Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Developmental Relations among Mind, Brain and Education pp 243–256Cite as

Mind, Brain, and Education in Socioeconomic Context

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

Cognitive neuroscience offers an important perspective on the persistence of poverty by illuminating the ways in which the experience of growing up poor reduces people’s ability to escape poverty. Neuroscience research on the effects of early experience on animal brain development suggests how childhood poverty might constrain human brain development. Specifically, the reduced opportunities for stimulating experience and increased stress of poverty would be expected to exert a negative influence on neurocognitive development. Without good neurocognitive development, intellectual and educational attainments are limited, which in turn limits upward socioeconomic mobility. The research summarized in this chapter by Farah and others is aimed at understanding the ways in which childhood poverty, including experiences prior to school entry, affects cognitive development. A better understanding of the ways in which childhood experience and classroom instruction shape brain function will suggest new ways of preventing and remediating some of the disadvantages suffered by poor children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adams, M. J. (1990). Learning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adler, N. E., Boyce, T., Chesney, M. A., Cohen, S., Folkman, S., Kahn, R. L., et al. (1994). Socioeconomic status and health: The challenge of the gradient. American Psychologist, 49, 15–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, K., Entwisle, D., & Thompson, M. (1987). School performance, status relations, and the structure of sentiment: Bringing the teacher back in. American Sociological Review, 52, 665–682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, D. H., & Doctoroff, G. L. (2003). The early education of socioeconomically disadvantaged children. The Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 517–545.

    Google Scholar 

  • Battin-Pearson, S., Newcomb, M. D., Abbott, R. D., Kill, K. G., Catalano, R. F., Hawkins, J. D. (2000). Predictors of early high-school drop-out: A test of five theories. Journal of Education and Psychology, 92, 568–582.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellinger, D., Leviton, A., Waternaux, C., Needleman, H., & Rabinowitz, C. (1987). Longitudinal analyses of prenatal and postnatal lead exposure and early cognitive development. New England Journal of Medicine, 316, 1037–1043.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair, C. & Razza, R. P. (2007). Relating effortful control, executive function, and false-belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Child Development, 78, 647–663.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. E. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read – a causal connection. Nature, 301, 419–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (1999). Parenting. In C. L. B. Tamis-Lemonda (Ed.), Child Psychology: A Handbook of Contemporary Issues (pp. 339–362). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, R. H., Corwyn, R. F., McAdoo, H. P. & Garcia Coll C. (2001) The home environments of children in the United States. Part 1: Variations by age, ethnicity, and poverty-status. Child Development, 72, 1844–1867.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. J. (1997). The effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children, 7, 55–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell, B. M., & Bradley, R. H. (1984). Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME). Little Rock, AR: University of Arkansas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capron, C., & Duyme, M. (1989). Assessment of effects of socio-economic status on IQ in a full cross-fostering study. Nature, 340, 552–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Case, R. (1992). The role of the frontal lobes in the regulation of cognitive development. Brain and Cognition, 20, 51–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chasnoff, I. J., Anson, A., Hatcher, R., Stenson, H., Iaukea, K., & Randolph, L. (1998). Prenatal exposure to cocaine and other drugs. Outcome at four to six years. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 846, 314–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, A. (1990). The development and neural bases of memory functions as indexed by the A(not)B and delayed response tasks in human infants and infant monkeys. The Development and Neural Bases of Higher Cognitive Functions. A. Diamond. New York: New York Academy of Science, 267–317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, G. J., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Klebanov, P. K. (1994). Economic deprivation and early-childhood development. Child Development, 65, 296–318.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, G. W., & English, K. (2002). The environment of poverty: Multiple stressor exposure, psychophysiological stress, and socioemotional adjustment. Child Development, 73, 1238–1248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farah, M. J., Shera, D. M., Savage, J. H., Betancourt, L., Giannetta, J. M., Brodsky, N. L., et al. (2006). Childhood poverty: Specific associations with neurocognitive development. Brain Research, 1110, 166–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farah, M. J., Betancourt, L., Shera, D. M., Savage, J. H., Giannetta, J. M., Nancy, L., et al. (in press). Environmental stimulation, parental nurturance and cognitive development in humans. Developmental Science, 15, 793–801 (from her website).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunnar, M. R. & Quevedo, K. (2007). The neurobiology of stress and development. In S. Fiske (Ed.) Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 145–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368–1378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurt, H., Betancourt, L., Malmud, E. K., Shera, D. M., Giannetta, J. M., Brodsky, N. L., et al. (submitted). Effects of prenatal cocaine exposure at middle school age: A neurocognitive systems analysis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lareau, A. (2003). Unequal childhoods: Class, race and family life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, O. (1965). La Vida. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipina, S. J., Martelli, M. I., Vuelta, B. L., & Colombo, J. A. (2005). Performance on the A-not-B task of Argentinean infants from unsatisfied basic needs homes. Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 39, 49–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, D., Diorio, J., Day, J. C., Francis, D. D., & Meaney, M. J. (2000). Maternal care, hippocampal synaptogenesis and cognitive development in rats. Nature Neuroscience, 3(8), 799–806.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupien, S. J., King, S., Meaney, M.J., & McEwen, B.S. (2001). Can poverty get under your skin? Basal cortisol levels and cognitive function in children from low and high socioeconomic status. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 653–676.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1976 (first published in 1867)). Capital (Vol. I). New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, M. M., Cameron, C. E., Connor, C. M., Farris, C. L., Jewkes, A. M., & Morrison, F. J. (2007). Links between behavioral regulation and preschoolers’ literacy, vocabulary, and math skills. Developmental Psychology, 43, 947–959.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLoyd, V. C. (1990). The impact of economic hardship on black families and children: Psychological distress, parenting and socioemotional development. Child Development, 61, 311–346.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLoyd, V. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53, 185–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • McEwen, B. S. (2000). The neurobiology of stress: From serendipity to clinical relevance. Brain Research, 886, 172–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mezzacappa, E. (2004). Alerting, orienting, and executive attention: developmental properties and sociodemographic correlates in an epidemiological sample of young, urban children. Child Development, 75, 1373–1386.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. L. (1989). Delay of gratification in children. Science, 244, 933–938.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noble, K. G., Farah, M. J., & McCandliss, B. M. (2006). Socioeconomic background modulates cognition–achievement relationships in reading. Cognitive Development, 21 (3): 349–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noble, K. G., McCandliss, B. D., & Farah, M. J. (2007). Socioeconomic gradients predict individual differences in neurocognitive abilities. Developmental Science, 10(4): 464–480.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noble, K. G., Norman, M. F., & Farah, M. J. (2005). Neurocognitive correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten children. Developmental Science, 8, 74–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips D. A., Voran M., Kisker E., Howes C., & Whitebook M. (1994). Child care for children in poverty: opportunity or inequity? Child Development, 65, 472–492.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianta R. C., La Paro K. M., Payne C., Cox M. J., & Bradley R. (2002). The relation of kindergarten classroom environment to teacher, family, school, characteristics, and child outcomes. The Elementary School Journal, 102, 225–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I., & Rothbart, M. K (2005). Influencing brain networks: Implications for education. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 99–103 .

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig, M. R., (2003). Effects of differential experience on the brain and behavior. Developmental Neuropsychology, 24, 523–540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rueda, M. R., Fan, J., McCandliss, B. D., Halparin, J. D., Gruber, D. B., Lercari, L. P., et al. (2004). Development of attentional networks in childhood. Neuropsychologia, 42, 1029–1040.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiff, M., & Lewontin, R. (1986). Education and Class: The Irrelevance of IQ Genetic Studies. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Surkan, P. J., Zhang, A., Trachtenberg, F., Daniel, D. B., McKinlay, S., & Bellinger, D. C. (2007). Neuropsychological function in children with blood lead levels <10 microg/dL. Neurotoxicology, 28, 1170–1177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, R. J., & Avison, W. R. (2003). Status variations in stress exposure: implications for the interpretation of research on race, socioeconomic status, and gender. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44, 488–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Praag, H., Kempermann, G., & Gage, F. H. (2000) Neural consequences of environmental enrichment. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 1, 191–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, R. K., & Torgesen, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 192–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallach, L., Wallach, M. A., Dozier, M. G., & Kaplan, N. E. (1977). Poor children learning to read do not have trouble with auditory discrimination but do have trouble with phoneme recognition. Journal of Educational and Psychology, 69, 36–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. (1961 first published in 1923). General economic history. New York: Collier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehurst, G. J. (1997). Language processes in context: Language learning in children reared in poverty. In L. B. Adamson & M. A. Romski (Eds.), Research on communication and language disorders: Contribution to theories of language development (pp. 233–266). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Martha J. Farah

Authors
  1. Martha J. Farah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martha J. Farah .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ontario Inst. Studies in Education, Dept. Human Development &, University of Toronto, Bloor Street West 252, Toronto, M5S 1V6, Ontario, Canada

    Michel Ferrari

  2. Ontario Inst. Studies in Education, Dept. Human Development &, University of Toronto, Bloor Street West 252, Toronto, M5S 1V6, Ontario, Canada

    Ljiljana Vuletic

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Farah, M.J. (2010). Mind, Brain, and Education in Socioeconomic Context. In: Ferrari, M., Vuletic, L. (eds) The Developmental Relations among Mind, Brain and Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3666-7_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation