the latter is active media. Media viewing time has been shown to have a negative effect on cognitive functions such as delayed language. Dworak et al [17] suggested that, even in school-age children, media viewing adversely affects sleep and decreases verbal cognitive performance
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