Cognitive adaptations to stressful environments: When childhood adversity enhances adult executive function.

Abstract

Can growing up in a stressful childhood environment enhance certain cognitive functions? Drawing participants from higher-income and lower-income backgrounds, we tested how adults who grew up in harsh or unpredictable environments fared on 2 types of executive function tasks: inhibition and shifting. People who experienced unpredictable childhoods performed worse at inhibition (overriding dominant responses), but performed better at shifting (efficiently switching between different tasks). This finding is consistent with the notion that shifting, but not inhibition, is especially useful in unpredictable environments. Importantly, differences in executive function between people who experienced unpredictable versus predictable childhoods emerged only when they were tested in uncertain contexts. This catalyst suggests that some individual differences related to early life experience are manifested under conditions of uncertainty in adulthood. Viewed as a whole, these findings indicate that adverse childhood environments do not universally impair mental functioning, but can actually enhance specific types of cognitive performance in the face of uncertainty.

Unity and diversity of executive functions: Individual differences as a window on cognitive structure

“…For example, Blackwell, Chatham, Wiseheart, and Munakata (2014) found that children who were better at switching in a card-sorting task were worse at response inhibition. Similarly, Mittal, Griskevicius, Simpson, Sung, and Young (2015) found that adults who had grown up in stressful environments showed worse response inhibition but better task switching in uncertain contexts, compared to adults raised in less stressful environments.…”

Early stress, parental motivation, and reproductive decision-making: applications of life history theory to parental behavior

“…[46]) and how these skills can be usefully employed in relevant contexts. An example is heightened attention-shifting ability among individuals who grow up in harsh, unpredictable home environments and then are exposed to current states of economic decline and uncertainty [47 •• ]. Heightened attention-shifting ability may facilitate vigilance in a world where threats come without warning.…”

A life history approach to delineating how harsh environments and hawk temperament traits differentially shape children's problem‐solving skills

“…Thus, within harsh rearing contexts characterized by limited caregiver investment and resources, individuals are likely to shift toward here‐and‐now survival and early reproduction strategies (Belsky, Schlomer, & Ellis, ), defined as a ‘fast’ life history approach. Behavioral studies have documented associations between environmental harshness and increased risk‐taking behavior, including aggression (e.g., Doom, VanZomeren‐Dohm, & Simpson, ), lower inhibitory control (e.g., Mittal, Griskevicius, Simpson, Sung, & Young, ), and greater orientation toward immediate rewards (Humphreys et al., ; Sturge‐Apple et al., ). In the present study we examined whether early exposure to harsh environments (e.g., low maternal investment and economic resources) positively predicts enhanced problem‐solving for rewarding stimuli, consistent with a ‘fast’ life history strategy.…”