Tests of attentional control, working memory, and planning were administered to compare the non-verbal executive control performance of healthy children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, mediations of several sociodemographic variables, identified in the literature as part of the experience of child poverty, between socioeconomic status and cognitive performance were assessed. Results show: (1) significant differences in performance between groups in most dependent variables analyzed - however, not in all variables associated with attentional control domains; (2) significant indirect effects of literacy activities on working memory and fluid processing domains, as well as computer resources effects on fluid processing; and (3) marginal indirect effects of computer resources on attentional control and working memory domains. These findings extend analysis of the impact of poverty on the development of executive control, through information based on the assessment of combined neurocognitive paradigms and the identification of specific environmental mediators.

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P overty remains an urgent crisis worldwide. In the United States, 28.6 million children live in low-income families and 12.7 million children live in poor families. In nations belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 47 million children live below national poverty lines. These fi gures pertain to industrialized countries; rates of child poverty in some developing nations exceed 60%.Poverty and Brain Development During Childhood examines how a range of early social and material deprivations affect structural and functional brain organization and cognitive and socioemotional development postnatally and throughout childhood.• Do conceptual and operational defi nitions of poverty capture the true nature and complexity of the multidimensional problem and properly guide research? • How does poverty affect physical and mental health? • What do contemporary neuroimaging and behavioral studies reveal? Studying these and other equally compelling questions, the authors apply a suite of neuroscientifi c and cognitive frameworks to examine the cognitive performance of children living in poverty in different countries. Looking to the future and to the development of effective policy, the authors analyze the potential contributions of the neuroscientifi c disciplines to the design of early interventions aimed at optimizing the cognitive performance of socioeconomically disadvantaged children. 2009. 184 pages. Hardcover.