Socioeconomic Status and Executive Functions in Children: Implications for a School-Based Cognitive Intervention

Abstract

In recent years, within the scope ofneuroscience, a marked increase in research in the field of cognitivedevelopment associated with Socioeconomic Status (SES) has been evidenced, withspecific emphasis on the analysis of cognitive-executive processes. The presentchapter reviewed literature onsocioeconomic variables that predict the child's executive functioning andpossible contextual and cognitive variables mediating this association. It isconcluded that low-SES children would not demonstrate a primary dysexecutivedeficit, but rather a difficulty in performing executive tasks effectively, dueto a lack of specific stimulation for the development of these functions. It isexpected that the integration of these contributions will ease both theunderstanding of the nature of the dysexecutive profile associated with SES,and the design of intervention strategies to integrate the educationalendeavor. Early stimulation becomes theninstrumental in reversing the negative effect of environmental poverty onchildren's cognitive and socioemotional development.