There is a growing literature showing that the early experiences of children shape their brain architecture. Two days ago an article in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience added to that literature.

Kids who come from lower socioeconomic families have a harder time ignoring insignificant environmental information than children who come from higher income families, due to the fact that they learn how to pay attention to things differently . . . (from the press release)

The sample size of the study is very small (28 students), and so one can’t put too much weight on it. However, it does suggest that environmental factors in early childhood affect the way that we process information. Specifically:

“These results indicate that children from lower socioeconomic status have to exercise more cognitive control in order to ignore unimportant information than children of higher socioeconomic status.”

Now the question is whether socioeconomic status is the critical variable. Poor children are four times more likely to live in a father-absent home. Is it possible that certain types of home environments not only correlate with poverty, but in fact perpetuate it by their effect on children’s brain development?