Abstract
While prior research has shown a strong relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and working memory performance, the relation between SES and procedural (implicit) memory remains unknown. Convergent research in both animals and humans has revealed a fundamental dissociation, both behaviorally and neurally, between a working memory system that depends on medial temporal-lobe structures and the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) vs. a procedural memory system that depends on the basal ganglia. Here, we measured performance in adolescents from lower- and higher-SES backgrounds on tests of working memory capacity (complex working memory span) and procedural memory (probabilistic classification) and their hippocampal, DLPFC, and caudate volumes. Lower-SES adolescents had worse working memory performance and smaller hippocampal and DLPFC volumes than their higher-SES peers, but there was no significant difference between the lower- and higher-SES groups on the procedural memory task or in caudate volumes. These findings suggest that SES may have a selective influence on hippocampal-prefrontal-dependent working memory and little influence on striatal-dependent procedural memory.
Highlights
There has been growing interest in the fields of neuroscience and psychology to understand how socioeconomic status (SES) influences neural and cognitive development in children and adolescents (Hackman and Farah, 2009; Mackey et al, 2015; Noble et al, 2015)
Planned post-hoc linear model group comparisons showed that the lower-SES group and higher-SES group did not significantly differ on their procedural memory learning score [lower-SES: M = 0.08, SD = 0.22; higherSES: M = 0.06, SD = 0.19; b = 0.02, t(44) = 0.31, p = 0.76, r2 = −0.04, 95% CI [−0.11, 0.14]; Figure 1A]
This behavioral disparity was reflected in the neural structures supporting these memory systems: hippocampal and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) volumes were larger in higher-SES adolescents, whereas caudate volumes did not differ between the groups
Summary
There has been growing interest in the fields of neuroscience and psychology to understand how socioeconomic status (SES) influences neural and cognitive development in children and adolescents (Hackman and Farah, 2009; Mackey et al, 2015; Noble et al, 2015). Most studies examining SES associations with cognitive development have focused on explicit memory tests and found that children from lower-SES backgrounds perform worse on measures of working and declarative memory than their higher-SES peers (Herrmann and Guadagno, 1997; Farah et al, 2006; Noble et al, 2007; Evans and Schamberg, 2009; Sarsour et al, 2011; Hackman et al, 2015). It is unknown as to whether SES is associated with differences in procedural (implicit) memory. We asked whether SES influences behavioral and neural correlates of procedural memory
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
