Frontal EEG/ERP correlates of attentional processes, cortisol and motivational states in adolescents from lower and higher socioeconomic status
Open Access
- 1 January 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Vol. 6, 306
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00306
Abstract
Event-related potentials (ERPs) and other electroencephalographic (EEG) evidence show that frontal brain areas of higher and lower socioeconomic status (SES) children are recruited differently during selective attention tasks. We assessed whether multiple variables related to self-regulation (perceived mental effort) emotional states (e.g., anxiety, stress, etc.) and motivational states (e.g., boredom, engagement, etc.) may co-occur or interact with frontal attentional processing probed in two matched-samples of fourteen lower-SES and higher-SES adolescents. ERP and EEG activation were measured during a task probing selective attention to sequences of tones. Pre- and post-task salivary cortisol and self-reported emotional states were also measured. At similar performance level, the higher-SES group showed a greater ERP differentiation between attended (relevant) and unattended (irrelevant) tones than the lower-SES group. EEG power analysis revealed a cross-over interaction, specifically, lower-SES adolescents showed significantly higher theta power when ignoring rather than attending to tones, whereas, higher-SES adolescents showed the opposite pattern. Significant theta asymmetry differences were also found at midfrontal electrodes indicating left hypo-activity in lower-SES adolescents. The attended vs. unattended difference in right midfrontal theta increased with individual SES rank, and (independently from SES) with lower cortisol task reactivity and higher boredom. Results suggest lower-SES children used additional compensatory resources to monitor/control response inhibition to distracters, perceiving also more mental effort, as compared to higher-SES counterparts. Nevertheless, stress, boredom and other task-related perceived states were unrelated to SES. Ruling out presumed confounds, this study confirms the midfrontal mechanisms responsible for the SES effects on selective attention reported previously and here reflect genuine cognitive differences.Keywords
This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
- Explicit and implicit issues in the developmental cognitive neuroscience of social inequalityFrontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2012
- The impact of poverty on the development of brain networksFrontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2012
- Training the developing brain: a neurocognitive perspectiveFrontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2012
- Stress and the Development of Self‐Regulation in ContextChild Development Perspectives, 2010
- Socioeconomic status and the brain: mechanistic insights from human and animal researchNature Reviews Neuroscience, 2010
- Effects of socioeconomic status on brain development, and how cognitive neuroscience may contribute to leveling the playing fieldFrontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2010
- Perceived mental effort correlates with changes in tonic arousal during attentional tasksBehavioral and Brain Functions, 2010
- Differences in the neural mechanisms of selective attention in children from different socioeconomic backgrounds: an event‐related brain potential studyDevelopmental Science, 2009
- Socioeconomic status and the developing brainTrends in Cognitive Sciences, 2009
- EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysisBrain Research Reviews, 1999