ArticleFrontiers in psychology2018
Can Touchscreen Devices be Used to Facilitate Young Children's Learning? A Meta-Analysis of Touchscreen Learning Effect.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The impact of touchscreen digital exposure on children's social development and communication: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- An umbrella review of the benefits and risks associated with youths' interactions with electronic screens.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- Digital Compensation? Investigating the Moderating Role of the Home Learning Environment in the Effectiveness of Learning Apps.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Molecular and Neurobiological Imbalance from the Use of Technological Devices During Early Child Development Stages.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The application of improved AFCNN model for children's psychological emotion recognition.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A brief tablet-based intervention benefits linguistic and communicative abilities in toddlers and preschoolers.NPJ science of learning · 2024Article
- University teachers' beliefs about the use of generative artificial intelligence for teaching and learning.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Dyadic Interactions, Communication and Regulation Skills: Associations with Screen Use in Toddlers from Buenos Aires.Psychology in Russia : state of the art · 2024Article
- Swipe, tap, read? Unveiling the effects of Touchscreen devices on Emergent Literacy Development in preschoolers.BMC pediatrics · 2023Article
- Digital Devices Use and Fine Motor Skills in Children between 3-6 Years.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- HTKS-Kids: A tablet-based self-regulation measure to equitably assess young children's school readiness.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Effects of screen exposure on young children's cognitive development: A review.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
- Parents' Perceptions of Educational Apps Use for Kindergarten Children: Development and Validation of a New Instrument (PEAU-p) and Exploration of Parents' Profiles.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Touchscreens for Whom? Working Memory and Age Moderate the Impact of Contingency on Toddlers' Transfer From Video.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Teaching and Learning in Times of COVID-19: Uses of Digital Technologies During School Lockdowns.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Symbolic Understanding and Word-Picture-Referent Mapping from iPads in Autism Spectrum Condition: The Roles of Iconicity and Engagement.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2020Article
- Secondary Benefits to Attentional Processing Through Intervention With an Interactive Maths App.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Because of the continuous stream of touchscreen apps that are claimed to be educational and the increasing use of touchscreen devices in early childhood, considerable attention is being paid to the effect of touchscreens on young children's learning. However, the existing empirical findings in young child samples are not consistent. In this meta-analysis we tested the overall effect of touchscreen devices on young children's (0- to 5-year-olds) learning performance, as well as moderators of this effect, based on 36 empirical articles (79 effect sizes) involving 4,206 participants. The overall analysis showed a significant touchscreen learning effect (
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.