A mechanistic study of the association between poverty and executive functions in early childhood: Contributions of early brain development and the early caregiving environment

项目摘要 在贫困中长大的儿童的长期压力可能会对社会、 行为和认知发展。生活在经济困难中的困难， 事实上，这与认知和学习成绩的缺陷有关。海流 研究考察了贫困和执行功能之间的联系(认知过程 促进学习、自我监控和决策)，这些都是已知经历快速 在生命的头几年里的发育变化。早期的神经发育将是 作为这种联系的中介物，从怀孕到3岁被检查。除了 与生活贫困相关的远端风险，我们将调查 最近的环境(即，语言接触、照顾者行为、儿童睡眠卫生)可能 调节这种风险对儿童大脑结构和功能发育的影响。 参与者(n=230)将在怀孕28周期间和在全国各地进行5次探视。 他们孩子出生后的头3年。神经成像将在2周、15个月和24个月进行 (15个月时随行进行一次实验室检查)。我们将重点发展白质束 支持新出现的执行功能的认知过程：前扣带(错误 监测)；钩状(联合注意)；弓状束(语言处理)和个体 大脑功能发育的差异，包括显著的静息状态网络， 注意、执行控制和默认模式。在6个月和24个月大时，一个密集的家 访问将包括观察和客观衡量照顾者的行为、语言 暴露(通过语音记录器)和睡眠卫生(通过活动记录仪7天)。儿童认知 将在每次评估中对发展进行评估，并将建立行政职能小组 在36个月龄时给药。 这项研究将首次调查贫困对新兴高管的影响 在3岁时，通过对儿童出生前两年的神经发育的影响来发挥作用。 此外，调查结果将有助于提供关于是否采取具体措施的关键信息 最近的经历(语言接触、照顾者行为、儿童睡眠卫生)可能起中介作用 这种风险。

Project Summary Chronic stress for children growing up in poverty may lead to lasting effects on social, behavioral, and cognitive development. The difficulties of living in economic hardship has, indeed, been associated with deficits in cognitive and academic performance. The current study examines the link between poverty and executive functions (cognitive processes that facilitate learning, self-monitoring, and decision making) which are known to undergo rapid developmental change during the first years of life. Early neurological development will be examined as a mediator of this association examined from pregnancy to age 3. In addition to distal risk associated with living in poverty, we will investigate critical experiences within the proximal context (i.e., language exposure, caregiver behavior, child sleep hygiene) that may mediate the effect of this risk on child structural and functional brain development. Participants (n= 230) will be seen during the 28th week of pregnancy, and at 5 visits across the first 3 years of their child's life. Neuroimaging will be conducted at 2 weeks, 15 and 24 months (with an accompanying lab visit at 15 months). We will focus on developing white matter tracts that support cognitive processes of emerging executive functions: anterior cingulum (error monitoring); uncinate (joint attention); arcuate fasciculus (language processing) and individual differences in functional brain development, including resting state networks of salience, attention, executive control, and default-mode. At 6 and 24 months of age, an intensive home visit will include observational and objective measures of caregiver behavior, language exposure (via speech recorders) and sleep hygiene (via actigraphy for 7 days). Child cognitive development will be assessed at each assessment and an executive functioning battery will be administered at 36 months of age. This study will be the first to investigate the influence of poverty on emerging executive functioning at age 3 via effects on child neurological development over the first two years of life. In addition, findings will contribute critical information regarding whether specific measures of proximal experience (language exposure, caregiver behavior, child sleep hygiene) may mediate this risk.