Biography

Martha Farah was educated at MIT and Harvard and has taught at Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania, where she is currently the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences and directs the Center for Neuroscience & Society. For the last several years Martha has focused her research in two areas: the ethical, legal and social impact of neuroscience (aka neuroethics) and the effects of early socioeconomic deprivation on brain development. She has studied the latter using behavioral, neuroendocrine and neuroimaging methods. Martha is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a former Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of honors including the National Academy of Science’s Troland Research Award and the Association for Psychological Science’s lifetime achievement award.

3-002 - Childhood Poverty and Brain Development: From Science to Policy

Session Type: Invited Address

Integrative Statement

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) predicts many important life outcomes, from physical health to academic achievement. Why is childhood SES so influential? The answer includes the effects of early life SES on brain development. SES is associated with differences in daily life stress, environmental stimulation and parenting practices. On the basis of research with animals and humans, these differences appear to shift children onto different developmental trajectories. In this presentation I will review converging research results from a number of labs indicating the neural correlates of childhood SES studied through behavioral tests, structural and functional MRI and electrophysiology. I will discuss what is known of the mechanisms by which SES shapes brain development, the later reversibility of these effects, and the role of SES-linked brain and cognitive differences on various life outcomes. I will conclude by considering whether and how developmental neuroscience can play a role in child policy.

Sub Unit

• SRCD Biennial Meeting

Chair

• Nora S Newcombe, Temple Univ

Speaker

• Martha J Farah, University of Pennsylvania