<\/p>\n
Questions have persisted for quite some time as to what factors influence these differences.\u00a0 Research to date has implicated variables like parental attention, number of words spoken in the home, access to books, and familial stressors; however, the actual physiological or anatomical mechanisms (e.g., neurocognitive processes) that result in these discrepancies have remained elusive.\u00a0 You see, many factors have been found to correlate with the underachievement of LSES children, but not until a study by UC Berkley Neuroscientists<\/a>, did we have conclusive direct<\/strong> evidence of how these factors may actually produce neurological differences that play out in these cognitive, achievement, and behavioral gaps.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Scientists at UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and School of Public Health report in a study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience that typically developing nine- and ten-year-olds who only differ in terms of SES,\u00a0 have detectable differences in prefrontal cortext responsiveness.\u00a0 The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that is known to be involved in problem solving and creativity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a press release about this study it was noted (Sanders, 2008):<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brain function was measured by means of an electroencephalograph (EEG) – basically, a cap fitted with electrodes to measure electrical activity in the brain – like that used to assess epilepsy, sleep disorders and brain tumors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Kids from lower socioeconomic levels show brain physiology patterns similar to someone who actually had damage in the frontal lobe as an adult,” said Robert Knight, director of the institute and a UC Berkeley professor of psychology. “We found that kids are more likely to have a low response if they have low socioeconomic status, though not everyone who is poor has low frontal lobe response.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Previous studies have shown a possible link between frontal lobe function and behavioral differences in children from low and high socioeconomic levels, but according to cognitive psychologist Mark Kishiyama, first author of the new paper, “those studies were only indirect measures of brain function and could not disentangle the effects of intelligence, language proficiency and other factors that tend to be associated with low socioeconomic status. Our study is the first with direct measure of brain activity where there is no issue of task complexity.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Co-author W. Thomas Boyce, UC Berkeley professor emeritus of public health who currently is the British Columbia Leadership Chair of Child Development at the University of British Columbia (UBC), is not surprised by the results. “We know kids growing up in resource-poor environments have more trouble with the kinds of behavioral control that the prefrontal cortex is involved in regulating. But the fact that we see functional differences in prefrontal cortex response in lower socioeconomic status kids is definitive.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n These scientists suspect that “stressful environments<\/em>” and “cognitive impoverishment<\/em>” are responsible because in previous research on animals, these very factors have been shown to affect development of the prefrontal cortex. “UC Berkeley’s Marian Diamond, professor of integrative biology, showed nearly 20 years ago in rats that enrichment thickens the cerebral cortex as it improves test performance.\u00a0\u00a0 And as Boyce noted, previous studies have shown that children from poor families hear 30 million fewer words by the time they are four than do kids from middle-class families.<\/em>”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These factors lead to important differences in brain functioning.\u00a0 As the lead author noted in an interview:\u00a0 “Those from low socioeconomic environments showed a lower response to the unexpected novel stimuli in the prefrontal cortex that was similar to the response of people who have had a portion of their frontal lobe destroyed by a stroke.”<\/em> (Sanders, 2008)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One question that arose in my mind as I reviewed this paper was whether something other than SES was responsible for this effect. I asked Dr. Robert Knight this question:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “The HSES and LSES kids differed in both prefrontal cortex response level and standard scores on intelligence test subtests [Intelligence data was also collected as part of the study. On multiple incidences LSES children obtained significantly lower subtest scores than HSES children.] Is it not possible that genetic traits (i.e., lower IQ) might be responsible for the lower prefrontal cortex activity level, not SES?<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Knight referred this question to the led author, Dr. Mark Kishiyama, who responded in personal correspondence:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “This study\u00a0was designed\u00a0to reveal\u00a0the effects of poverty on brain function rather than to identify specific causes. While we cannot rule out the\u00a0potential effects of genetic factors,\u00a0on the basis of\u00a0prior evidence, we\u00a0proposed that\u00a0the primary influences were environmental (e.g., stress and a cognitively impoverished environment).\u00a0There is considerable evidence in both human and animal studies indicating that stress and environmental factors can contribute to disruptions in brain development. In addition, we believe that these effects can be reversed with early childhood interventions (see also Raizada & Kishiyama, 2010).<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n The implications of these findings are profoundly important and grim. If we accept these results and do nothing, then we all are complicit in perpetuating the cycle of poverty.\u00a0 We know that there are important differences in how LSES and HSES children are raised.\u00a0 Education, training, and intervention programs must focus on narrowing this gap.\u00a0 I contend that parent education programs like Baby College<\/a> administered by the Harlem Children\u2019s Zone must must be closely examined and if shown to be effective, replicated on a broad scale.\u00a0 I also contend that programs like Early Head Start and Head Start should focus their efforts on proven strategies that close these gaps.\u00a0 This is essential in order to build a just society whereby we all get a more fair shot at rising up and contributing fully to society. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n References:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kishiyama, M. M., Boyce, W. T., Jimenez, A. M., Perry, L. M., and Knight, R. T. (2009). Socioeconomic Disparities Affect Prefrontal Function in Children.<\/strong><\/span> Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 21:6, 1106-1115.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/geraldguild.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/eeg-brain-101x300.gif\" "\\"eeg-brain\\"")
<\/a>