Ishita Aggarwal

Watching television programs, especially in childhood, is one of the few luxurious sources of entertainment across the globe. Cartoon programs are the most-watched ones by children on TV. In the light of neurological and overall development of a child, access to watching animated programs yields both benefits, to name a few, enhanced creativity, language skills, knowledge and on the other side, ill-effects of long hours of watching causing strain on eyes, poor posture, exposure to violence, abuse, impacted academic performance, reduced creativity. The present review aims to study the neuroanatomical changes that might occur in the brain after watching television programs like cartoons and their impact on the overall development of the child viewers. This review has been summarized from various longitudinal, crosssectional, correlational, and experimental studies to explore different aspects of the concerned research area. Analyzing the research studies, it can be concluded that there occur chemical or structural changes in the brain yielding both positive as well as negative effects after watching cartoons on television, especially in childhood. The brain regions affected include the medial prefrontal cortex, grey/white grey matter volume, medial temporal cortex, frontopolar area volume, visual cortex, hypothalamus, and amygdala.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of mindfulness meditation on cognitive abilities such as working memory, shifting attention and executive functioning in adolescents. Thirty-five adolescents with the age ranging from 12 to 18 years were selected using a purposive sampling method. They were divided into two groups: control group (n=18; Female=10; Male=8) and experimental group (n=17; Female=11; Male=6). The study followed a pretest-posttest research design where all participants were assessed using standardized psychological tests before and after the intervention. The experimental group was given a 30 minutes intervention that included mindfulness meditation along with relaxation exercises for 10 days consecutively. The findings suggest that the short-term practice of mindfulness meditation can be used to enhance cognitive functions in adolescents. The findings have implications for future research as attention, working memory, and executive function are cognitive activities that affect our day to day thinking, learning, planning, and decision making. Later these abilities translate to real world accomplishment and improvement in quality of life.