How Poverty Changes Kids’ Brains
BY ELIZA STRICKLAND
When children grow up in poverty, their brains can take a different shape. That’s one of the stark and uncomfortable findings from the lab of Kimberly Noble, a pediatrician and cognitive neuroscientist at Teachers College, Columbia University. Noble has used MRI scans to study the brains of children and found that kids in different socioeconomic strata show differences in brain structure—which can correspond to variations in brain function. Nautilus spoke with her about how the stress of poverty may change the developing brain, how those anatomical differences may translate to different outcomes in school and life, and what lessons policymakers should take from her research.
What are the clearest anatomical differences between the brains of kids on the low and high ends of the socioeconomic spectrum?
We found clear differences in the surface area of the brain. Most studies previously looked at brain volume: If you imagine a can of soup, that’s like measuring the amount of soup the can holds. That can’s volume is comprised of the height of can, and area of the circle on top.
We found that family income and parental education were associated with the size of the circle on top—that’s the surface area that results from all the nooks and crannies of the surface of the brain.
As family income increases, surface area of kids’ brains does as well. The steepest increases are found at the lowest income levels, highlighted by warm colors in these brain maps.
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