In an effort to track the effects of poverty on the brain, Dr. Noble is beginning a new nationwide study in collaboration with Greg Duncan, an economist at the University of California-Irvine; Katherine Magnuson, a social-policy expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Lisa Gennetian, a New York University economist; and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, an NYU psychologist. According to The Guardian “The new study will take five years to complete, with payments beginning shortly after the mothers give birth and lasting until the children turn three years old. Researchers will collect data through interviews with the mothers at 12 and 24 months; after the children turn three, they will visit the participating labs where researchers will test their language, memory, executive functioning and social and emotional development. They will also measure the development of their brain circuitry through electroencephalography (EEG) – infants are too young to be exposed to the long, uncomfortable experience of being inside an MRI machine.”
To learn more about the study, visit Teachers College Columbia.
