Brainmap: Neuroanatomical Correlates of the Income Achievement Gap

Wednesday, October 8, 2014 - 12:00
Seminar room 2204, Bldg. 149, Charlestown Navy Yard

Allyson Mackey, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT

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. I will present data on neuroanatomical correlates of this gap in adolescents. I will compare cortical thickness between students from lower- and higher-income backgrounds, and relate cortical thickness to performance on the Massachusetts measure of academic achievement. I will discuss possible mechanisms that lead to income-related differences in brain structure, and the potential utility of brain measures in the design and evaluation of interventions to close the income achievement gap.