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Neurocognitive development in socioeconomic context: Multiple mechanisms and implications for measuring socioeconomic status
Author(s) -
Ursache Alexandra,
Noble Kimberly G.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.12547
Subject(s) - neurocognitive , socioeconomic status , psychology , developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , cognitive psychology , executive functions , cognition , neuroscience , population , paleontology , demography , sociology , biology
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.