Researchers at the University of Yamanashi in Japan have found an unexpected link between the development of autism in young children and watching television.

They have found that children who watch television for at least two hours a day are 3.5 times more likely to develop autism by the age of three.

Interestingly, boys' risk of developing autism has increased in direct proportion to the amount of time they spend watching television. But no such connection was established during the respective monitoring of the girls.

These data, according to researchers, give grounds to assume that television can have a negative impact on young children.