"Socioeconomic Disparities Affect Prefrontal Function in Children"
The brains of children who are living in poverty function differently from those of children living in better circumstances, according to a study by researchers
at the University of California, Berkeley.
The research shows that the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain that is active in problem-solving, reasoning, and creativity—responds differently in normal 9- and 10-year-olds who differ only by their socioeconomic status.
Social inequalities have profound effects on the physical and mental health of children.
Children from low socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds perform below children from higher SES backgrounds on tests of intelligence and academic achievement, and recent findings indicate that low SES (LSES) children are impaired on behavioral measures of prefrontal function. However, the influence of socioeconomic disparity on direct measures of neural activity is unknown.
Here, we provide electrophysiological evidence indicating that prefrontal function is altered in LSES children. We found that prefrontal-dependent electrophysiological measures of attention were reduced in LSES compared to high SES (HSES) children in a pattern similar to that observed in patients with lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) damage. These findings provide neurophysiological evidence that social inequalities are associated with alterations in PFC function in LSES children. There are a number of factors associated with LSES rearing conditions that may have contributed to these results such as greater levels of stress and lack of access to cognitively stimulating materials and experiences.
Targeting specific prefrontal processes affected by socioeconomic disparity could be helpful in developing intervention programs for LSES children.
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