Evaluation of the association between excessive screen use, sleep patterns and behavioral and cognitive aspects in preschool population. A systematic review.

In this review, we analyzed the possible relationship between the excessive use of screens and sleep patterns, and how this may affect certain behavioral and cognitive factors in preschool children. The selection, extraction and synthesis of the data were conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. The search was carried out in the electronic databases Medline (PubMed), PsycINFO (American Psychological Association), Scopus and Web of Science (WOS). Of the 597 articles initially identified, 13 met the inclusion criteria. The risk of bias of the articles selected was evaluated using a specific scale created for this purpose. The results found indicate that excessive use of screens is associated with a negative impact on the duration and quality of sleep-in preschoolers, and this worsening of sleep in infancy is related with a greater probability of the appearance of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems and certain cognitive problems. The results also suggest that sleep could play a mediating or moderating role as a bioregulatory system that attenuates or increases the onset of behavioral and cognitive difficulties in those children most exposed to digital devices.

Language and autobiographical memory development from 5 to 12 years: A longitudinal perspective.

The main aim of this study, with two repeated measurements, was to analyze the development of autobiographical memory in a sample of 78 Spanish participants at ages 5 (Time 1; M = 62.43 months, range: 50-74 months) and 12 (Time 2; M = 142.71 months, range: 132-155 months). Data were collected on autobiographical memory and verbal functions. We analyzed the relation between language and autobiographical memory specificity from a longitudinal perspective and assessed the indirect effect of vocabulary in the relationship between age and specific memory at both temporal moments. The results showed that language skills were positively related with autobiographical memory specificity at preschool age, but not at the second measurement. Furthermore, vocabulary scores appear to mediate the relationship between age and autobiographical specificity when children are in the preschool years, but not later. These findings agree with previous research that consider preschool age to be a crucial period for the development of autobiographical memory and its relations with language, but once basic command of language is acquired, linguistic differences impact much less on individual differences in autobiographical specificity.