Abstract
Several decades of behavioral research have established that variations in socioeconomic status (SES) are related to differences in cognitive performance. Neuroimaging and psychophysiological techniques have recently emerged as a method of choice to better understand the neurobiological processes underlying this phenomenon. Here we present a systematic review of a particular sub-domain of this field. Specifically, we used the PICOS approach to review studies investigating potential relationships between SES and scalp event-related brain potentials (ERP). This review found evidence that SES is related to amplitude variations in a diverse range of ERPs: P1, N1, N2, Error-Related Negativities (ERN), N400, auditory evoked potentials, negative difference waves (Nd), P3 and slow waves (SW). These ERPs include early, mid-latency and late potentials that reflect a broad range of cognitive processes (e.g., automatic attentional processes, overt attention, language, executive function, etc.). In this review, all SES effects on ERPs appeared to reflect an impairment or a less efficient form of task-related neural activity for low-SES compared to high-SES individuals. Overall, these results confirm that a wide variety of distinct neural processes with different functional meanings are sensitive to SES differences. The findings of this review also suggest that the relationship between SES and some ERP components may depend on the developmental stage of study participants. Results are further discussed in terms of the current limitations of this field and future avenues of research.
Highlights
The psychological and neural correlates of socioeconomic inequalities have become a topic of renewed interest in recent years
This systematic review followed the PICOS approach (Tacconelli, 2010) to formulate the following research question: what evidence is available that identifies changes in brain activity (Outcome; O) in those who are in low-socioeconomic status (SES) (Population; P) compared to those who are in high-SES (Comparison; C)? This systematic review is limited to quasi-experimental or experimental studies comparing low-SES and high-SES groups (Study design; S) that used the eventrelated potentials (ERP) method (Intervention; I) to explore this research question
We provide a brief description of the spatio-temporal and functional properties of each component and we outline how these components were related to SES in the selected studies
Summary
The psychological and neural correlates of socioeconomic inequalities have become a topic of renewed interest in recent years. Earlier results pointed toward similar directions (e.g., Kornhauser, 1918), the current renewal of interest for this topic is driven by the widely accepted notion that understanding the relationship between socioeconomic variables and cognitive function could eventually lead to policies aimed at tackling the poverty. In this article we present a systematic review of a specific subdomain of this research field, as we examined studies investigating how socioeconomic status (SES) predicts changes in brain activity measured with brain eventrelated potentials (ERP), a widely used method in neuroscience. We briefly summarize the current state of the wider research field focusing on the relationship between SES and cognitive function and how EEG/ERP studies can contribute to it. It is important to highlight that the specific scope of the following section is to explain how EEG/ERP studies can contribute to understanding the relationship between SES and cognition. The goal of this section is not to provide an exhaustive review of how SES relates to cognitive function in general, a topic that has often been extensively reviewed by others (Evans and Kim, 2007; Duncan et al, 2012; Kim et al, 2013; Farah, 2017, 2018)
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