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Review
. 2016 Jan;53(1):71-82.
doi: 10.1111/psyp.12547.

Neurocognitive development in socioeconomic context: Multiple mechanisms and implications for measuring socioeconomic status

Alexandra Ursache  1 , Kimberly G Noble  2
Affiliations
Review

Neurocognitive development in socioeconomic context: Multiple mechanisms and implications for measuring socioeconomic status

Alexandra Ursache et al. Psychophysiology. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to functioning across a variety of neurocognitive domains including language, memory, executive functioning, and social-emotional processing. We review these findings and discuss the ways in which socioeconomic context may shape neural processes such that these skills are supported by different neurobiological pathways in children from lower versus higher SES backgrounds. Moreover, we consider the mechanisms by which SES may be related to specific neurocognitive functions. Specifically, we focus on linguistic exposure and stress as two main pathways through which SES could influence neurocognitive processes and shape relations between the neural and behavioral levels of functioning. Finally, suggestions for conceptualizing and measuring SES in future work are offered.

Keywords: Brain development; Language; Neurocognitive function; Socioeconomic status; Stress.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hypothesized mechanisms by which SES operates to influence neurocognitive functioning. Figure as originally published in Brito, N. H., & Noble, K. G. (2014). Socioeconomic status and structural brain development. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8, 1–12. doi:10.3389/fnins.2014.00276
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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