Scientists are genuinely divided on this question.

What's still open

What the evidence found 3 findings
Based on 13 sources:
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
Georgetown University institutional View
PMC/NCBI peer-reviewed View
National Academies institutional View
PMC article on neuroplasticity in development and aging peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate publication on neuroplasticity and prefrontal cortex peer-reviewed View
PMC article on night screen time and cognitive function peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
Neuroscience News news View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
Psychological Science in the Public Interest peer-reviewed View
Based on 13 sources:
PMC peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
JMIR peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
PubMed peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
bioRxiv peer-reviewed View
PMC/NIH peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
MDPI Sustainability peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
Based on 14 sources:
PMC peer-reviewed View
ScienceDirect peer-reviewed View
PMC peer-reviewed View
PMC - Delineation of early brain development from fetuses to infants peer-reviewed View
PMC - Mapping Infant Brain Myelination with Magnetic Resonance Imaging peer-reviewed View
PMC article on DTI brain development peer-reviewed View
PMC article on DTI white matter integrity peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate systematic review peer-reviewed View
Neuroscience News news View
PMC peer-reviewed View
Medical Xpress news View
NCBI/NIH institutional View
Science Direct peer-reviewed View
bioRxiv peer-reviewed View
What research hasn't answered 3 gaps
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
Georgetown University institutional View
PMC/NCBI peer-reviewed View
National Academies institutional View
PMC peer-reviewed View
PMC - NIH peer-reviewed View
JMIR peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
Sources 20 findings
argumentation Unknown
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tree-leaf argumentation
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tree-leaf argumentation
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tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
argumentation Unknown
argumentation Unknown
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Generated by reaso.ai's editorial pipeline: claim restated, scientific consensus classified via 3-run majority vote, 20 findings enriched with attribution and study type, narrative written in neutral voice. No individual researcher has signed off on this specific analysis — see methodology for how the pipeline works. Built with Claude Sonnet by Anthropic. Updated April 16, 2026. How we do this →

Written by AI. Sources are linked for verification.