Via The Globe and Mail: Poverty affects way brain works, study suggests. Excerpt:
A B.C. pediatrician has co-authored a new study that researchers believe shows that the brains of children from low-income backgrounds function differently from the brains of kids from high-income environments.
Tom Boyce, who serves as the B.C. Leadership Chair of Child Development at the University of British Columbia, said the study found certain deficits in the functioning of the prefrontal cortex in kids from low-income environments.
The prefrontal cortex is the region of the brain that is critical for problem solving and creativity.
”The conclusion was that something about the early environments of children growing up in less well-off families fundamentally affects the growth and development of that region of the brain,” Dr. Boyce said.
”And that is concerning because we want all kids to have equal chances and it looks as though, because of this, that there may be some deficits in the development of the low-income kids.”The original article isn't yet available online. I'll link to it when it's published.
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