The Environment’s Role in Cognitive Development across Contexts and Developmental Stages

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

It is well established that a child’s cognitive development depends, in part, on the environment in which they grew up (Scarr-Salapatek, 1971). From an ecological systems perspective, environmental influences on cognitive development may be realized within a child’s home, within a child’s school, or more broadly through societal changes over time, such improvements in education. Together the papers in this symposium demonstrate various levels of the ecological system where environmental influences on cognitive development are observed. The first paper focuses on family-level processes that influence early cognitive development by examining a reciprocal relationship between household chaos and infant Bayley scores. Within-family increases in chaos predict poorer within-child Bayley scores at subsequent time points, while higher within-child Bayley scores predicted lower within-family household chaos. The second paper considers population-level factors that contribute to cognitive development (e.g., improvements in education, better nutrition) and presents data replicating the Flynn Effect, the secular increase in intelligence scores over time, across multiple age cohorts and three versions of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Our third paper presents experimental evidence that changes in the early childhood learning environment have lasting implications for brain development. Specifically, a randomize controlled trial of a preschool-based intervention program designed to increase the amount and quality of intellectual stimulation in the early childhood learning environment led to structural changes in the brain at midlife among an impoverished sample. The discussant will highlight similarities in themes across the three papers and directions for future research.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Sean Womack, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

Discussant

• Eric Turkheimer, University of Virginia

Individual Presentations

• Household Chaos and Infant Intellectual Development: A Prospective Study of Youth from 3 to 24 Months - Presenting Author: Sean Womack, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Non-Presenting Author: Eric Turkheimer, University of Virginia; Non-Presenting Author: Christopher Beam, University of Southern California; Non-Presenting Author: Deborah Winders Davis, University of Louisville School of Medicine

• The Flynn Effect Across Four Decades and Three WISC Versions in a Single Sample of U.S. Children - Presenting Author: Evan Giangrande, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Non-Presenting Author: Eric Turkheimer, University of Virginia

• Childhood Environment and Adult Brain Structure: Experimental Evidence - Presenting Author: Martha J Farah, University of Pennsylvania; Non-Presenting Author: Saul Sternberg, University of Pennsylvania; Non-Presenting Author: Tanner Nichols, University of Pennsylvania; Non-Presenting Author: Jeffrey Duda, University of Pennsylvania; Non-Presenting Author: Terry Lohrenz, Virginia Tech University; Non-Presenting Author: Yi Luo, Virginia Tech University; Non-Presenting Author: Libbie Sonnier, Louisiana Policy Institute for Children; Non-Presenting Author: Sharon L. Ramey, Virginia Tech; Non-Presenting Author: Read Montague, Virginia Tech University; Non-Presenting Author: Craig T Ramey, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University