Neuroanatomical Correlates of the Income-Achievement Gap

• Main Authors: Mackey, Allyson (Contributor), Finn, Amy Sue (Contributor), Leonard, Julia Anne (Contributor), Gabrieli, John D. E. (Contributor), Jacoby-Senghor, Drew S. (Author), West, Martin R. (Author), Gabrieli, Christopher F. O. (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Contributor), McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sage Publications/Association for Psychological Science, 2015-04-23T13:56:20Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 In the United States, the difference in academic achievement between higher- and lower-income students (i.e., the income-achievement gap) is substantial and growing. In the research reported here, we investigated neuroanatomical correlates of this gap in adolescents (N = 58) in whom academic achievement was measured by statewide standardized testing. Cortical gray-matter volume was significantly greater in students from higher-income backgrounds (n = 35) than in students from lower-income backgrounds (n = 23), but cortical white-matter volume and total cortical surface area did not differ significantly between groups. Cortical thickness in all lobes of the brain was greater in students from higher-income than lower-income backgrounds. Greater cortical thickness, particularly in temporal and occipital lobes, was associated with better test performance. These results represent the first evidence that cortical thickness in higher- and lower-income students differs across broad swaths of the brain and that cortical thickness is related to scores on academic-achievement tests.