Circle Image Gallery
Last 30 Uploads
RR UserX
15 y
1,132
RRR UserX
15 y
874
RR UserX
16 y
2,759
By the way... IQ is NOT a function of genetics!
Brain tests show child wealth gap
The brains of children from low-income families process information differently to those of their wealthier counterparts, US research suggests.
Normal nine and 10-year-olds from rich and poor backgrounds had differing electrical activity in a part of the brain linked to problem solving.
The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience study was described as a "wake-up call" about the impact of deprivation.
A UK researcher said it could shed light on early brain development.
The 26 children in the study, conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, were measured using an electroencephalograph (EEG), which measured activity in the "prefrontal cortex" of the brain.
Half were from low income homes, and half from high income families.
During the test, an image the children had not been briefed to expect was flashed onto a screen, and their brain responses were measured.
Those from lower income families showed a lower prefrontal cortex response to it than those from wealthier households.
Dr Mark Kishiyama, one of the researchers, said: "The low socioeconomic kids were not detecting or processing the visual stimuli as well - they were not getting that extra boost from the prefrontal cortex."
Since the children were, in health terms, normal in every way, the researchers suspected that "stressful environments" created by low socioeconomic status might be to blame.
Previous studies have suggested that children in low-income families are spoken to far less - on average hearing 30 million fewer words by the age of four.
Talking boost
Professor Thomas Boyce, another of the researchers, said that talking more to children could boost prefrontal cortex development.
"We are certainly not blaming lower socioeconomic families for not talking to their kids - there are probably a zillion reasons why that happens."
His colleague, Professor Robert Knight, added: "This is a wake-up call - it's not just that these kids are poor and more likely to have health problems, but they might actually not be getting full brain development from the stressful and relatively impoverished environment associated with low socioeconomic status."
He said that with "proper intervention and training", improvements could be made, even in older children.
Dr Emese Nagy, from the University of Dundee, said that it was a "pioneering" study which could aid understanding of how environment could affect brain development.
She said: "Children who grow up in a different environment may have very different early experiences, and may process information differently than children from a different environment.
"The study showed that low socioeconomic status children behaved exactly the same way as high socioeconomic status children, but their brain processed the information differently."
UserX
16 y
2,309
UserX
16 y
1,582
UserX
16 y
2,395
O.Julien
15 y
1,616
UserX
16 y
624
UserX
16 y
653
RRR UserX
16 y
2,371
RR UserX
16 y
2,651
RR UserX
16 y
1,858
RR UserX
16 y
1,930
Great videos. I just finished reading a book not to long ago by Dr. Wayne Dyer. "Change your thoughts - Change your life".
81 Essays on the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching written 500 years before the birth of Christ, by Lao-tzu
Regarded by many as the ultimate commentary on the nature of our existance.
BTW, I am buying one of the scrolls mentioned in the video.
Thanks
RR UserX
16 y
2,816
Add This Forum To Your Favorites!
Forum Stats:
forum viewed 221,532 times
41 messages
12 topics
topics per page limited to: 8
average number of messages per page: 41
1 pages
CureZone Newsletter is distributed in partnership with www.netatlantic.com
Copyright 1999 - 2024 www.curezone.org