Neuroscience and Poverty

Research presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science indicated that children growing up in families with low socioeconomic status experience high levels of stress hormones. These stress hormones in turn affect neural development, specifically language and memory development. What is even more compelling is that this effect is independent of the damage already done by exposure to environmental toxins and inadequate nutrition. Another research group at University of Oregon tested the effect of a training intervention that taught parents how to minimize stress at the home. Initial results found that the training results in large reductions of stress and brain imaging confirmed improvements in the children.

Poverty mars formation of infant brains by Clive Cookson, The Financial Times

"Poverty is Poison" by Paul Krugman, The New York Times

Neuroscience and Poverty, Trinifar blog

Martha J. Farah, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Pennsylvania

Jack P. Shonkoff, Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University