Childhood poverty: Specific associations with neurocognitive development

Growing up in poverty is associated with reduced cognitive achievement as measured by standardized intelligence tests, but little is known about the underlying neurocognitive systems responsible for this effect. We administered a battery of tasks designed to tax-specific neurocognitive systems to he...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research 2006-09, Vol.1110 (1), p.166-174
Main Authors: Farah, Martha J., Shera, David M., Savage, Jessica H., Betancourt, Laura, Giannetta, Joan M., Brodsky, Nancy L., Malmud, Elsa K., Hurt, Hallam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Cerebral Cortex - growth & development
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Child
Child Development - physiology
Cognition - physiology
Development
Environment
Executive function
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Learning - physiology
Male
Memory
Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data
Poverty
Prefrontal cortex
Problem Solving - physiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Socioeconomic status
Spatial Behavior - physiology
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Summary:Growing up in poverty is associated with reduced cognitive achievement as measured by standardized intelligence tests, but little is known about the underlying neurocognitive systems responsible for this effect. We administered a battery of tasks designed to tax-specific neurocognitive systems to healthy low and middle SES children screened for medical history and matched for age, gender and ethnicity. Higher SES was associated with better performance on the tasks, as expected, but the SES disparity was significantly nonuniform across neurocognitive systems. Pronounced differences were found in Left perisylvian/Language and Medial temporal/Memory systems, along with significant differences in Lateral/Prefrontal/Working memory and Anterior cingulate/Cognitive control and smaller, nonsignificant differences in Occipitotemporal/Pattern vision and Parietal/Spatial cognition.
ISSN:0006-8993
1872-6240
DOI:10.1016/j.brainres.2006.06.072