Reference
McDermott, C. L., Seidlitz, J., Nadig, A., Liu, S., Clasen, L. S., Blumenthal, J. D., ... & Raznahan, A. (2019). Longitudinally Mapping Childhood Socioeconomic Status Associations with Cortical and Subcortical Morphology. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(8), 1365-1373. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1808-18.2018
Review
In the study conducted by McDermott et al. (2019), the researchers sought to examine the associations between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and structural brain development in a longitudinal manner. By analyzing 1,243 MRI scans from 623 youth aged 5 to 25 years, the authors provided a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between SES and cortical and subcortical morphology.
The results indicated positive associations between SES and the total volumes of the brain, cortical sheet, and four separate subcortical structures. These associations were stable across the entire age range studied. Moreover, the authors found areal expansion in specific cortical and subcortical regions, such as lateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, lateral temporal, and superior parietal cortices, as well as ventrolateral thalamic and medial amygdala-hippocampal subregions, to be associated with higher SES. The findings from meta-analyses of functional imaging data suggest that the cortical correlates of SES are primarily focused on brain systems that support sensorimotor functions, language, memory, and emotional processing.
In conclusion, McDermott et al. (2019) demonstrated that anatomical variation within a subset of the identified regions partially mediates the positive association between SES and IQ, while also identifying neuroanatomical correlates of SES that exist independently of IQ variation. The study offers valuable insights into the potential neuroanatomical mediators linking SES and cognitive outcomes, paving the way for future research on this topic.
