Poverty Goes Straight to the Brain

From Denny: The blog Wired Science is carrying this interesting story right now. Science and the public have known for some time that children in poverty go to ill-equipped schools and score lower than middle class and wealthy children. What is new is from a long-term study that has found hormones produced from long-term stress literally wears down the brain. Chronic psychological stress is a key indicator of future low achievement into adulthood.

"A plausible contributor to the income-achievement gap is working-memory impairment in lower-income adults caused by stress-related damage to the brain during childhood," they wrote.

Why is working memory so important? Because it encapsulates the abilities for reading, language and problem-solving, all are critical for later success in life.

For the full article worth reading, go here.