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TV causes autism? But how? HOW?

by Rob Friesel

Via /.: A new paper out of Cornell (PDF) finds a compelling correlation between TV viewing in young children (3 years old and younger) and incidents of autism.  Being no fan of television myself, I’m certainly intrigued by the proposition – – anything to cut down on the television.  My problem with the article/thesis/whatever (however) is that they don’t mention the brain in any substantive way.  The word “brain” appears in one quote, in one statement, and in the title of something in the references section.  So the question is begged: HOW IS TELEVISION EFFECTING THE BRAIN?  I don’t even really see any speculation on what biological, chemical, or neurological effects television is supposedly causing in the brain to cause this disorder.  I suppose these authos are from the “Johnson Graduate School of Management” and “Department of Economics” but still — this seems like a major oversight.

Anyone care to speculate?  How could television viewing have lasting effects on the brain?  What effects might those be?  Hmm…  Someone fund a follow-up study in a neuroscience, please.

About Rob Friesel

Software engineer by day. Science fiction writer by night. Weekend homebrewer, beer educator at Black Flannel, and Certified Cicerone. Author of The PhantomJS Cookbook and a short story in Please Do Not Remove. View all posts by Rob Friesel →

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