BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhuanet)-- Educational programs on TV are unlikely to stimulate brains of toddlers who are less than two years age, say a study.

    Marie Evans Schmidt, a research associate at the Center on Media & Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston, studied more than 800 youngsters from birth to 3 years, recording the time that they spent on watching television or DVDs as reported by their mothers, as well as their performance on language and motor-skill tests.

    On average, the babies spent 1.2 hour per day watching TV during their first two years of life, slightly less than the average viewing time reported in previous studies.

    In her initial analysis, Schmidt found that babies who spent more time in front of the TV performed worse on language and motor-skill tests at age three than those who watched less.

    But once Schmidt and her team controlled for other factors - the mother's educational status and household income - the relationship between TV-viewing and cognitive development disappeared. TV-viewing alone did not appear to influence babies' brain development but a parent's education and finances mattered more.

    "Initially it looked like TV-viewing was associated with cognitive development," says Schmidt, "but in fact TV-viewing is an outgrowth of other characteristics of the home environment that lead to lower test scores."

    TV exposure in babies younger than two doesn't do any good, Schmidt said, adding "If parents want to stimulate their baby's brain, try simply playing with him, talking and gesturing frequently to them early on, which have a significant impact on children's vocabulary and language competence by school age."

    (Agencies)