Increased integration of functional connectivity after cognitive intervention in preschoolers from low socioeconomic status.

Cognitive interventions that involve executive functions (EF)-demanding activities are effective in changing task-related brain activity in children from homes with low socioeconomic status (SES). However, less is known about the efficiency of EF-based interventions in modifying segregation and integration properties of the functional neural organization during a resting state. Further, the consideration of the initial cognitive performance in the design of interventions and its role in the outcome of cognitive training has been poorly studied. The present study aimed to examine the impact of two individualized cognitive interventions with EF-demanding activities on brain connectivity in preschoolers (n = 79) from low-SES homes in Argentina using complex network analysis. At baseline, participants were classified as high- or low-performers based on their performance in an inhibitory control task, and then they were assigned into intervention and control groups within each performance level. Before and after the intervention, the neural activity of each child was recorded at rest using a mobile electroencephalogram device. We found significant intervention-related changes in global efficiency, global strength, and the strength of long-range connections in the θ frequency band in the intervention low-performing group. These findings support the idea that patterns of processing crucial information in the brain may be modified in children from low-SES homes through an EF-based intervention. Finally, these findings show different intervention-related effects on neural activity between children with low and high initial cognitive performance and add new evidence about the interaction between individual characteristics and intervention approaches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Atribuciones sobre las causas de la pobreza general e infantil en Argentina / Attributions on the causes of general and child poverty in Argentina

Resumen El estudio acerca de las causas de la pobreza ha sido influenciado por la teoría de la atribución, lo que permitió identificar los juicios predominantes que las personas establecen sobre tales causas. Los estudios locales sobre las atribuciones causales de la pobreza son escasos y no se ha identificado ninguno referido a las causas de la pobreza infantil, a pesar de las altas tasas de su incidencia en el país. Así, el presente estudio propone evaluar las atribuciones causales de la pobreza general e infantil por parte de adultos de Argentina, empleando dos cuestionarios (uno sobre las causas de la pobreza en general y el otro sobre la pobreza infantil en particular) implementados de manera virtual. La muestra incluyó a 1 659 participantes (17 a 90 años), quienes debieron indicar la importancia de cada ítem como causa de la pobreza en una escala tipo Likert de cinco puntos. En cuanto al cuestionario sobre las causas de la pobreza general, el análisis exploratorio permitió identificar una estructura de tres factores -similar a la identificada en otros estudios: individualista, estructurales y fatalistas-, la cual no fue verificada en el análisis confirmatorio. Con respecto al cuestionario sobre las causas de la pobreza infantil, se identificó y se confirmó un modelo de dos factores (que podrían estar relacionados con atribuciones estructurales y familiares) que representa una nueva evidencia en el campo. Los resultados sugieren diferencias en las atribuciones de las causas de pobreza general e infantil, cuyos posibles mecanismos (e. g., modulación por parte de factores individuales, contextuales y culturales) deberían explorarse en estudios futuros.

Abstract In the last decades, different studies have addressed the perspectives of people regarding the causes of poverty, as they could play a fundamental role in the development of individual and social attitudes, beliefs and expectations towards people living in such a condition, and in the strategies implemented to solve related problems and issues. In addition, many of those studies have investigated the causes of poverty using the theoretical model proposed by Feagin (1972), which suggests three broad explanations: (1) individualistic (i. e., causal attribution is placed on the poor themselves); (2) structural (i. e., poverty is due to external social and economic factors); and (3) fatalistic (i. e., poverty is attributed to factors such as bad luck). Most of those studies have been carried out considering the causes of poverty in general, which means that there is very little research aimed at studying specifically the causes of child poverty. Given the high incidence of poverty in Argentina the knowledge about such perspectives is of interest for multiple basic and applied purposes. In this sense, the present study proposed to evaluate the attributions of the causes of poverty in general and child poverty in particular, by adults from Argentina, through two virtual questionnaires (one asking for the causes of poverty in general, and the other for the causes of child poverty). The sample included responses from 1 659 citizens of Argentina from 17 to 90 years old (M = 45.72, SD = 16.94). The questionnaires included 32 items aimed at evaluating the attribution of causes of general poverty, and 30 items related to child poverty. Participants were asked to indicate the importance of each item as a cause of poverty on a five-point Likert-type scale (1 = does not matter; 5 = extremely important). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were implemented (separately from the general and child questionnaires) and retained items with factor loadings at .40 or above. In addition, for the general questionnaire, a second approach was implemented to analyze if the factorial structure supported by different studies in the literature was confirmed in this sample. For such a purpose, confirmatory factor analyses were implemented. Regarding the questionnaire for the causes of general poverty, the exploratory analysis allowed identifying a three-factor structure (as in the case of other studies) (RMSEA = .071; CFI = .94; TLI = .93), which was not verified in the confirmatory analysis (RMSEA = .103; CFI = .88; TLI = .86). On the other hand, the results of the second approach suggest the confirmation of the two-factor model proposed in the literature (RMSEA = .083; CFI = .96; TLI = .95). This pattern of results suggests sensitivity to the inclusion of new items. In this sense, in future studies it would be important to invest efforts in determining new items from consultations with experts and other social actors. Regarding the questionnaire for the causes of poverty in children, two-factor model was identified and confirmed (RMSEA = .074; CFI = .94; TLI = .93), which is a new piece of evidence in the field, suggesting variability in the attribution of causes of poverty according to the considered age group, and whose potential mechanisms in comparison with the studies on adult poverty should be explored in future research (e. g., individual, contextual and cultural factors). Finally, this study confirms that having valid and reliable instruments to explore the causal attributions of general and child poverty would be important to advance in the understanding of poverty as a complex and multidimensional phenomenon.

Role of Emotional Appraisal in Episodic Memory in a Sample of Argentinean Preschoolers.

Emotional processing and episodic memory are closely related throughout childhood development. With respect to emotional episodic memory, available evidence shows that the consolidation of information is accompanied by an arousal that generates longer duration and persistence of the memory representations. In the case of early stages of development (i.e., first 5 years), it is less clear how these associations emerge and are modulated by individual and environmental factors. In this study, 116 4- to 5-years old Argentinean children from different socio-environmental contexts (i.e., favorable or unfavorable living conditions at home), performed a task of visual emotional memory in which they observed a set of 15 images with variable emotional valences (negative, neutral, and positive). The child's task was to appraise each image using one of the following three possible valences: (a) drawings of faces with smiles (positive valence), (b) drawings of faces with tears and round mouth with edges down (negative valence), or (c) drawings of faces with horizontal mouth (neutral valence). Five years-old children exhibited greater accuracy appraisal. Individual differences in emotional accuracy appraisal allowed us to observe different performances in free recall of negative visual images. Accuracy appraisal did not vary between children with respect to gender, living conditions at home, or language ability. Seven to ten days after the emotional appraisal children were asked to tell the experimenter all the images they remembered (variables of interest: free recall of negative, positive, or neutral images). Results showed individual (age) differences. Specifically, 5-years-old children evoked more images than 4-years-old children. These findings contribute to the understanding of emotional memory in early developmental stages and raise the need to include emotional appraisal in the assessment of episodic memory.

Electrophysiological approaches in the study of cognitive development outside the lab.

The use of human neuroimaging technology provides knowledge about several emotional and cognitive processes at the neural level of organization. In particular, electroencephalographic (EEG) techniques allow researchers to explore high-temporal resolution of the neural activity that underlie the dynamics of cognitive processes. Although EEG research has been mostly applied in laboratory settings, recently a low-cost, portable EEG apparatus was released, which allows exploration of different emotional and cognitive processes during every-day activities. We compared a wide range of EEG measures using both a low-cost portable and a high-quality laboratory system. EEG recordings were done with both systems while participants performed an active task (Go/NoGo) and during their resting-state. Results showed similar waveforms in terms of morphology and amplitude of the ERPs, and comparable effects between conditions of the applied Go/NoGo paradigm. In addition, the contribution of each frequency to the entire EEG was not significantly different during resting-state, and fluctuations in amplitude of oscillations showed long-range temporal correlations. These results showed that low-cost, portable EEG technology can provide an alternative of enough quality for measuring brain activity outside a laboratory setting, which could contribute to the study of different populations in more ecological contexts.

Neuroscience of Childhood Poverty: Evidence of Impacts and Mechanisms as Vehicles of Dialog With Ethics.

Several studies have identified associations between poverty and development of self-regulation during childhood, which is broadly defined as those skills involved in cognitive, emotional, and stress self-regulation. These skills are influenced by different individual and contextual factors at multiple levels of analysis (i.e., individual, family, social, and cultural). Available evidence suggests that the influences of those biological, psychosocial, and sociocultural factors on emotional and cognitive development can vary according to the type, number, accumulation of risks, and co-occurrence of adverse circumstances that are related to poverty, the time in which these factors exert their influences, and the individual susceptibility to them. Complementary, during the past three decades, several experimental interventions that were aimed at optimizing development of self-regulation of children who live in poverty have been designed, implemented, and evaluated. Their results suggest that it is possible to optimize different aspects of cognitive performance and that it would be possible to transfer some aspects of these gains to other cognitive domains and academic achievement. We suggest that it is an important task for ethics, notably but not exclusively neuroethics, to engage in this interdisciplinary research domain to contribute analyses of key concepts, arguments, and interpretations. The specific evidence that neuroscience brings to the analyses of poverty and its implications needs to be spelled out in detail and clarified conceptually, notably in terms of causes of and attitudes toward poverty, implications of poverty for brain development, and for the possibilities to reduce and reverse these effects.

Critical considerations about the use of poverty measures in the study of cognitive development.

Developmental psychology and developmental cognitive neuroscience generated evidence at different levels of analysis about the influences of poverty on neurocognitive development (i.e., molecular, neural activation, cognition, behaviour). In addition, different individual and environmental factors were identified as mediators of such influences. Such a complexity is also illustrated through the many poverty conceptual and operational definitions generated by social, human and health sciences. However, to establish the causal relationships between the different factors of poverty and neurocognitive outcomes is still an issue under construction. Most studies of this area apply classic unidimensional poverty indicators such as income and maternal education. Nonetheless, this approach does not take into adequate consideration the variability of neurocognitive outcomes depending on the type of poverty measures, and the dynamic nature of changes during development. This creates a virtual underestimation of the complexity imposed by the involved mediating mechanisms. The scientific and policy implications of this underestimation include the risk of not adequately addressing children rights and developmental opportunities. This article proposes to explore such scenario, which is necessary for the reconsideration of the criteria used to analyse the influences of poverty on child development in general and neurocognitive development in particular.

Efectos de la edad sobre la valoración emocional durante la etapa preescolar / Effects of age on the emotional appraisal during preschool

La valoración emocional es el proceso por el cual se generan distintas respuestas emocionales a partir de las evaluaciones subjetivas del individuo sobre diferentes aspectos de los estímulos, tales como la relevancia personal de la situación y las opciones de afrontamiento, entre otras. Es decir, una misma situación percibida por dos personas distintas puede provocar reacciones emocionales diferentes. Estas variaciones pueden deberse a la existencia de diferencias individuales, sociales y culturales en la valoración de los estímulos. El estudio de la valoración emocional en las/os niñas/os añade dificultades relacionadas con el desarrollo de las emociones y con la categorización de las mismas durante la etapa preescolar. Una forma de explorar estas cuestiones es utilizar tareas con distintas valencias para evaluar el procesamiento de la información con diferente contenido emocional en niñas/os. Diversas investigaciones abordaron este tema, pero son escasos los trabajos que profundizaron el estudio en esta etapa del desarrollo cognitivo. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar la valoración de una muestra de niñas/os de 4 y 5 años en una tarea con estímulos visuales de diferente contenido emocional (negativo, neutro y positivo). En los resultados se consideró la cantidad de acuerdos entre las respuestas dadas por las/os niñas/os y la valencia relativa inherente a la tarea. Se observó un efecto de la edad sobre la valoración emocional, evidenciado a través de mayor acuerdo en las/os niñas/os de 5 años, en comparación con las/os de 4. Asimismo, las/os niñas/os de 5 años mostraron una tendencia a asociar con mayor acuerdo los estímulos emocionales (positivos y negativos), en comparación con los neutros. Estos resultados señalan la importancia de considerar la atribución de emociones como un proceso en desarrollo durante esta etapa infantil.

The emotional appraisal is the process through which different emotional responses are generated based on individual subjective evaluations of different aspects of stimuli, such as personal relevance of the situation and coping options, among others. Thus, a same situation perceived by two different persons can generate two different emotional appraisals. This difference would be due to cognitive, social and cultural variations in the assessment of the stimuli. The study of emotional appraisal in children adds difficulties related to the development of emotions and emotional categorization. One way to explore these issues is to use tasks with different valences to assess in-formation processing with different emotional content. Different studies addressed this but few approach the preschool period. The aim of this study was to analyze the assessment of different visual stimuli with negative, neutral and positive emotional contents in a sample of children aged 4 and 5 years. Results showed and effect of age in the number of agreements between the answers given by children and the relative valence inherent to the task. Specifically, 5-year-old children evidenced more agreements than 4-year-old. In addition, 5-year-old children were more likely to congruently associate the emotional images (valences positive and negative) in comparison to neutral ones. These results highlight the importance of considering the attribution of emotions as a developing process during the preschool period.

Childhood Poverty and Cognitive Development in Latin America in the 21st Century.

For at least eight decades, researchers have analyzed the association between childhood poverty and cognitive development in different societies worldwide, but few of such studies have been carried out in Latin America. The aim of the present paper is to systematically review the empirical studies that have analyzed the associations between poverty and cognitive development in children under 18 years of age from Latin American and Caribbean countries between 2000 and 2015. This analysis takes into consideration the country where the work was conducted, the experimental and analytical design, sample size and composition, cognitive and poverty paradigms implemented, levels of analysis, and the inclusion of mediation analyses. Through these, we identify common patterns in the negative impact of poverty that have been repeatedly verified in the literature in other continents; we also call attention to a set of issues regarding sample, design, paradigms, impact, and mediation analyses that should be considered in future studies in the region.

Strengths and weakness of neuroscientific investigations of childhood poverty: future directions.

The neuroscientific study of child poverty is a topic that has only recently emerged. In comparison with previous reviews (e.g., Hackman and Farah, 2009; Lipina and Colombo, 2009; Hackman et al., 2010; Raizada and Kishiyama, 2010; Lipina and Posner, 2012), our perspective synthesizes findings, and summarizes both conceptual and methodological contributions, as well as challenges that face current neuroscientific approaches to the study of childhood poverty. The aim of this effort is to identify target areas of study that could potentially help build a basic and applied research agenda for the coming years.

El desarrollo neural y la pobreza desde el enfoque de la neuroética, los derechos humanos y el desarrollo humano / Neural development and poverty from neuroethics, human rights and human development perspective

Las investigaciones contemporáneas de la neurociencia, ilustran la potencialidad del contexto socio-ambiental para modificar ciertas características de la biología cerebral durante su desarrollo. En tal sentido, ¿qué datos aportados por la neurociencia pueden ayudarnos a comprender las implicaciones neuroéticas de la pobreza? En este trabajo, sostenemos que parte de la relevancia ética de la investigación en neurociencia y pobreza, está dada por la posibilidad que brindan los hallazgos recientes de la neurociencia de valorar en qué medida y cómo las distintas comunidades garantizan el efectivo ejercicio de derechos humanos y el pleno desarrollo de las capacidades humanas. En tal contexto de discusión, destacamos la responsabilidad de las personas y las instituciones de actuar promoviendo universalmente oportunidades para el desarrollo de las capacidades humanas dentro del máximo de sus posibilidades, considerando en todo momento y lugar al ser humano como un fin en sí mismo.(AU)

Contemporary research in neuroscience, illustrates the value of socio-environmental contexts for changing several features of brain biology during development. In this sense, we propose to analyze what data provided by neuroscience can help us to understand the neuroethical implications of poverty. In such a sense, we argue that part of the ethical relevance of research in neuroscience and poverty is given by the possibility offered by the recent findings of neuroscience to assess to what extent and how, different communities guarantee the effective exercise of human rights and the full development of human capabilities. In this context of discussion, we highlight the responsibility of persons and institutions to act promoting universally opportunities for the development of human capabilities within the maximum of their possibilities, considering in every moment and place the human being as an end in itself.(AU)

As pesquisas contemporâneas da neurociência ilustram a potencialidade do contexto socioambiental em modificar certas características da biologia cerebral durante seu desenvolvimento. Nesse sentido, quais informações provenientes da neurociência podem nos ajudar a compreender as implicações neuroéticas da pobreza? Neste trabalho, sustentamos que parte da relevância ética da pesquisa em neurociência e pobreza resulta da possibilidade, trazida pelas recentes descobertas da neurociência, de valorizar em que medida e de que modo as distintas comunidades garantem o exercício efetivo dos direitos humanos e o pleno desenvolvimento das capacidades humanas. Em tal contexto de discussão, destacamos a responsabilidade de pessoas e instituições em atuar promovendo universalmente oportunidades para o desenvolvimento das capacidades humanas dentro do máximo de suas possibilidades, considerando o ser humano, em todo momento e lugar, como um fim em si mesmo.(AU)

Far transfer to language and math of a short software-based gaming intervention.

Executive functions (EF) in children can be trained, but it remains unknown whether training-related benefits elicit far transfer to real-life situations. Here, we investigate whether a set of computerized games might yield near and far transfer on an experimental and an active control group of low-SES otherwise typically developing 6-y-olds in a 3-mo pretest-training-posttest design that was ecologically deployed (at school). The intervention elicits transfer to some (but not all) facets of executive function. These changes cascade to real-world measures of school performance. The intervention equalizes academic outcomes across children who regularly attend school and those who do not because of social and familiar circumstances.

Predictors of cognitive enhancement after training in preschoolers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

The association between socioeconomic status and child cognitive development, and the positive impact of interventions aimed at optimizing cognitive performance, are well-documented. However, few studies have examined how specific socio-environmental factors may moderate the impact of cognitive interventions among poor children. In the present study, we examined how such factors predicted cognitive trajectories during the preschool years, in two samples of children from Argentina, who participated in two cognitive training programs (CTPs) between the years 2002 and 2005: the School Intervention Program (SIP; N = 745) and the Cognitive Training Program (CTP; N = 333). In both programs children were trained weekly for 16 weeks and tested before and after the intervention using a battery of tasks assessing several cognitive control processes (attention, inhibitory control, working memory, flexibility and planning). After applying mixed model analyses, we identified sets of socio-environmental predictors that were associated with higher levels of pre-intervention cognitive control performance and with increased improvement in cognitive control from pre- to post-intervention. Child age, housing conditions, social resources, parental occupation and family composition were associated with performance in specific cognitive domains at baseline. Housing conditions, social resources, parental occupation, family composition, maternal physical health, age, group (intervention/control) and the number of training sessions were related to improvements in specific cognitive skills from pre- to post-training.

Explicit and implicit issues in the developmental cognitive neuroscience of social inequality.

The appearance of developmental cognitive neuroscience (DCN) in the socioeconomic status (SES) research arena is hugely transformative, but challenging. We review challenges rooted in the implicit and explicit assumptions informing this newborn field. We provide balanced theoretical alternatives on how hypothesized psychological processes map onto the brain (e.g., problem of localization) and how experimental phenomena at multiple levels of analysis (e.g., behavior, cognition and the brain) could be related. We therefore examine unclear issues regarding the existing perspectives on poverty and their relationships with low SES, the evidence of low-SES adaptive functioning, historical precedents of the "alternate pathways" (neuroplasticity) interpretation of learning disabilities related to low-SES and the notion of deficit, issues of "normativity" and validity in findings of neurocognitive differences between children from different SES, and finally alternative interpretations of the complex relationship between IQ and SES. Particularly, we examine the extent to which the available laboratory results may be interpreted as showing that cognitive performance in low-SES children reflects cognitive and behavioral deficits as a result of growing up in specific environmental or cultural contexts, and how the experimental findings should be interpreted for the design of different types of interventions-particularly those related to educational practices-or translated to the public-especially the media. Although a cautionary tone permeates many studies, still, a potential deficit attribution-i.e., low-SES is associated with cognitive and behavioral developmental deficits-seems almost an inevitable implicit issue with ethical implications. Finally, we sketch the agenda for an ecological DCN, suggesting recommendations to advance the field, specifically, to minimize equivocal divulgation and maximize ethically responsible translation.

The impact of poverty on the development of brain networks.

Although the study of brain development in non-human animals is an old one, recent imaging methods have allowed non-invasive studies of the gray and white matter of the human brain over the lifespan. Classic animal studies show clearly that impoverished environments reduce cortical gray matter in relation to complex environments and cognitive and imaging studies in humans suggest which networks may be most influenced by poverty. Studies have been clear in showing the plasticity of many brain systems, but whether sensitivity to learning differs over the lifespan and for which networks is still unclear. A major task for current research is a successful integration of these methods to understand how development and learning shape the neural networks underlying achievements in literacy, numeracy, and attention. This paper seeks to foster further integration by reviewing the current state of knowledge relating brain changes to behavior and indicating possible future directions.

[Neuroscience and education: towards the construction of interactive bridges]. / Neurociencia y educación: hacia la construcción de puentes interactivos.

INTRODUCTION: The debates on the potential interdisciplinary association between neuroscience and education began approximately three decades ago. In order for the integration of neuroscientific and educational knowledge to impact on learning and teaching it would imply the consideration of the emergence of several cognitive and emotional processes during development, and the possibility to influence them through specific interventions. AIM. To examine epistemological and methodological implications and bridging requirements in the interaction between neuroscience, cognitive psychology and education. DEVELOPMENT: A dynamic interdisciplinary bridging consists in the identification and reduction of different epistemological, methodological, technological and practical gaps between those disciplines. Furthermore, the consideration of complex phenomena, such as human development and learning processes in terms of multiple levels of analysis, may contribute to the enrichment of a critical dialogue, but also to generate genuine integrated interventions. Historical and current conceptual perspectives attempting to bridge neuroscience and education are described. CONCLUSIONS: At present, interdisciplinary efforts between neuroscience and education are at a preliminary stage. In this context, bridging requires conceptual and methodological approaches that consider the complexity of developmental and learning phenomena and the participation of actors from different fields, instead of unique bridges. This paper intends to consider several basic principles aimed at developing a dynamic integration that assesses the complexity of development, learning and teaching processes.

Premorbid exercising in specific cognitive tasks prevents impairment of performance in parkinsonian monkeys.

Adult Cebus apella monkeys were exposed to either one, two or four series of cognitive tasks that place a demand on working memory and inhibitory control (Spatial Delayed Response and Object Retrieval Detour), before administration of the neurotoxin 1-methyl-1-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). Following MPTP treatment, monkeys receiving more than one series successfully reached criteria at delays similar to those attained during the pre-MPTP stage for the Spatial Delayed Response task and avoided increased perseveration in the Object Retrieval Detour task. Results provide evidence that protection towards a neurotoxin in specific cognitive performances can be increased by repeated exposure to task-specific cognitive demands and that motor and cognitive impairment following MPTP treatment can be effectively dissociated in primates.

Planificación en niños de edad preescolar: efectos de la pertenencia a hogares con necesidades básicas insatisfechas (NBI) / Planning on preschoolers: effects of belonging to households with unsatisfied basic needs (NBI)

En el presente trabajo se comparó el desempeño de niños provenientes de hogares con (NBS) y sin (NBI) satisfacción de necesidades básicas en una prueba clásica de planificación: Torre de Londres (TOL). Se observó que la muestra de 4 años de niños NBI alcanzó niveles máximos más bajos, un promedio mayor de tiempos de planificación y ejecución, mayor cantidad de ensayos con número insuficiente de movimientos en distintos niveles de dificultad y puntajes más bajos. En la de 5 años se observó la misma tendencia exceptuando el nivel máximo alcanzado y el puntaje. Estos hallazgos sugieren que de la constelación de condiciones ambientales de los hogares NBI (caracterizados predominantemente como habitando viviendas de tipo inconveniente y en condiciones de hacinamiento) resulta una deprivación tal que afectaría las condiciones de desarrollo del desempeño dependendiente de circuitos prefrontales, caracterizable como menos eficiente en el manejo de los recursos de los procesos de memoria de trabajo espacial y planificación...

Planificación en niños de edad preescolar: efectos de la pertenencia a hogares con necesidades básicas insatisfechas (NBI) / Planning in preschool children: effects of belonging to households with unsatisfied basic needs (UBN) and the street: possibilities of facilitating resilient processes

En el presente trabajo se comparó el desempeño de niños provenientes de hogares con (NBS) y sin (NBI) satisfacción de necesidades básicas en una prueba clásica de planificación: Torre de Londres (TOL). Se observó que la muestra de 4 años de niños NBI alcanzó niveles máximos más bajos, un promedio mayor de tiempos de planificación y ejecución, mayor cantidad de ensayos con número insuficiente de movimientos en distintos niveles de dificultad y puntajes más bajos. En la de 5 años se observó la misma tendencia exceptuando el nivel máximo alcanzado y el puntaje. Estos hallazgos sugieren que de la constelación de condiciones ambientales de los hogares NBI (caracterizados predominantemente como habitando viviendas de tipo inconveniente y en condiciones de hacinamiento) resulta una deprivación tal que afectaría las condiciones de desarrollo del desempeño dependendiente de circuitos prefrontales, caracterizable como menos eficiente en el manejo de los recursos de los procesos de memoria de trabajo espacial y planificación.

This study compares performance of preschool children with satisfied (SBN) and unsatisfied basic needs (UBN) (poverty criterion) on a typical cognitive function task: Tower of London (TOL). Compared with SBN children, UBN 4-year-olds reached lower maximum levels, increased thinking- and executive time, more trials with insufficient moves at different levels of difficulty and lower scores. UBN 5-year-olds showed the same tendency except for maximum levels and score. These findings suggest that UBN home environment brings about a condition that affects prefrontal-circuit-dependent performance, which becomes less efficient in the processing of spatial working memory and planning strategies.

Influencias ambientales sobre el desempeño cognitivo en la prueba A no B de una población de niños argentinos de entre 6 y 14 Meses / Environmental effects on cognitive performance in a 6 to 14 month-old child population

En el presente trabajo se plantea la utilización de la prueba A no B de Piaget con retardo como instrumento para diferenciar el desempeño cognitivo dependiente del desarrollo y maduración de sistemas cerebrales en poblaciones infantiles pertenecientes a ambientes de crianza diferenciados por sus características socioeconómicas (INDEC). Luego de la administración de dicha prueba a 250 niños de entre 6 y 14 meses, los resultados indican que el impacto de la insatisfacción de las necesidades básicas, tal como son definidas por el método de medición de pobreza NBI, afecta una medida del procesamiento cognitivo que incluye un componente de memoria de trabajo espacial involucrado con los circuitos ubicados en la corteza prefrontal dorsolateral.