It is clear that household income changes brain structure and affects academic performance
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Previous research has shown that students from low-income backgrounds tend to perform worse on standardized tests and other academic achievement measures than their wealthier peers. However, new research from MIT and Harvard University has found that the cerebral cortex of wealthy students' brains is thicker than that of low-income students, and this also affects their academic performance.
Study links brain anatomy, academic achievement, and family income | MIT News
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/link-brain-to-anatomy-academic-achievement-family-income-0417
MIT and Harvard University researchers studied the 'academic achievement gap' using a different measurement method than previous studies. The research team recruited 58 students aged 12-13, 23 from low-income families and 35 from high-income families. They administered the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) academic achievement test and underwent MRI scans of their brains. 'Low-income students' were defined as students who applied for free or reduced-price school lunches.
The study found that wealthy students' brains had a thicker cerebral cortex, an area associated with visual perception and knowledge accumulation. The researchers uncovered a previously unknown correlation between brain structure, academic performance, and family income. While it's unclear why family environment influences brain structure, previous research suggests that children from low-income families may experience lower academic performance due to factors such as fewer opportunities for early childhood exposure to spoken language, greater exposure to stress, and fewer educational resources.
By Michael Cramer
'There's a lot of solid evidence that the brain is a plastic material that can change over time,' said one of the researchers at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. 'The changes in brain structure revealed in this study are not permanent. 'We plan to investigate which types of educational programs can narrow the academic achievement gap as much as possible, and we will also investigate whether differences in programs affect brain structure.'
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