POVERTY How poverty can markedly affect the development of the brain. Describe and evaluate evidence methods used to overcome these adverse effects.

Question 1

There is substantial evidence indicating that poverty and adversity can markedly affect the development of the brain; however,…

Answer 1

research on how such experiences induce these changes is less developed.

Question 2

Essay structure for
Discuss how poverty and adversity can markedly affect the development of the brain. Describe and evaluate evidence based methods used to overcome these adverse effects.

Answer 2

1. Structure
2. Poverty effects
3. Poverty interventions
4. Adversity effects
5. Adversity interventions
6. Conclusions

Question 3

What is the structure for the section on the effects of poverty on the brain?

Answer 3

1. Intro on the effects of poverty on the development of the brain
2. Language
3. Executive Function
4. Emotion

Question 4

What is the structure for the section on the evidence based methods for overcoming the effects of poverty on the brain?

Answer 4

1. Intro
2. Parent training
3. Classroom-based interventions

Question 5

Childhood poverty affects some neuro-cognitive systems more than others. There is evidence of robust SES differences in [blank] and [blank], as well as emerging evidence for differences in [blank]

Answer 5

language
executive function
affective processes

Question 6

There is an effect of SES on X, Y and Z

Answer 6

1. vocabulary
2. phonological
3. awareness
   syntax

Question 7

What is phonological awareness?

Answer 7

the ability to reflect on the sound and structure of language; an important ability for learning to read

Question 8

There is an effect of SES on vocabulary, phonological awareness (the ability to reflect on the sound and structure of language; an important ability for learning to read) and syntax. For example, an early, influential study estimated what? who conducted the study?

Answer 8

that the vocabulary of American 3-year-olds from professional families is twice as large as that of children in families on welfare (Hart & Risley, 1995).

Question 9

Structural differences in temporal and parietal brain areas that are involved in language have …

Answer 9

not been found across SES levels in children (Eckert et al 2001)

Question 10

Structural differences in temporal and parietal brain areas that are involved in language have not been found across SES levels in children (Eckert, Lambardino & Leonard, 2001). However, …

Answer 10

SES was positively correlated with the degree to which the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca’s area) is activated during a language task in young children
(Raizada et al., 2008).

Question 11

SES was positively correlated with the degree to which the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca’s area) is activated during a language task in young children, indicative of what?
Says who?

Answer 11

decreased specialization of language function in the left hemisphere in children with low SES (Raizada et al., 2008).

Question 12

Who found that SES was positively correlated with the degree to which the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca’s area) is activated during a language task in young children?

Answer 12

Raizada et al 2008

Question 13

In relation to executive function and working memory - SES-related differences in the executive functions of working memory and inhibitory control have been noted in …

Answer 13

children as young as 6-14 months of age (Lipina et al 2005)

Question 14

Who found that SES-related differences in the executive functions of working memory and inhibitory control have been noted in children as young as 6-14 months of age?

Answer 14

Lipina et al 2005

Question 15

There are also SES-related differences in the degree to which … even when task performance does not differ between SES groups

Answer 15

specific neural systems are recruited during executive function tasks

Question 16

There are also SES-related differences in the degree to which specific neural systems are recruited during executive function tasks, even when task performance does not differ between SES groups. For example? Who found this?

Answer 16

ERPs reveal that low-SES children exhibit larger responses to unattended stimuli which is indicative of difficulty in suppressing distraction early in the processing stream and thus, of reduced selective attention (D’Anguilli et al 2008)

Question 17

ERPs reveal that low-SES children exhibit larger responses to unattended stimuli which is indicative of what?

Answer 17

difficulty in suppressing distraction early in the processing stream and thus, of reduced selective attention (D’Anguilli et al 2008)

Question 18

Who conducted the research with EEG where ERPs reveal that low-SES children exhibit larger responses to unattended stimuli which is indicative of difficulty in suppressing distraction early in the processing stream and thus, of reduced selective attention ?

Answer 18

D’Anguilli et al 2008

Question 19

In addition, as measured with ERPs, low-SES children do not recruit prefrontal attention circuits in response to what?

Answer 19

novel distractor stimuli to the same degree as higher-SES children

Question 20

Who found that low-SES children do not recruit prefrontal attention circuits in response to novel distractor stimuli to the same degree as higher SES children? What did they use to measure activity?

Answer 20

ERPs

Kishiyama et al 2009

Question 21

There is also evidence of SES-related differences in the [blank] of emotion

Answer 21

neural processing

Question 22

Lower-SES adolescents exhibit … as measured by… a pattern that is typically seen in patients with depression.

Answer 22

lower left-sided brain activity at rest

by resting alpha-asymmetry at frontal sites

Question 23

Who found that lower-SES adolescents exhibit lower left-sided brain activity at rest as measured by resting alpha-asymmetry at frontal sites, a pattern that is typically seen in patients with depression?

Answer 23

Tomarken et al 2004

Question 24

What did Tomarken et al find?

Answer 24

That lower-SES adolescents exhibit lower left-sided brain activity at rest as measured by resting alpha-asymmetry at frontal sites, a pattern that is typically seen in patients with depression

Question 25

While among college students, lower subjective social status is associated with what? Says who?

Answer 25

an increased amygdala response to angry faces (Gianaros et al., 2008).

Question 26

What did Gianaros et al 2008 find?

Answer 26

among college students, lower subjective social status is associated with an increased amygdala response to angry faces

Question 27

interventions used to overcome the adverse effects of poverty largely fall into two main groups:

Answer 27

parent training and classroom-based interventions

Question 28

interventions used to overcome the adverse effects of poverty largely fall into two main groups: parent training and classroom-based interventions. In addition to these two methods, …. also hold considerable potential for the prevention of poverty effects

Answer 28

poverty reduction policies and programmes (such as the US based Earned Income Tax Credit studied by Dahl and Lochner [2008]

Question 29

poverty reduction policies and programmes (such as the US based Earned Income Tax Credit studied by Dahl and Lochner [2008]) also hold considerable potential for the prevention of poverty effects; however …

Answer 29

due to time constraints, and the fact that the literature is only in its infancy, these will not be reviewed here.

Question 30

A considerable body of research in prevention science demonstrates that parenting interventions can be successful in …

Answer 30

altering the quality of caregiving that adults provide to young children while those same adults navigate a large number of stressful poverty-related hazards.

Question 31

Recent parent training programs have shown significant success in helping adults to acquire new [blank] and [blank], [blank], and engage in more sensitive and responsive and less coercive and inept forms of parenting; leading to…

Answer 31

caregiving goals

schema

alter their use of negative forms of discipline

reductions in young children’s behavioural dysregulation

Question 32

Recent parent training programs have shown significant success in helping adults to acquire new caregiving goals and schema, alter their use of negative forms of discipline, and engage in more sensitive and responsive and less coercisve and inept forms of caregiving, with reductions in young children’s behavioural dysregulation. For example?

Answer 32

implementation of multiple years of the SAFEChildren intervention supporting parenting practices among low income families facing high levels of violence led to significant increases in parents’ use of more stable and consistent forms of caregiving and limit setting, with concomitant improvements in children’s regulation, attention, impulsivity, and behaviour (Tolan et al, 2009)

Question 33

implementation of multiple years of the SAFEChildren intervention supporting parenting practices among low income families facing high levels of violence led to what?

Answer 33

significant increases in parents’ use of more stable and consistent forms of caregiving and limit setting, with concomitant improvements in children’s regulation, attention, impulsivity, and behaviour
(Tolan et al 2009)

Question 34

Who found that implementation of multiple years of the SAFEChildren intervention supporting parenting practices among low income families facing high levels of violence led to significant increases in parents’ use of more stable and consistent forms of caregiving and limit setting, with concomitant improvements in children’s regulation, attention, impulsivity, and behaviour ?

Answer 34

Tolan et al 2009

Question 35

Research by Dozier et al (2007) found that children of foster care parents receiving training in emotionally supportive and contingent behaviour demonstrated what?

Answer 35

a more typical pattern of diurnal cortisol change (higher morning levels and a consistent decline through the day) as well as lower overall cortisol levels

Question 36

What did Dozier et al 2008 find?

Answer 36

Children of foster care parents receiving training in emotionally supportive and contingent behaviour demonstrated a more typical pattern of diurnal cortisol change (higher morning levels and a consistent decline through the day) as well as lower overall cortisol levels

Question 37

Effect sizes of these interventions range from small impacts with … to larger effect sizes for…

Answer 37

‘dilute’ forms of intervention

more intensive intervention efforts

Question 38

Notably, these models of parent skills training often engage parents through what?

Answer 38

attention to parents own regulatory profiles of affect, behaviour, and cognition in conditions of high environmental stress.

Question 39

Although findings emerging from the recent parenting interventions just explored are promising, it is important to note …

Answer 39

that behavioural change may be easier to engineer among some parents than among others (e.g., among full-time working parents who are not able to attend extensive trainings and workshops).

Question 40

Further, as mentioned briefly, the size of the effect or impact of those interventions on child outcomes is generally small and may not be sustrained unless …

Answer 40

the ‘dose’ of intervention is high and continues across several developmental periods

Question 41

urther, as mentioned briefly, the size of the effect or impact of those interventions on child outcomes is generally small and may not be sustrained unless the ‘dose’ of intervention is high and continues across several developmental periods (see Landry et al., 2008). A clear implication of this is that for many children, interventions targeting the quality of caregiving represents …

Answer 41

only partial rather than full solutions to improving outcomes for children affected by poverty.

Question 42

At the institutional level, recent meta-analysis of school-based interventions clearly document their positive impact across a range of outcomes; for example

Answer 42

results from preschool intervention trials suggest that exposure to cognitively stimulating and behaviorally well-managed classrooms benefits low-income children’s executive functioning

Raver et al 2011

Question 43

Further, long-term follow-up observations of the effects of early intervention, including randomized controlled trials, come from programmes such as the [blank], the [blank], and the [blank].

Answer 43

the Perry Prescool Programme (Michigan USA)

Abecedarian Project (North Carolina, USA)

Chicago Child-Parent Centers, USA

Question 44

Further, long-term follow-up observations of the effects of early intervention, including randomized controlled trials, come from programmes such as the Perry Prescool Programme (Michigan USA), the Abecedarian Project (North Carolina, USA), and the Chicago Child-Parent Centers, USA. These include …

Answer 44

include increased cognitive stimulation as part of more comprehensive intervention programmes

Question 45

Such intervention programmes were associated with wht?

Answer 45

higher scores on achievement tests, higher levels of education and income, and lower rates of incarceration decades after the completion of the programmes, despite the fact that in some studies initial gains in IQ disappeared

Question 46

Such intervention programmes were associated with higher scores on achievement tests, higher levels of education and income, and lower rates of incarceration decades after the completion of the programmes, despite the fact that in some studies initial gains in IQ disappeared. Such effects suggest what?

Answer 46

although experience at any age affects later outcomes, early cognitive stimulation is a particularly important determinant of later psychological functioning.