New Study Reveals How Poverty Can Alter A Child's Brain

By


A new research has revealed that children from low-income backgrounds, where parents have a low level of education, have weaker brain activity and are more likely to be distracted.

The Lead researcher, Prof John Spencer, from the University of East Anglia’s School of Psychology and his team studied the brain function of children aged between four months and four years in rural India.

They compared their results with children from families in Midwest America and found that children from lower-income backgrounds, had weaker brain activity and were more likely to be distracted.


“Each year, 250 million children in low and middle income countries fail to reach their developmental potential which shows the growing need to understand the global impact of poverty on early brain and behavioural development.”

Spencer added that “Previous work has shown that poverty and early adversities significantly impact brain development, contributing to a vicious cycle of poverty. But few studies have looked at brain function early in development.

“We wanted to find out more about the functional brain development of children born into poorer backgrounds — to see why many do not reach their full potential.

This work is the first step in intervention efforts designed to boost early brain health before adversity can take hold.”

The study considers factors such as parental education, income, caste, religion, the number children in the family, and economic status.

The research team found that the children from families with low parental education and income showed weaker brain activity and poorer distractor suppression.

“Although the impact of adversity on brain development can trap children in an inter-generational cycle of poverty, the massive potential for brain plasticity is also a source of hope”, Spencer said.

***

Source: NAN

Source:
https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/04/new-study-reveals-how-poverty-can-alter.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prostitution; Nigerian Women At Growing Risk From Human Traffickers In Germany.

By
Image
According to InfoMigrants, Nigerian women are at growing risk from traffickers in Germany who exploit and engage them in prostitution. Read the full report below by InfoMigrants. The new prostitute protection law in Germany was meant to identify victims of human trafficking – most of them migrant women. More than 18 months after the law came into effect, thousands continue to be targeted for exploitation, and the risk for Nigerian women seems to be increasing. There are campervans parked by the roadside. Some have hearts painted on them, one says “girls, girls” in red letters. It’s an easy matter for someone to stop for a quick transaction in one of these Love-Mobiles – sex with one of the “girls” in exchange for the going rate. Prostitution is mainly legal in Germany, as are these mobile brothels. But many of the women in the business – including those working from the Love-Mobiles – are victims of illegal human trafficking. Most of the women are from Eastern Europe or Nige...
Read more

FULL TEXT: A sacrifice for our new political order – Ezekwesili

By
Image
“When the ACPN leadership approached me in a series of visits to appeal that I run for office on their platform, the party appeared to be a good fit. It was founded by some disgruntled PDP members some years ago, but when its prime founder decided to return to the PDP, a core of its membership refused to move back with him. I was told that they stayed back because of their opposition to the ways of the PDP. Considering my vocal disapproval of the PDP and the APC, I admired the ACPN’s decision to stand firm and refusal to be co-opted.” It has been an interesting one week since I made the tough but necessary decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency. I have been truly overwhelmed by the reactions to my announcement from Nigerians. Even in airports outside the country as I travelled last week, Nigerians walked up to me with questions, concerns, encouragement, and motivation. I also saw disappointment by some who had poured their hearts and hopes into actualising our mission ...
Read more

Update On Slay Queen Who Was Stripped Naked And Tortured Over Missing Phone.

By
Image
The League of Patriotic Lawyers has given Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olusegun Odumosu, 24 hours to unravel those behind the torture and insertion of pepper into a girl’s private part in Benin City over alleged stealing of a mobile phone.  Chairman of the platform and former Student Union President of the University of Benin, Mr. Abubakar Yesufu, who said this in a statement yesterday, also urged the state Director, Department of State Services, DSS, to be involved in the investigation. A video of the incident, seen by Vanguard yesterday, showed the girl being stripped naked by a group of people, who inserted pepper into her private parts for allegedly stealing a phone. The unidentified girl was heard crying and saying she didn’t steal any phone, while she was being humiliated by the crowd. Yesufu said: “The League of Patriotic Lawyers has given the Edo State Commissioner of Police 24 hours to arrest and commence prosecution of all the street urchins behind thi...
Read more