Kids growing up in poverty struggle to acquire vital cognitive abilities

Silvia Bunge, Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, talks about the two cognitive abilities that are essential for good life outcomes: self-regulation and reasoning ability. The area of the brain where these abilities develop is very sensitive to environment. She is developing a new study aimed at examining at whether, how and when intensive experience with these abilities can actually shape a child’s brain.

Also read:

• “How does going to school change your brain?”, blog post by Silvia Bunge
• “Has educational neuroscience actually had an impact on education so far?”, q&a with Silvia Bunge