Stoyan R. Vezenkov and Violeta R. Manolova
Center for applied neuroscience Vezenkov, BG-1582 Sofia, e-mail: info@vezenkov.com
For citation: Vezenkov, S.R., Manolova, V.R. (2025) Screen-Induced Pathological Vestibular Reflex: A Specific Marker of Early Screen Addiction. Nootism 1(2), 5-10, ISSN 3033-1765 (print), ISSN 3033-1986 (online)
Abstract
Rapid screening tests for various diseases are extremely useful in general therapeutic practice, and their development is particularly valuable for timely detection and differentiation. Primitive reflexes are described in the literature, and their persistence at later ages is a marker for delays, distortions, and/or regression in childhood development. Visual dominance over other sensory systems, including the vestibular system (balance), underlies sensory-motor fragmentation and disintegration, respectively developmental issues, in children with early screen addiction/autism. We describe here a novel primitive reflex, named the Screen-Induced Pathological Vestibular Reflex (SIPVR), which is exceptionally sensitive to early screen addiction/autism and completely absent in typically developing children. Moreover, the integration of this reflex appears to be one of the prerequisites for complete recovery and resolution of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) symptoms in affected children. In our practice, we have begun using a SIPVR test to detect screen addiction and screen-related trauma in children, as well as to assess screen re-exposure in children recovering from screen addiction/autism. Consequently, we hypothesized this relationship and named it accordingly. Our results indicated that out of 285 children with early screen addiction, 252 children (99%) showed positive SIPVR results upon initial evaluation. Furthermore, out of 46 children who experienced reintroduction of screens, SIPVR re-emerged in all 46. Additionally, the severity of this reflex clearly correlated with the severity of autistic traits in children with early screen addiction. We also discuss its relationship with another characteristic exaggerated reaction in these children – namely, sensitivity to covering their eyes with hands (observed in 270 children, 95%), as well as hypersensitivity to loud noises. The widespread application of this test could significantly save time and effort in rapidly identifying early screen addiction/autism, as it requires no special equipment or professional training and can easily be performed by parents themselves.
Keywords: early screen addiction, autism, ASD, Screen-Induced Pathological Vestibular Reflex (SIPVR), retained primitive reflexes (RPRs), developmental issues
Introduction
Primitive reflexes are well-documented in the literature on early childhood neurodevelopment. These innate, brainstem-mediated motor responses play a critical role in initiating the maturation of postural musculature and motor coordination, serving as the foundation for key developmental milestones such as grasping, rolling, sitting, standing, and walking. Alongside other vital primitive reflexes – including respiration, sucking, and swallowing – they not only support neonatal survival but also contribute to the infant's early sensorimotor and neurophysiological organization. While some of these reflexes, such as swallowing, remain largely unchanged throughout the lifespan, others undergo modulation and become subject to higher cortical control. Reflexes like respiration, urination, and defecation, for example, gradually integrate voluntary regulation, particularly in the context of emerging social and environmental influences.
Primitive reflexes emerge within specific developmental windows and are gradually integrated as the central nervous system matures. In typically developing children, these reflexes are transient and follow a well-established temporal trajectory of appearance and integration. For instance, the Moro reflex is present from birth and typically integrates by the second month. The stepping reflex appears at birth and fades by approximately six months of age. The palmar grasp reflex is observable from birth and integrates around six months, while the rooting reflex usually disappears by the fourth month. The asymmetric tonic neck reflex (ATNR) emerges around the first month and is expected to integrate by the fourth month. The symmetric tonic neck reflex (STNR) develops later, typically appearing around the sixth month and integrating by eleven months. The Galant reflex is present from birth and typically resolves by the sixth month, and the tonic labyrinthine reflex (TLR), which is also present at birth, is usually integrated by the fourth month. The persistence of these reflexes at a later age is a reliable indicator of developmental delay (Amiel-Tison et al., 2001; McPhillips et al., 2007; Chandradasa et al., 2019). Moreover, they act as developmental anchors, preventing the emergence of more complex functions, thereby contributing to the manifestation of neurodevelopmental spectrum disorders and learning difficulties (Konicarova et al., 2013; Bilbilaj et al., 2017; Gieysztor et al., 2018). A study has shown that ADHD is associated with retained Moro and Galant reflexes in children (Konicarova and Bob, 2012). In children with “autism”, Tourette syndrome, and dyslexia, retained primitive reflexes have also been described (Sigafoos et al., 2021; Melillo et al., 2022). Retained primitive reflexes (RPRs) are markers of neural immaturity and show a strong correlation with deficits in higher cortical functions. Their integration requires the development of inhibitory control, and consequently, the capacity to consciously initiate, sustain, and terminate intentional behavior – whether motor, affective, or cognitive – through selective disinhibition. Conversely, their persistence indicates a lack of inhibitory capacity and the presence of generalized automatisms that are compulsively repeated in search of sensory stimulation and the attainment of a limited range of end effects. When such effects cannot be achieved, children often become frustrated and develop a broad repertoire of animalistic programs related to power and control (Mateev et al., 2025; Vezenkov et al., 2025b). It is important to note that RPRs are not genetically determined but result from environmental influences or from neurodegenerative conditions in later life, when cortical functions – particularly frontal and prefrontal – deteriorate (Melillo et al., 2022).
Screening procedures for eye gaze analysis are currently used to identify autism, which, in our clinical practice, we understand to be the result of early screen addiction. (Vargas–Cuentas et al., 2017; Frazier et al., 2018) Any trained therapist can recognize the characteristic behavior and distinct gaze pattern of children with early screen addiction who are diagnosed with ASD, simply because the alternative diagnosis does not yet exist in current classification systems.
In early screen addiction, environmental factors severely distort child development, and without appropriate therapeutic intervention, this condition may progress into ASD. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders in early screen addiction/ASD remain insufficiently understood. The core pillars of recovery have been described elsewhere (Vezenkov et al., 2025b). In the present work, we aim to shed light on one specific aspect of the damage caused by screen addiction – namely, a distinct form of sensory fragmentation, which manifests through a new previously undocumented primitive reflex specific to this condition. Moreover, overcoming this reflex appears to be a prerequisite for unlocking developmental potential and enabling recovery in children affected by early screen addiction.
Description of SIPVR
When lifting a child upside down without support, typically developing children exhibit a relaxed body posture accompanied by positive emotional responses such as laughter. In contrast, children with screen addiction – those diagnosed with ASD – display a range of atypical responses, from discomfort to pronounced activation of primitive reflex patterns (Vezenkov et al., 2025a), including:
- Arching backward
- Reaching out to grasp onto something
- Trembling and panic
- Full-body muscular stupor, as the child desperately seeks support
- Fear of falling
The reflex diminished in intensity when the child was able to grasp onto an object – such as clothing, a leg, a hand, or the ground. We termed this cluster of responses the Screen-Induced Pathological Vestibular Reflex (SIPVR).
Participants
A total of 285 children aged 2 to 12 years (191 boys and 94 girls) were initially assessed prior to any interventions.
Results
In 282 children (99% of cases), the test yielded a positive result, eliciting responses ranging from mild discomfort to pronounced activation of SIPVR. An additional test showed that in 270 children (95% of cases), covering the eyes with palms triggered resistance or intense emotional reactions.
We applied various modifications of the SIPVR test to assess progress during the recovery process. Even after months of therapy (Vezenkov et al., 2025b) and the disappearance of the reflex, if a child relapsed into screen exposure, the SIPVR re-emerged immediately, confirming that screen stimulation somehow interferes with its integration. Along with the return of the reflex, several previously resolved autistic traits also reappeared, characteristic of the child's earlier clinical presentation.
By identifying a re-emerging positive SIPVR, we were able to determine whether parents or institutions were genuinely adhering to the prescribed screen detox program or deliberately misrepresenting its implementation (Petrova et al., 2025) – a scenario that was not uncommon (46 cases, 16.14%). In instances where the reflex failed to disappear during therapy (22 cases, 7.7%), it served as a reliable indicator that screen detoxification was not being effectively implemented – either knowingly or unknowingly by the parents – and that screen exposure was continuing (Vezenkov et al., 2025b).
According to our observations, approximately 50% of children do not recover spontaneously through screen detox alone (data not shown). In children (51 cases, 17%) who had undergone several months of detox (ranging from 3 to 12 months) and came to the Center for evaluation without significant improvement or recovery, SIPVR remained positive.
Possible Pathophysiological Mechanisms
Visual Dominance Over the Vestibular System
It is well established in physiology that vision and hearing play a direct role in vestibular function. Screen exposure disrupts balance regulation in several ways:
- Visual dominance over vestibular processing. Children with early screen addiction perceive the world as a two-dimensional screen rather than actively engaging with the three-dimensional space around them.
- Screens require no real spatial focus – unlike real-world objects, where the eyes must continuously adjust for depth and perspective.
- Simulated motion on screens creates a false sense of movement, tricking the vestibular system into perceiving changes in speed or acceleration that do not correspond to actual body movement and are not coordinated with proprioceptive sensory input.
Screen addiction distorts the perception of movement and space in several ways, including altered sensitivity to changes in speed and acceleration – parameters that are accurately detected and regulated by the vestibular system.
A positive SIPVR result clearly indicates that, in children with early screen addiction, the three spatial dimensions are not equally represented in the brain. It appears as though one of these dimensions is diminished or absent, likely as a consequence of the real world being perceived through dominant and heavily reinforced screen-based stimulation. It is likely that the body position in which the child primarily views screens has been encoded as the only one associated with a sense of safety and security – whether sitting, lying on the stomach or back, standing, or lying on one side. Moreover, the test remains sensitive even after prolonged screen detox, detecting imbalances when screens are reintroduced, sometimes even after a brief episode of just 5 or 10 minutes.
In typically developing children, when the body is turned upside down and allowed to hang freely without support, there is no significant reaction, as the context is immediately interpreted – “someone is holding me by the legs, and I trust them, which means I am establishing a connection with that person.” However, if the child is actually falling headfirst, the reflex for turning, grasping, and arching the body is activated. In other words, the sensory systems – visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive – evaluate the situation and respond appropriately based on contextual cues.
It is important to note that the inverted visual image does not trigger a stress response, as the vestibular and proprioceptive systems evaluate the suspended body and inhibit the reflex that would normally be activated during a fall. The reflex triggered during a fall is likely an independent one – not merely a combination of the Moro reflex, the grasp reflex, and the asymmetric tonic neck reflex, which together could produce body arching and attempts to fall onto the back or grasp onto something. Indeed, a specific fall reflex has been described in the literature (Giddins et al., 2021), but it differs significantly from the reactions observed in SIPVR, as there is no actual fall occurring in the SIPVR context.
The response of typically developing children is primarily emotional rather than reflexive. Even if there is an initial fear reaction, they quickly adapt to being held upside down and begin to trust the situation. Vestibular input is integrated with contextual information (e.g., “Is this a game?”), emotional tone (fear or enjoyment), and social cues (e.g., “Is the parent laughing?”). In contrast, children with early screen addiction/autism exhibit an intense, uncontrollable reaction that they are unable to inhibit – sometimes escalating into full-blown panic, including whole-body trembling. In these cases, the frontal and prefrontal cortical regions function in an automatic mode and are unable to inhibit the reflex or assign it appropriate social meaning (Vezenkov et al., 2025a).
When animals are turned upside down – for example, birds – they instinctively rotate their heads back to maintain a horizontal position of their two most developed sensory systems: vision and balance. The restoration of visual perspective is immediate, as birds are highly dependent on their vision and use this mechanism to reestablish the familiar spatial orientation. Even while walking, a bird’s head remains stabilized while the body moves rhythmically. (Goody et al., 2001)
A substantial portion of cerebellar resources is dedicated to stabilizing the head in a horizontal position, regardless of the orientation of the body during activities such as walking, flying, diving, hunting, or self-defense. When this stabilization fails, it results in disorientation and can trigger intense, reactive responses.
The avian brain is literally vision-centered. Nearly all functions are organized around visual processing – even extending into the ultraviolet spectrum. Birds' eyes are positioned laterally, providing them with an almost 300° field of vision, with only a small area dedicated to binocular vision at the front. Their vision serves a primarily static function – monitoring for predators, visually locating food (such as grains, seeds, insects, etc.), and engaging in social communication through visual cues such as movement, posture, and colorful plumage.
Therefore, if we are to imagine a brain that is truly dominated by vision, it would be the avian brain. Birds possess exceptional spatial orientation, including sensitivity to geomagnetic fields during migration – a phenomenon that remains one of nature's great wonders.
Children with early screen addiction/autism appear to develop abilities reminiscent of those seen in the avian brain – such as static vision that dominates all other sensory systems. They often demonstrate extraordinary spatial orientation and visual memory, including photographic recall. Once they have seen something, they can memorize it instantly and retain it permanently. For example, they may be able to arrange the letters of the entire alphabet after seeing it only once – without any understanding of, or interest in, its meaning; for them, it is simply a visual pattern.
They often compel their parents – through tantrums – to follow specific, familiar routes and strongly resist any deviation from these paths. They eat only when specific visual stimuli are present – for example, if they are fed in front of a screen. Another frequently observed characteristic is a distinctive gaze: they slightly tilt their head to the side and fixate on a single point, looking at it from an angle. And that is why, if their eyes are covered with palms (in 270 cases, 95%), for example, or if their world is turned upside down during the SIPVR test, they react intensely – with stress responses, disorientation, and panic.
The discovery and implementation of SIPVR reveal some of the core pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the sensorimotor fragmentation and disintegration observed in children with early screen addiction/autism.
Paradoxically, screen addiction shapes children according to a uniform pattern, revealing a stereotyped pathophysiological cascade of processes and changes. We propose that we have identified this cascade (Vezenkov et al., 2025b), which is why recovery from early screen addiction/autism is possible. Complete detoxification is only a prerequisite for successful recovery.
It is well known that many children with screen addiction or autism react strongly to loud noises, which likely interferes with vestibular nerve stimulation and triggers a primary fear response – similar to the fear of falling, the most fundamental and perhaps the only innate fear observed in infants. Many early childhood anxieties and the onset of generalized anxiety are linked to immature vestibular responses. This, in turn, reciprocally inhibits orienting behavior and learning abilities – such as observational learning and associative learning – which are essential for social interaction and, consequently, for the child’s overall development.
Retained primitive reflexes, including SIPVR, reinforce instinctual behavior, rigidity, automatisms, and stereotypical patterns – all of which are maintained by the addiction and further reinforced by:
- Low sensory processing capacity for novel stimuli
- A low threshold for triggering generalized anxiety and fear states, even in response to minor environmental or bodily changes
Is SIPVR a primitive reflex?
SIPVR does not represent a combination of other known primitive reflexes such as the Moro, grasp, asymmetric tonic neck (ATNR), or symmetric tonic neck reflex (STNR). Nor is it equivalent to the recently described fall reflex, as there is no actual falling involved in the SIPVR response (Giddins et al., 2021). SIPVR appears to be entirely absent in typically developing children. Further research is necessary to determine whether SIPVR is present at any stage between birth and 12 months of age. Only then could it be classified alongside established primitive reflexes.
In our view, SIPVR is not a true primitive reflex in humans. Rather, it emerges after the disruption of normal functioning in children with early screen addiction/autism, giving rise to a phylogenetically older behavioral pattern characterized by automatic, instinctual responses – one that is not typical for humans but bears resemblance to avian models. These children become excessively vision-centered; when combined with behaviors such as tiptoe walking, hand-flapping, monotropic diets, echolalia, and heightened spatial orientation, both metaphorically and literally, a pattern emerges that mirrors the characteristic organization seen in birds.
In other words, under a certain altered proportion or disproportion between the sensory and motor systems, a subtly different mode of functioning may emerge – one that is homeostatic, stable, and resistant to change, likely because it demonstrates a form of efficiency and possibly even certain advantages. These include exceptional photographic visual memory, enhanced spatial orientation, and other capacities that may be critical for the survival of a bipedal organism deprived of frontal and prefrontal cortical function.
This, of course, is a bold hypothesis that requires rigorous investigation and further empirical validation. However, it offers a highly accurate therapeutic intuition that can significantly inform and guide the recovery process in children with early screen addiction/autism.
What legitimized the ASD diagnosis?
In our view, SIPVR and similar functional distortions caused by early screen addiction lie at the core of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of ASD and related neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD, developmental delay, oppositional defiant disorder, and others. The dominance of static vision, which overrides the functions of other sensory systems, leads to fragmentation and disintegration of sensorimotor integration and shapes a specific pattern of functioning characteristic of children with early screen addiction/autism. This pattern strongly resembles avian behavior and correlates closely with the newly described SIPVR. Reinforcing this mode of functioning effectively legitimizes the ASD diagnosis, while reversing it – toward a more human-specific developmental trajectory – offers a real possibility for full recovery.
Balance plays a critical role in integrating the sense of safety. Conversely, vestibular dysfunction can easily integrate into the overall sensory experience, reinforcing a constant state of danger, generalized anxiety, and fear.
The predominance of instinctual, automatic behaviors shaped by screen addiction over conscious human relationships within a rich social context has given rise to an artificial and unnecessary diagnosis (ASD) in human development. This diagnosis, in its essence, is fundamentally anti-human and, for that reason, should be removed from disease classification systems. Most importantly, it is a condition that can be both prevented and treated.
Our recommendation regarding early screen time
Our recommendations for introducing euthymic screen time (Manolova et al., 2025) into children's lives suggest that it should begin no earlier than age 9 – once the vestibular system, which governs sensory integration, has fully matured. In contrast, hedonic screen time (Manolova et al., 2025) should be prohibited until the age of 18, when the human nervous system reaches full maturity, as its early use significantly increases the risk of developing various forms of addiction – whether screen-based, substance-related, or behavioral.
Conclusion
SIPVR (Screen-Induced Pathological Vestibular Reflex) can be classified as a pathological primitive reflex, as it meets the core characteristics of primitive reflexes:
- Automatic and involuntary in nature – the response is triggered without conscious control.
- Originates from deep brain structures – most likely from brainstem or other regions related to the vestibular system.
- Prominent in early childhood – observed only in children with early screen addiction/ASD, but not in typically developing children.
- Subject to developmental integration – with effective therapy and complete digital detoxification, SIPVR disappears, similar to other primitive reflexes.
- Marker of neural immaturity and sensorimotor disintegration – like other primitive reflexes, SIPVR indicates delayed or disrupted development.
However, SIPVR is not innate (as classical primitive reflexes are), but rather induced by external factors – specifically, screen stimulation – which makes it a secondary or acquired pathological reflex, specific to environmental influences. This distinguishes it from classical reflexes like the Moro or ATNR, which appear physiologically in all newborns.
SIPVR can be considered a pathological, environmentally induced primitive reflex, specific to children with early screen addiction/ASD, playing a key role in both diagnosis and monitoring of the recovery process.
The discovery, description, and therapeutic integration of SIPVR provided us with a crucial piece of the puzzle on the path toward full recovery for children with early screen addiction/autism. The SIPVR test serves as a rapid screening tool for early screen addiction/ASD and can be widely and easily applied by both parents and therapists.
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