Poverty and Brain Development

How Does Growing up in Poverty Affect the Development of a Child's Brain

It wasn't long ago that scientists believed that the brain was a predictable organ with rigid confines, not that different from the liver or the lungs. They postulated that genetics pre-determine the learning ability, baseline intelligence and problem-solving capabilities of an individual.

However, with the latest research shedding more light on the neuroplasticity of the brain, scientists are beginning to acknowledge that the brain is highly responsive and constantly evolving, with the innate ability to change at large-scale and cellular levels due to experiences and environmental influences. Already, this research has gone a long way into explaining certain phenomena, like how people whose vision is impaired can re-allocate areas of their brain meant to process sights for analyzing sound.

The brain of children is particularly vulnerable to changes – research has demonstrated how growing up in a poor household under strained conditions can impair a child's cognitive abilities that last their entire lives. Let us take a look at some of the ways poverty can affect brain development in children:

·       A recent study employed fMRI (to detect the flow of blood in different areas of the brain) to study how emotions are regulated in young adults. They were part of a long-running study on the effects of poverty. The study showed that the participants who grew up in dire circumstances showed more brain activity in their amygdala (associated with fear, anxiety and other emotional disorders) as well as a marked drop in their prefrontal cortex activity (which plays a key role in restricting the amygdala and prioritizing long-term decisions over impulsive reactions) when they were shown disturbing images. Researchers postulated that chronic stressors, like noise, crowding, separation or family turmoil could affect the brain's development and explain the observed correlation.

·       Another study examined the relationship between childhood nurturing and brain tissue growth in a controlled age group (6-12). Children whose parents were known to have poor nurturing abilities showed slowed growth in gray matter, white matter as well as reduced volumes in parts of the brain involved in coping with external stress and learning skills. The children were similar in all other aspects except the nurturing skills of their parents, which practically retarded their mental development at least by two years. The study also found that impoverished parents had poorer nurturing skills. To an objective observer, it might seem heavy handed to judge the parenting style, but the researchers took into account chronic stressors as well – children who were brought up in a poor household, but did not have as many stressful events (the frequency of which was determined by annual assessments) showed smaller reductions in their neural development.

·       Some studies have looked at more specific effects. A recent study conducted by the Northwestern University found a correlation between children who came from disadvantaged backgrounds had less efficient auditory processing skills – the part of the brain that was responsible for processing daily sounds responded to distracting noises more than the main activity compared to control participants. According to the researchers, it could be explained by the well understood correlation between noise exposure in more urban areas and low income households. However, it is not yet established as to whether the observed effects are temporary or permanent.

·       Dishearteningly enough, a recent study published in Science showed that being preoccupied with the concerns of poverty – struggle to pay the bills, for example – taxed the brain and left less bandwidth to make long-term decisions and solve complicated cognitive problems. It was observed that just getting the volunteers in the study to think about their economic problems led to a much poorer performance on the IQ and impulse control test.

Although the problem of less bandwidth is a temporary one, it does go a long way in explaining how making decisions can be considerably harder for someone who is mired in poverty. Parents should make sure that they don't inadvertently contribute to an environment which keeps their kids from overcoming their difficult circumstances.