How Screen Time and Infant Temperament Shapes Executive Functioning

This study investigates how infant temperament influences the long-term impact of screen exposure on the development of executive functions. While many children under age two exceed medical guidelines for screen time, the researchers found that digital media does not affect all infants equally. Specifically, higher screen use at ten months old predicted greater cognitive and regulatory difficulties in early childhood only for those with high negative emotionality or reactivity. These findings suggest that certain children are biologically more vulnerable to environmental inputs, making early screen time particularly risky for them. Consequently, the authors propose that individualized guidelines based on a child's unique personality may be more effective than current one-size-fits-all recommendations. Frenkel, T. I., & Einziger, T. (2026). Temperament matters: Infant negative emotionality moderates the link between infant screen exposure and later difficulties in executive functions. Developmental Psychology, 62(6), 1283–1293.