3-167 - EEG and Executive Function in the Context of Childhood Adversity

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Children who experience poverty and maltreatment are at risk for deficits in higher-level neurocognitive processes known as executive functions (EFs). A brain-based approach to studying EFs can elucidate why these children show deficits and can inform interventions. However, most brain-based studies of EFs have been conducted with typically developing children, and those findings may not generalize to disadvantaged children. The current symposium addresses this gap in the literature with four cutting-edge studies of electrophysiological measures of EFs in children experiencing high adversity across diverse cultural settings.

This symposium is highly relevant to two areas of emphasis for the 2017 Biennial Meeting, “Poverty, Inequality, and Developmental Science” and “Neuroscience and Child Development.” The authors are international and interdisciplinary, with backgrounds in psychology, neuroscience, and public health. The first presentation demonstrates that elevated EEG gamma power relates to better EFs in highly disadvantaged young children in rural Pakistan and suggests that gamma may be especially protective for girls in this context. The second presentation examines the interplay of socioeconomic status (SES), autonomic reactivity, and event-related potentials (ERPs) of selective attention in preschool children. The third presentation questions the assumption of linear SES gradients in neurocognitive risk, showing that ERPs of both low- and middle-SES preadolescents indicate deficits in selective attention compared to high-SES peers. Finally, the fourth presentation compares maltreated and nonmaltreated adolescents on behavioral and ERP measures of risk-taking and inhibitory control. This symposium moves the field forward by describing altered neural processing of EFs as a function of environmental risk.

Sub Unit

• Biology and Neuroscience

Chairs

• Amanda Tarullo, Boston University

• Jelena Obradović, Stanford University

Individual Presentations

• Gamma Power in Rural Pakistani Children: Links to Executive Function and Verbal Ability - Presenting Author: Amanda Tarullo, Boston University; Jelena Obradović, Stanford University; Muneera Rasheed, Aga Khan University; Charles A. Nelson, Harvard Medical School; Aisha Yousafzai, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

• Autonomic Physiology is Associated with ERP Measures of Selective Attention in Children of Low Socioeconomic Status - Presenting Author: Ryan J. Giuliano, University of Oregon; Christina M. Karns, University of Oregon; Theodore Bell, University of Oregon; Leslie E. Roos, University of Oregon; Seth Petersen, University of Oregon; Elizabeth Skowron, University of Oregon; Eric Pakulak, University of Oregon

• Recession, Academic Vulnerability and Neural Correlates of Attention in Children with Different Family Socioeconomic Status - Presenting Author: Amedeo D'Angiulli, Carleton University; Kylie Schibli, Carleton University

• Risk-Taking Propensity and Inhibitory Control Abilities in Maltreated Adolescents and Nonmaltreated Adolescents - Presenting Author: Jacqueline Bruce, Oregon Social Learning Center; Hyoun Kim, Oregon Social Learning Center