Childhood family socioeconomic status is linked to adult brain electrophysiology.

A large body of research has linked childhood family socioeconomic status (SES) to neurodevelopment in childhood and adolescence. However, it remains unclear to what extent childhood family SES relates to brain functioning in adulthood. To address this gap, the present study investigated the associations between retrospective accounts of objective and subjective childhood family SES and two well-established electrophysiological indices of brain functioning in adulthood-the MMN and P3b event-related potentials (ERP) components, as neural correlates of automatic change detection and cognitive control respectively. Higher objective childhood family SES, as proxied by parent educational attainment in childhood, was associated with larger (more positive) P3b amplitudes in adulthood. In contrast, there was no association between childhood parent educational attainment and the magnitude of MMN. Adult reports of subjective family SES during childhood were not related to the magnitude of MMN or P3b. These findings suggest that the links between childhood parent educational attainment and brain functioning may extend into adulthood, especially for brain functions supporting cognitive control. These results also imply that, when using retrospective accounts of childhood family SES, objective and subjective reports likely proxy different childhood experiences that have distinct links with specific neurodevelopmental outcomes, and that some of these links may not persist into adulthood. Our findings lay the groundwork for future investigations on how and why childhood family SES relates to brain functioning in adulthood

Longitudinal associations between conflict monitoring and emergent academic skills: An event‐related potentials study

Identifying the links between specific cognitive functions and emergent academic skills can help determine pathways to support both early academic performance and later academic achievement. Here, we investigated the longitudinal associations between a key aspect of cognitive control, conflict monitoring, and emergent academic skills from preschool through first grade, in a large sample of socioeconomically diverse children (N = 261). We recorded event‐related potentials (ERPs) during a Go/No‐Go task. The neural index of conflict monitoring, ΔN2, was defined as larger N2 mean amplitudes for No‐Go versus Go trials. ΔN2 was observed over the right hemisphere across time points and showed developmental stability. Cross‐lagged panel models revealed prospective links from ΔN2 to later math performance, but not reading performance. Specifically, larger ΔN2 at preschool predicted higher kindergarten math performance, and larger ΔN2 at kindergarten predicted higher first‐grade math performance, above and beyond the behavioral performance in the Go/No‐Go task. Early academic skills did not predict later ΔN2. These findings provided electrophysiological evidence for the contribution of conflict monitoring abilities to emergent math skills. In addition, our findings suggested that neural indices of cognitive control can provide additional information in predicting emergent math skills, above and beyond behavioral task performance.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149228/1/dev21809.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149228/2/dev21809_am.pd

Neural Mechanisms of Selective Auditory Attention in Lower Socioeconomic Status Preschoolers: Individual Differences, Genetic Influences, and Gene x Intervention Interactions

Selective attention refers to the ability to enhance the processing of relevant stimuli, while suppressing the processing of irrelevant distractors. The neural mechanisms of selective attention are vulnerable in children from lower socioeconomic status families, yet these neural mechanisms can also be enhanced with evidence-based, targeted training. The series of studies presented in this dissertation investigated the individual differences in development and neuroplasticity of selective auditory attention in association with nonverbal cognitive abilities, in relation to genetic influences, and in the context of gene x intervention interactions. To this end, a multi-method approach was adopted, combining several methodologies such as event-related potentials (ERPs), behavioral measures, molecular genetics, and a randomized, controlled intervention design. In the first study, individual differences in neural mechanisms of selective auditory attention were studied, in association with nonverbal cognitive abilities. More robust ERP selective attention effects were associated with superior nonverbal IQ performance. These results indicated a noteworthy relationship between neural mechanisms of selective attention and nonverbal IQ performance in lower socioeconomic status (SES) preschoolers. In the second study, the relationship between 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and neural mechanisms of selective auditory attention was assessed. ERPs of selective attention effect were larger in children who carried at least one short allele of 5-HTTLPR, in comparison to long-homozygotes. These results associated being homozygous for the long allele with weaker neural mechanisms of selective attention in lower SES children. In the third study, these genetic influences were investigated in the context of an effective family-based training program previously shown to improve neural mechanisms of selective attention in lower SES preschoolers. The long-homozygote children, who initially displayed more attenuated ERPs of selective auditory attention than their short-carrier peers, showed robust ERPs of selective attention at posttest, but only if they were randomly assigned to the training program. These findings demonstrated that an effective family-based training could moderate the genetic influences of 5-HTTLPR on the neural mechanisms of selective attention. Taken together, the studies presented in this dissertation contribute to elucidating individual differences in development and neuroplasticity of selective auditory attention in lower SES preschoolers. This dissertation includes unpublished co-authored material

ERP Data Quality in Young Children: Standardized Measurement Error of ERN and Pe

EEGLAB/ERPLAB and ICLabel scripts used in the manuscript titled "ERP Data Quality in Young Children: Standardized Measurement Error of ERN and Pe

Childhood Family Socioeconomic Status is Linked to Adult Brain Electrophysiology

A large body of research has linked childhood family socioeconomic status (SES) to neurodevelopment in childhood and adolescence. However, it remains unclear to what extent childhood family SES relates to brain functioning in adulthood. To address this gap, the present study investigated the associations between retrospective accounts of objective and subjective childhood family SES and two well-established electrophysiological indices of brain functioning in adulthood—the MMN and P3b event-related potentials (ERP) components. Higher objective childhood family SES, as proxied by parent educational attainment in childhood, was associated with larger (more positive) P3b amplitudes in adulthood. In contrast, there was no association between childhood parent educational attainment and the magnitude of MMN. Adult reports of subjective family SES during childhood were not related to the magnitude of MMN or P3b. These findings suggest that the links between childhood SES and brain functioning may extend into adulthood, especially for brain functions supporting cognitive control. These results also imply that, when using retrospective accounts of childhood family SES with adults, objective indicators may outperform subjective reports of childhood family SES in predicting adult brain functioning. Our findings lay the groundwork for future investigations on how and why childhood family SES relates to brain functioning in adulthood

Component-specific developmental trajectories of ERP indices of cognitive control in early childhood

Early childhood is characterized by robust developmental changes in cognitive control. However, our understanding of intra-individual change in neural indices of cognitive control during this period remains limited. Here, we examined developmental changes in event-related potential (ERP) indices of cognitive control from preschool through first grade, in a large and diverse sample of children (N = 257). We recorded ERPs during a visual Go/No-Go task. N2 and P3b mean amplitudes were extracted from the observed waveforms (Go and No-Go) and the difference wave (No-Go minus Go, or ∆). Latent growth curve modeling revealed that while N2 Go and No-Go amplitudes showed no linear change, P3b Go and No-Go amplitudes displayed linear decreases in magnitude (became less positive) over time. ∆N2 amplitude demonstrated a linear increase in magnitude (became more negative) over time whereas ∆P3b amplitude was more positive in kindergarten compared to preschool. Younger age in preschool predicted greater rates of change in ∆N2 amplitude, and higher maternal education predicted larger initial P3b Go and No-Go amplitudes in preschool. Our findings suggest that observed waveforms and difference waves are not interchangeable for indexing neurodevelopment, and the developmental trajectories of different ERP indices of cognitive control are component-specific in early childhood

Component-Specific Developmental Trajectories of ERP Indices of Cognitive Control in Early Childhood

Here, we provide the data used in the final analyses, a codebook describing each variable, EEGLAB/ERPLAB data processing scripts, and R code used for the final analyses

Component-Specific Developmental Trajectories of ERP Indices of Cognitive Control in Early Childhood

Early childhood is characterized by robust developmental changes in cognitive control. However, our understanding of intra-individual change in neural indices of cognitive control during this period remains limited. Here, we examined developmental changes in event-related potential (ERP) indices of cognitive control from preschool through first grade, in a large and diverse sample of children (N = 257). We recorded ERPs during a visual Go/No-Go task. N2 and P3b mean amplitudes were extracted from the observed waveforms (Go and No-Go) and the difference wave (No-Go minus Go, or ∆). Latent growth curve modeling revealed that while N2 Go and No-Go amplitudes showed no linear change, P3b Go and No-Go amplitudes displayed linear decreases in magnitude (became less positive) over time. ∆N2 amplitude demonstrated a linear increase in magnitude (became more negative) over time whereas ∆P3b amplitude was more positive in kindergarten compared to preschool. Younger age in preschool predicted greater rates of change in ∆N2 amplitude, and higher maternal education predicted larger initial P3b Go and No-Go amplitudes in preschool. Our findings suggest that observed waveforms and difference waves are not interchangeable for indexing neurodevelopment, and the developmental trajectories of different ERP indices of cognitive control are component-specific in early childhood

Auditory attention in childhood and adolescence: An event-related potential study of spatial selective attention to one of two simultaneous stories

ABSTRACTAuditory selective attention is a critical skill for goal-directed behavior, especially where noisy distractions may impede focusing attention. To better understand the developmental trajectory of auditory spatial selective attention in an acoustically complex environment, in the current study we measured auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) across five age groups: 3–5 years; 10 years; 13 years; 16 years; and young adults. Using a naturalistic dichotic listening paradigm, we characterized the ERP morphology for nonlinguistic and linguistic auditory probes embedded in attended and unattended stories. We documented robust maturational changes in auditory evoked potentials that were specific to the types of probes. Furthermore, we found a remarkable interplay between age and attention-modulation of auditory evoked potentials in terms of morphology and latency from the early years of childhood through young adulthood. The results are consistent with the view that attention can operate across age groups by modulating the amplitude of maturing auditory early-latency evoked potentials or by invoking later endogenous attention processes. Development of these processes is not uniform for probes with different acoustic properties within our acoustically dense speech-based dichotic listening task. In light of the developmental differences we demonstrate, researchers conducting future attention studies of children and adolescents should be wary of combining analyses across diverse ages