EEGs show brain differences between poor and rich kids

[_live_each_day_]

www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/12/02_cortex.shtml

"Kids from lower socioeconomic levels show brain physiology patterns similar to someone who actually had damage in the frontal lobe as an adult," said Robert Knight, director of the institute and a UC Berkeley professor of psychology. "We found that kids are more likely to have a low

Comments

[polina_slosvau]

I definitely think it's more than plausible that the environment affects brain development. I also think it's plausible that lack of stimulation is bad for the brain in many different ways.

But... claims of causality based on brain scans aren't really my favourite things, I must admit. Especially not with such a small sample.

[ferahgo]

For the sake of discussion, I gotta throw this out there. Is there any possible chance that, on average, the naturally less intelligent people are more likely to be lower class, and the naturally more intelligent people in the upper class? It is certainly true that on average people with higher IQs make more money.

The conclusions that article draws about cause and effect are pure conjecture. For some reason it's completely taboo to question this, but I'm not convinced without seeing more data that points towards the causative effects the researchers are "conjecturing."

[suehypno]

Then how do you explain Paris Hilton? It's not as if the KIDS are making all the money. They're born into the money their parents accumulated (or even inherited). I think this is more a matter of access to better nutrition, healthcare, and education than any sort of genetic predetermination. And some very intelligent folks just aren't good with money or frankly don't care, while some very dim-witted folks make bundles on Wall Street. Look how rich the actors in Hollywood are or our sports figures are, and yet how many of them would you consider intelligent?

[ferahgo]

Stress the on average.

Models and movie stars on the whole seem to often represent an entire group of outliers for this concept. :p

And re: kids

Children are a product of the genetics of their parents.

[saciel]

yeah, and genetics won't funcion after the A+B principle although you possibly learnt that in school.

It is very possible that the kid of two intelligent people may be dumb as bread, even if they have four kids, all of them could be as dumb as bread.

And two not so bright people can make rather intelligent children.

That's just as stupid as the trend of youth security seperating children from their mothers because mom has an IQ (which is an abstract measurement, by the way) below 100.
But fact is, although Mom may be dumber than average, the kid is likely to be normal.

[scale]

[cookiefromhell]

If only Hitler hadn't ruined eugenics.

[suehypno]

Gee, do you think nutrition might have something to do with it because one group eats regularly while the other often goes hungry ?

[faerieboy]

That is part of the point.

This seems to be a very logical study, though the small sample size does nothing to lend credence. Hate to say it but poor ghetto kids who eat shit for food, have a TV instead of parents and classes where the teacher counts a day successful when no one gets hurt, are going to be lacking in brain development. If the vast majority of them are black, so be it, that's not racism, that's a reality. I wouldn't be surprised if you got the same results from rural white kids whose parents think the bible is the ultimate source of authority.

[kementari2]

I'm sure the lower socioeconomic class in this study does not often go hungry. Hunger is not a severe problem in the US. But what is a severe problem is eating junk food, which lower socioeconomic classes are more wont to do.