MICAH follows adolescents over time to explore digital media practices and executive functions, aiming to inform families, schools, and researchers.
800
Adolescents
12–18
Age range (years)
4
Assessments across 2 years
2 × 1h
Surveys & tasks per visit
During adolescence, brains and lives change rapidly. We're interested in how digital media practices—such as social media, messaging, gaming, and video—relate to the development of executive functions like attention, working memory, inhibition, and flexibility. We look at opportunities as well as risks to understand what helps young people thrive.
Types of devices and apps, time and context of use, family rules, night-time use, and more.
Gamified tasks assess attention, working memory, flexibility, planning, inhibition, and impulsivity.
Links with sleep, mood, anxiety, physical activity, and mental health conditions.
Effects depend on the person, purpose, and type of activity—not just "screen time".
We combine two complementary approaches at each visit (about 2 hours total):
About media use, sleep, physical activity, and well-being.
On tablets to measure executive functions.
We collect data in French- and German-speaking schools in Switzerland with approval from the University of Geneva Ethics Committee. Participation is voluntary with consent from adolescents and a parent / guardian. Data are collected anonymously.
We are extending data collection to India, thanks to a collaboration with Siamack Zahedi from ACRES foundation. The ACRES foundation is dedicated to excellence in Education with an incredible team committed to providing powerful, accessible education and empowering children with 21st skills, personal leadership and global citizenship. This new collaboration gives us the unique opportunity to study the diversity of media experiences and effects, including cultural differences.
Funding & partners:
Swiss National Science Foundation · UNIGE · UNIFR · ZHAW
Here are example visualizations illustrating the kinds of summaries we can share. These lots use fake data and will be replaced with real data when ready.
Charts are illustrative only.
We translate findings into practical guidance in clear language. A few principles emerging from the science:
It's not just "how much", but what, when, and why young people use media.
Support healthy routines (sleep, movement, meals) and device-free zones (e.g., bedrooms at night).
Encourage active and social uses (learning, creativity, connecting) over passive scrolling.
Talk together about online experiences—curiosity beats surveillance.
An interdisciplinary team spanning cognitive neuroscience, media psychology, and communication.
Cognitive & affective neuroscientist — Project Lead (UNIGE)
Postdoctoral fellow — Project coordinator (UNIGE)
Research associate — Project partner (UNIFR)
Professor — Project partner (ZHAW)
Research Assistant (ZHAW)
Research Assistant (UNIGE)
Our collaborators and experts.
Head of the Brain and Learning Lab (UNIGE)
Director of the Digital Wellness Lab (Boston Children's Hospital & Harvard Medical School)
MICAH group
Université de Genève, FAPSE (office 4152)
40 boulevard du Pont-d'Arve · 1205 Genève
+41 22 379 02 71
