Working memory
Does early life adversity in rural India affect brain development?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Children from lower-income families in rural India had more difficulty detecting visual changes, which linked to reduced suppression of activity in the frontal cortex.
Key findings
Children from higher socioeconomic status backgrounds showed a better ability to detect visual changes. This higher performance was associated with a greater suppression of activation in the left frontal cortex. Additionally, maternal education and income predicted frontal activation, with family income alone accounting for 22% of the variance in activation within a specific left frontal region.
Methodology
The researchers measured visual working memory in 34 children aged 4 to 48 months from rural India using a task with 12 trials per memory load. They used a portable neuroimaging system with 4 light sources and 6 detectors to measure brain activity while children watched displays of flashing squares. The team also assessed household socioeconomic status to see how resources like parental education and family income relate to children's cognitive and brain development.
Limitations
This study is correlational, meaning it cannot prove that socioeconomic status directly causes differences in brain function or working memory. Additionally, the portable neuroimaging setup had limited brain coverage, which prevented the researchers from recording from key temporal and parietal brain areas involved in memory. Lastly, the study relied on brain templates derived from Western children, which may not perfectly align with the head shape and size variations of children in rural India.
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