How Poverty Affects Brain Development in Childhood

How Poverty Affects Brain Development in Childhood

The Article

• Prefrontal Cortex showed a maturational lag on EEG
• Left-frontal hypoactivity
• Relates to selective attention

"The relevance of SES to cognitive neuroscience lies in its surprisingly strong relationship to cognitive ability as measured by IQ and school achievement beginning in early childhood. "

Article 1:

"Socioeconomic Status and the Developing Brain"

• Language (Left Perisylvian / Language System)

Professional family vs. family on welfare

• Memory (Prefrontal / Executive Function)

Executive attention less in SES children

• Cognitive control (Medial Temporal / Memory System)

Less dramatic of a difference

• fMRI showed below average reading ability relating to activation in left fusiform gyrus (word recog.) and phonological awareness (language ability)

Flaws

Relations

• There is a lack of research in children with low SES
• These studies are more so studied with environmental controls
• Could be affected by schooling in related areas
• Studies are continuing in relation to maturity

Influenced by Parents life stressors

• Relates back to fragility of the brain
• Shows how important development is in beginning stages
• Reports good evidence and counterpoints

Credibility

MRI Answers

• All studies mention scientists and studies
• Does not quote scientists
• Has references and acknowledgments
• Appears unbiased - offers evidence and flaws
• Is providing facts rather than an opinion

• Children who live in poverty are likely to have less grey an white areas in their brains.
• White=brain's ability to transmit signals between cells and structures.
• Grey=associated with intelligence.
• Pink=Hippocampus-linked to memory and learning

• Children in poverty have 2 key brain structures that are smaller in comparison to wealthier children.
• Amygdala- a structure linked to emotional health.
• Hippocampus- an area linked to memory and learning.

The MRI Study

• Based off of family of 4 who anualy brings in $23,550.
• Children ages 6-12 and were in a Preschool Depression Study.

MRI cont.

"Parents can be less emotionally responsive for a whole host of reasons. They may work two jobs or regularly find themselves trying to scrounge together money for food," says Joan L. Luby, a child psychiatrist at Washington University and principal investigator of the study.

• After the study they found that some children were healthy.
• Other children were diagnosed with Depression or other psychiatric disorders such as ADHD.

Credibility

Article 3: "Childhood poverty 'affects brain development'"

• Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO (MRI Scanning)
• Washington University Early Emotional Development Program. (Photos of the Brain)
• Article may be biased because it doesn't cover all children growing up in poverty.
• Creditable Doctors are quoted in this article.

The Psychosocial Environment of Childhood Poverty

Pregnant Women

• Physical and psychosocial conditions that low-income children face.
• Unresponsive and harsher, more punitive parenting occurs more often among low-income families, beginning as early as infancy.
• Low-income children in comparison to middle-income children are exposed to greater levels of violence, family disruption, and separation from their family.

• Poor women two to four weeks postpartum received less emotional support than middle- and upper- income mothers of newborns.
• Low- income mothers of low birth weight, premature babies received significantly less social support when their child was one year old.

Speech Responses

The Physical Environment of Childhood Poverty

• The quantity, quality, and responsiveness of parental speech to children varied strongly by class.
• The higher the social class of parents, the less likely they are to direct or order their children’s behaviors and the more likely they are to speak to their children in order to initiate and sustain conversation.

• Lead exposure
• Pesticide exposure
• Air pollution
• Allergen exposure
• Unsafe drinking water
• Also being exposed to extremely loud noises.

Nature v.s Nurture

Credibility

• Research on percentage of children in households with parents who are either poor, emotionally and physically abusive to children were based on the Census'.
• Also the parents of children who do not provide a safe environment for the children were studied by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Article 2: "The Environment of Childhood Poverty"