Exploring neural correlates of behavioral and academic resilience among children in poverty

• Published in: Developmental cognitive neuroscience 2022-04, Vol.54, p.101090, Article 101090
• Main Authors: Ellwood-Lowe, M.E., Irving, C.N., Bunge, S.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; Adolescent; Attention; Brain; Brain development; Brain Mapping; Brain networks; Child; Cognitive; Environment; Functional connectivity; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neural Pathways; Original Research; Poverty; Socioeconomic status
• ISSN: 1878-9293; 1878-9307; 1878-9307
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101090

Children in poverty must contend with systems that do not meet their needs. We explored what, at a neural level, helps explain children’s resilience in these contexts. Lower coupling between lateral frontoparietal network (LFPN) and default mode network (DMN)—linked, respectively, to externally- and internally-directed thought—has previously been associated with better cognitive performance. However, we recently found the opposite pattern for children in poverty. Here, we probed ecologically-valid assessments of performance. In a pre-registered study, we investigated trajectories of network coupling over ages 9–13 and their relation to school grades and attention problems. We analyzed longitudinal data from ABCD Study (N = 8366 children at baseline; 1303 below poverty). The link between cognitive performance and grades was weaker for children in poverty, highlighting the importance of ecologically-valid measures. As predicted, higher LFPN-DMN connectivity was linked to worse grades and attentional problems for children living above poverty, while children below poverty showed opposite tendencies. This interaction between LFPN-DMN connectivity and poverty related to children’s grades two years later; however, it was attenuated when controlling for baseline grades and was not related to attention longitudinally. Together, these findings suggest network connectivity is differentially related to performance in real-world settings for children above and below poverty.