igure 1. The all-conquering world of television - PDF document

igure 1. The all-conquering world of television … even stronger than Communism. Lenin Square,Khbarovsk, Far Eastern Siberia. Photo: A Sigman. the content,of television that is unique?duce strong rewards for paying attentionto something.Compared to the pace withwhich real life unfolds and is experiencedby young children,television portrays lifewith the fast-forward button fully pressed.Rapidly changing images,scenery andevents,and high-fidelity sounds are highlystimulating and extremely interesting.elevision is the flavour enhancer of theaudiovisual world,providing unnaturallevels of sensory stimulation.Little in reallife is comparable to this.Television mayoverpay the child for paying attention to it,and in so doing it may physically corruptthe reward system underpinning his abil-ity to pay attention when the TV is off.The actual currency used to pay off andcorrupt the reward system may come inthe form of the neurotransmitter,dopamine.associated with reward.In particular, dopamine is seen as rewarding us for pay-ing attention,especially to things that arenovel and stimulating.Screen entertain-ment causes our brain to release dopamine.It is increasingly clear that ADHD is linkedto a change in dopamine functioning.Genesnecessary for synthesis,uptake and bind-ing have been implicated in ADHD,andanimal model of ADHD.This underfunc-tioning of dopamine may fail to rewardthe brainÕs attention systems,so they do2005).Interestingly,adults with attentiontrate.interesting.More research is needed into the extentto which this reward system involvingset in childhood by exposure to electronicmedia such as television.Early exposure to television is nowimplicated in another childhood condition.The very latest research from Cornellhildhood television viewing may be animportant trigger for autism,the incidenceof which appears to be increasing (WaldmanAt the other end of the age spectrum,athe relationships between how muchtelevision we watch during our middleAlzheimerÕs disease are concluding thatfor each additional daily hour of middle-adulthood television viewing,the associatedrisk of AlzheimerÕs disease developmentincreases.Watching television wasbrain function.A study examining theassociation between soap operas,talk showsin all measures,including attention,memory and psychomotor speed (Fogel andCarlson,2006).While playing computer games aresively watching a soap opera,evidenceactivity.For example,a study looking atildren playing computer games and The impact of TV 14Biologist olume 54 Number 1, February 2007 activity (Kawashima,2001).Adding singlethe left and right frontal lobes.Playingcomputer games did not.The findingswere described by the World Federation ofNeurology as Òalarming Écomputer gameselevision viewing among childrenunder three years of age is found to havedeleterious effects on mathematical ability,later childhood.Along with television view-displacing educational and play activ-ities,it is suspected this harm may be duetelevision actually affecting the childÕsrapidly developing brain.A 26-year study,tracking children from birth,has recentlyconcluded that television viewing in child-poor educational achievement by 26 yearsof age (Hancox 2005).Early exposureto television may have long-lasting adverseconsequences for educational achievementbeing.The authors describe a dose-responsevision watched and declining educationalperformance which has Ôbiological plausi-bilityÕ.Significant long-term effectstelevision viewing:between one and twohours per day.An increasing number of studies havefound that children are getting less sleepencing more sleeping difficulties.Newresearch has found a significant relation-groups ranging from infants to adults.A study by Thompson and Christakis2068 children found that televisionviewingamong infants and toddlers wasassociatedwith irregular sleep patterns.The numberof hours of television watchedper day was independently associatedwith both irregular naptime schedule andirregular bedtime schedules.Anotheractive TV viewing andsleeping disorders,and overall sleep dis-turbances.Moreover,pasper day wasstrongly related to sleep disturbances.TV passive TV expo-sure Òsignificantly increasethe difficultiesÓ(Paavonen2006).Astudy at Columbia Universityfound thatyoung adolescents who watchedmore hours of television a day ended up atsleep problems as adults.Remember thatthan the average.On the other hand,thosethan one hour per daysleep problems (Johnson The implications may be serious.Stanforddence that a lack of sleep can significantlyalter levels of the hormone melatonin,anextremely powerful antioxidant.Reducedamounts of melatonin may result in agreater chance that cell DNA will producecancer-causing mutations (Sephton andSpeigel,2003).Melatonin is also sleep-promoting.As it grows dark melatoninlevels rise and help facilitate sleep.Researchers have recently reported (Salti2006) that when children aged 6-12were deprived of their TV sets,computersand video games,their melatonin produc-tion increased by an average 30%.Exposure to a television screen was asso-ciated with lower urinary melatonin levels,particularly affecting younger children ata pubertal stage when important changesin melatoninÕs role take place.The leadauthor speculated that girls are reachingpuberty much earlier than in the 1950s.One reason is due to their averageincrease in weight;but another may bedue to reduced levels of melatonin.Animalstudies have shown that low melatoninlevels have an important role in promotingan early onset of puberty.Body fatResearch from as far apart as China andsity.MexicoÕs health ministry has reporteddecade,with odds ratios of obesity 12%higher for each hour of television watchedper day.While in China,a study of 10,000people found that for each hour of televi-sion viewing there was a significantincrease in the prevalence of obesity.Astudy in New Zealand following childrenBiologist15olume 54 Number 1, February 2007 The impact of TV | ferences American Academy of Pediatrics Committee onPublic Education (1999) ÔMedia EducationÕ.BMRB International (British Market ResearchIncreasing Screen Time isouth TGI Study.Christakis D A (2004) Early TelevisionExposure and Subsequent Attentional ProblemsChristakis D A and Zimmerman F J (2006) Media asa Public Health Issue.Archives of Pediatric and(2006) An assessment of obese andviewing,reading,and resting.Eating Behaviors(1997) Allocation of AttentionalResources during habituation to food cues.Psychophysiologyogel J and Carlson M (2006) Soap Operas and TalkShows on Television are Associated with PoorerCognition in Older Women.Hancox R J et al (2004) Association Between Childand Adolescent Television Viewing and AdultHealth:a longitudinal birth cohort study.Hancox R J et al (2005) Association of televisionviewing during childhood with poor educationalachievement.Archives of Pediatric Medicine(2004) Association Betweenelevision Viewing and Sleep Problems DuringAdolescence and Early Adulthood.Archives ofKawashima R Kubey R and Csikszentmihalyi M (2004) TelevisionAddiction is No Mere Metaphor.Lindstrom H A (2005) The relationshipsdevelopment of AlzheimerÕs disease in a case-con- trol study.(2006) TV exposure associatedwith sleep disturbances in 5-to 6-year-old chil-ournal of Sleep Research(1986) EEG Activity and theProcessing of Television Commercials.Communication ResearchRideout V J,Vandewater E A and Wartella E AZero to Six:Electronic Media in the Lives ofInfants,Toddlers and Preschoolers.Kaiser Familyoundation Report.28 October.(2005) A dynamic developmentaltheory of AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorderand combined subtypes.(2006) Age-dependent association ofexposure to television screen with childrenÕs uri-Letterstion in cancer:a neuroendocrine-immune pathwayBrain,Behavior,andThompson D A and Christakis D A (2005) The asso-sleep schedules among children less than 3 yearsof age.Economic Research health conference.October 23.her readingSigman A (2007) Remotely ControlledEbury/Random House,London.This containsthis article.Dr Aric Sigmanis a Member of the IOB and Associate Fellow of theBritish Psychological Society. He has travelled to various cultures,including Bhutan, Tonga, Myanmar, Iran, Korea, Vietnam, Mali,Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Eastern Siberia to observe the influenceof television, and has written a book summarising the empirical lit-erature.Biologist17olume 54 Number 1, February 2007 The impact of TV | Institute of Biology Members EveningBeauty and the beast … surprising uses of toxinsThursday 8th March 2007 at the Institute of Biology … 6.00pm to 8.30pmSpeaker: Professor Alan Harvey, Strathclyde Institute for Drug Research, University of Strathclyde£10 … include light refreshmentsIOB Members only. There are 35 places available for this event, which may be counted as 5 IOB CPD PointsMedicines have often come from nature, but it is surprising how many have been developed from some of the most toxic substancesknown. Botox is oneexample that has caught the publics imagination but there are other recent examples of relevance to areas such as pain relief,diabetes and strokes.Alan Harvey has a background in neuropharmacology and current interests in the use of natural products for drug discovery. Sincled the Strathclyde Institute for Drug Research, a collaborative centre in the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow that encouragesinteractions between academic researchers and industry. SIDR has worked with 50 companies throughout the world and hasattracted more than £20 million in industrial funding. Alan Harvey is also involved in a wide variety of early-stage drug discoveryprojects from natural products. Along with colleagues from phytochemistry, he has assembled a highly diverse collection ofplant extracts that is used in random screening; he coordinates the bioassay development and screening teams. This has ledseveral patent applications and numerous leads that are currently being followed up in different therapeutic areas.For more information please contact: Annaliese Shiret, Events and Conference Manager, 9 Red Lion Court,London, EC4A 3EF. Tel: 020 7936 5980. Email: a.shiret@iob.org INSTITUTEOF BIOLOGY