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In children, the ability to attend to relevant auditory information and ignore distracting information is crucial for learning and educational achievement. Distractibility, the propensity to pay attention to irrelevant information, depends on multiple components of cognition (voluntary attention orienting, sustained attention, distraction resulting from the capture of attention by a distractor, phasic arousal, impulsivity, and motor control) that may mature at different ages. Here, we used the Competitive Attention Test (CAT) to measure these components in children aged 3 to 5 years. Our goal was to characterize changes in the efficiency of attention during the preschool period and to determine whether distractibility varies as a function of socioeconomic status (SES). All 3-year-olds (n = 14) and some 4- and 5-year-olds (n = 21) needed to be excluded from the sample due to noncompliance with instructions, suggesting that the CAT might not be suitable for children with poorly developed skills in sustained attention. Among 4- and 5-year-olds who completed the CAT (n = 71), sustained attention improved with age, whereas voluntary attention orienting remained immature. Independent of age, task-irrelevant sounds induced distraction, phasic arousal, and impulsivity. There was no relationship between SES and children's distraction. Finally, children from lower SES backgrounds showed reduced sustained attention abilities and increased impulsivity. Taken together, these findings suggest that distractibility is still developing during the preschool period and is likely to vary depending on the SES background of a child's family.

It is increasingly recognized that early experiences associated with poverty are associated with changes in brain structure and function, in particular for regulatory systems that are both sensitive to chronic stress and important for school readiness and academic achievement (e.g., Lipina & Posner, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 238, 2012; Pakulak, Stevens, & Neville, Annual Review of Psychology, 69, 2018). In addition, recent interdisciplinary models of intergenerational poverty emphasize the importance of considering broader social and cultural contexts, including the quality of early childhood education, in reaching a more comprehensive understanding of how different aspects of the environment contribute to chronic stress and differences in self-regulation (e.g., Blair & Raver, Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 711–731, 2015; McEwen & McEwen, Annual Review of Sociology, 43, 445–472, 2017). In this chapter, we review two parallel lines of research on these questions in two different cultural contexts, Argentina and the US. Both lines of research employ cognitive and neuroscientific methods to address both basic and applied research questions in educational contexts. Between 2002 and 2018, in the Unit of Applied Neurobiology we designed, implemented, and evaluated seven interventions aimed at optimizing the cognitive performance of children between four and five years of age from different districts of Argentina and from backgrounds of poverty (Goldin et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(17), 6443–6448, 2014; Hermida et al., Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 4(1–2), 15–25, 2015; Pietto et al., Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 13, 34–42, 2018; Segretin et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 205, 2014). All interventions were implemented in schools or childcare centers, using different strategies: exercise and cognitive training with toys or computer games, curricular adaptations, and play activities with mothers and children. Results revealed near and far transfer effects, depending on the type of approach, sample, and measurement (i.e., behavioral, electroencephalography). In the US, we developed, implemented, and assessed a two-generation intervention for preschoolers and their parents. The intervention targets attention, family stress, and self-regulation, and was found to reduce parenting stress and improve child behavior, cognition, and brain function for attention in families living in poverty (Neville et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013). We subsequently developed and implemented a scaled-up delivery model of the intervention that was integrated into multiple preschool sites (Pakulak et al., New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2017(158), 81–92, 2017); evaluation of the efficacy of this model is underway. The chapter will conclude with a critical discussion of the potential, as well as the limitations, of such approaches to ameliorate the effects of early adversity in different cultural contexts.

This chapter reviews research identifying brain systems that are sensitive to early socioeconomic adversity, as well as the key pathways linking aspects of early adversity to alterations in neural function. The research suggests that the structure and function of an integrated network underlying self-regulation and attention—including the prefrontal cortex (PFC), amygdala, and hippocampus—is particularly sensitive to early socioeconomic adversity. Drawing on both experimental data from animal models and correlational evidence from humans, alterations in these systems are linked to chronic stress associated with early adversity as well as differences in supportive caregiving in response to environmental stressors. This research highlights a specific set of malleable pathways amenable to family-based intervention that link early adversity to brain development. In this respect, neuroplasticity is framed as incorporating both sensitivity in the face of adverse experiences as well as resilience through buffering and adaptive change.

Caregivers exhibiting low levels of positive caregiving tend to have reduced dynamic range in high- frequency heart rate variability (HRV), an index of parasympathetic nervous system activity. Yet less is known about the involvement of the sympathetic nervous system, which may impact the plausible range of parasympathetic reactivity. Here, caregiver–child dyads completed resting assessments of HRV and pre-ejection period (PEP), followed by a videotaped puzzle task during which HRV was measured and observers coded the degree of caregivers’ positive emotionality. Multilevel modelling was employed to characterize task fluctuations in HRV as a function of resting PEP and caregivers’ positive emotional expressions. Higher frequency of caregiver positivity was associated with greater HRV reactivity in caregivers but not children. Increased caregiver positivity was correlated with longer resting PEP in children. These results replicate findings of greater caregiver parasympathetic flexibility during positive caregiving and extend those findings to children’s resting sympathetic activity.

Translational research involving the development, implementation, and assessment of evidence-based interventions has shown promise in improving outcomes for children from lower socioeconomic-status...

Multiple theoretical frameworks posit that interactions between the autonomic nervous system and higher-order neural networks are crucial for cognitive regulation. However, few studies have simultaneously examined autonomic physiology and brain activity during cognitive tasks. Such research is promising for understanding how early adversity impacts neurocognitive development in children, given that stress experienced early in life impacts both autonomic function and regulatory behaviors. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) as a neural measure of auditory selective attention, and cardiovascular measures of high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) and preejection period (PEP), in 105 3-5-year-old children with varying degrees of socioeconomic risk. First, we replicated a previous study from our lab: Increased socioeconomic risk was associated with larger ERP amplitudes elicited by distracting sounds. Next, we tested whether PEP and HF-HRV (at rest and during the task) were associated with the distractor ERP response, and found that a physiological profile marked by heightened sympathetic nervous system activity, indexed by shorter PEP, was associated with better ERP suppression of distractor sounds in lower SES children. Finally, we found that PEP mediated the relationship between socioeconomic risk and larger ERP responses to distractor sounds. In line with similar reports, these results suggest that for lower SES children, there is a potential biological cost of achieving better cognitive performance, seen here as increased cardiovascular arousal both at rest and in response to task demands. (PsycINFO Database Record

The relationship between early adversity and numerous negative outcomes across the lifespan is evident in a wide range of societies and cultures (e.g., Pakulak, Stevens, & Neville, 2018). Among the most affected neural systems are those supporting attention, self-regulation, and stress regulation. As such, these systems represent targets for neurobiologically informed interventions addressing early adversity. In prior work with monolingual native English-speaking families, we showed that a two-generation intervention targeting these systems in families improves outcomes across multiple domains including child brain function for selective attention (for detail, see Neville et al., 2013). Here, we discuss the translation and cultural adaptation (CA) of this intervention in local and international contexts, which required systematic consideration of cultural differences that could affect program acceptability. First, we conducted a translation and CA of our program to serve Latino families in the United States using the Cultural Adaptation Process (CAP), a model that works closely with stakeholders in a systematic, iterative process. Second, to implement the adapted program in Medellin, Colombia, we conducted a subsequent adaptation for Colombian culture using the same CAP. Our experience underscores the importance of consideration of cultural differences and a systematic approach to adaptation before assessing the efficacy of neurobiologically informed interventions in different cultural contexts.

Significance Selective attention is the ability to select and preferentially process specific information while simultaneously suppressing the processing of irrelevant, competing distractors. It is a fundamental ability linked to various cognitive skills and academic achievement. We describe the foundations and history of our research program, which spans from basic research on neural mechanisms and neuroplasticity of selective attention to translational research aimed at designing interventions to improve selective attention. We also present preliminary evidence for gene × intervention interactions in neural mechanisms of selective attention in children from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds. This program of research demonstrates the marked malleability of neural systems for selective attention and highlights the potential for changes in selective attention as a function of intervention.

Although differences in selective attention skills have been identified in children from lower compared to higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, little is known about these differences in early childhood, a time of rapid attention development. The current study evaluated the development of neural systems for selective attention in children from lower SES backgrounds. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were acquired from 33 children from lower SES and 14 children from higher SES backgrounds during a dichotic listening task. The lower SES group was followed longitudinally for one year. At age four, the higher SES group exhibited a significant attention effect (larger ERP response to attended compared to unattended condition), an effect not observed in the lower SES group. At age five, the lower SES group exhibited a significant attention effect comparable in overall magnitude to that observed in the 4-year-old higher SES group, but with poorer distractor suppression (larger response to the unattended condition). Together, these findings suggest both a maturational delay and divergent developmental pattern in neural mechanisms for selective attention in young children from lower compared to higher SES backgrounds. Furthermore, these findings highlight the importance of studying neurodevelopment within narrow age ranges and in children from diverse backgrounds. Keywords: Selective attention, Development, ERPs, SES, Children

As this special issue went to press, the field of educational neuroscience lost one of its greatest visionaries – Dr. Helen Neville, Founding Director of the Brain Development Lab and Professor Eme...

The relationship between early adversity and outcomes across the lifespan is apparent in a striking range of measures. Evidence suggests that many of these outcomes can be traced to the impacts of early adversity on multiple and integrated biological systems mediated by the brain. In this review, we integrate empirical and theoretical advances in the understanding of relationships among the brain and the functions of the endocrine, autonomic, and immune systems. We emphasize the effects of environmental experiences related to caregiver relationships because it is these experiences, in particular, that shape regulatory and threat response systems in ways that increase vulnerability and may underlie the wide range of poor outcomes associated with early adversity. Thus, we metaphorically extend the concept of plasticity to highlight our goal of a broader consideration of these interconnected mechanisms. We conclude by discussing implications for neurobiologically informed interventions that can potentially ameliorate the broad and costly effects of early adversity.

Multiple theoretical frameworks posit that interactions between the autonomic nervous system and higher-order neural networks are crucial for cognitive regulation. However, few studies have directly examined the relationship between measures of autonomic physiology and brain activity during cognitive tasks, and fewer studies have examined both the parasympathetic and sympathetic autonomic branches when doing so. Here, 93 adults completed an event-related potential (ERP) auditory selective attention task concurrently with measures of parasympathetic activity (high-frequency heart rate variability; HF-HRV) and sympathetic activity (pre-ejection period; PEP). We replicate previous findings showing effects of selective attention on mean amplitude of the N1 ERP component (Hillyard et al., 1973; Coch et al., 2005), and extend this result to show that the effects of selective attention were associated with baseline values of HF-HRV and PEP. Individuals with higher resting HF-HRV and shorter resting PEP showed larger effects of selective attention on their ERPs. Follow-up regression models demonstrated that HF-HRV and PEP accounted for unique variance in selective attention effects on N1 mean amplitude. These results are consistent with the neurovisceral integration model, which posits that greater parasympathetic activity is a marker of increased cognitive capacity, as well as other theoretical models which emphasize the role of heightened sympathetic activity in more efficient attention-related processing. The present findings highlight the importance of autonomic physiology in the study of individual differences in neurocognitive function, and given the foundational role of selective attention across cognitive domains, suggest that both parasympathetic and sympathetic activity may be key to understanding variability in brain function across a variety of cognitive tasks.

Using information from research on the neuroplasticity of selective attention and on the central role of successful parenting in child development, we developed and rigorously assessed a family-based training program designed to improve brain systems for selective attention in preschool children. One hundred forty-one lower socioeconomic status preschoolers enrolled in a Head Start program were randomly assigned to the training program, Head Start alone, or an active control group. Electrophysiological measures of children’s brain functions supporting selective attention, standardized measures of cognition, and parent-reported child behaviors all favored children in the treatment program relative to both control groups. Positive changes were also observed in the parents themselves. Effect sizes ranged from one-quarter to half of a standard deviation. These results lend impetus to the further development and broader implementation of evidence-based education programs that target at-risk families.

An enduring question in the study of second-language acquisition concerns the relative contributions of age of acquisition (AOA) and ultimate linguistic proficiency to neural organization for second-language processing. Several ERP and neuroimaging studies of second-language learners have found that neural organization for syntactic processing is sensitive to delays in second-language acquisition. However, such delays in second-language acquisition are typically associated with lower language proficiency, rendering it difficult to assess whether differences in AOA or proficiency lead to these effects. Here we examined the effects of delayed second-language acquisition while controlling for proficiency differences by examining participants who differ in AOA but who were matched for proficiency in the same language. We compared the ERP response to auditory English phrase structure violations in a group of late learners of English matched for grammatical proficiency with a group of English native speakers. In the native speaker group, violations elicited a bilateral and prolonged anterior negativity, with onset at 100 msec, followed by a posterior positivity (P600). In contrast, in the nonnative speaker group, violations did not elicit the early anterior negativity, but did elicit a P600 which was more widespread spatially and temporally than that of the native speaker group. These results suggest that neural organization for syntactic processing is sensitive to delays in language acquisition independently of proficiency level. More specifically, they suggest that both early and later syntactic processes are sensitive to maturational constraints. These results also suggest that late learners who reach a high level of second-language proficiency rely on different neural mechanisms than native speakers of that language.

Although anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency, which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult monolingual native speakers of English using an ERP paradigm. ERPs were recorded to insertion phrase structure violations in naturally spoken English sentences. Participants recruited from a wide spectrum of society were given standardized measures of English language proficiency, and two complementary ERP analyses were performed. In between-groups analyses, participants were divided on the basis of standardized proficiency scores into lower proficiency and higher proficiency groups. Compared with lower proficiency participants, higher proficiency participants showed an early anterior negativity that was more focal, both spatially and temporally, and a larger and more widely distributed positivity (P600) to violations. In correlational analyses, we used a wide spectrum of proficiency scores to examine the degree to which individual proficiency scores correlated with individual neural responses to syntactic violations in regions and time windows identified in the between-groups analyses. This approach also used partial correlation analyses to control for possible confounding variables. These analyses provided evidence for the effects of proficiency that converged with the between-groups analyses. These results suggest that adult monolingual native speakers of English who vary in language proficiency differ in the recruitment of syntactic processes that are hypothesized to be at least in part automatic as well as of those thought to be more controlled. These results also suggest that to fully characterize neural organization for language in native speakers it is necessary to include participants of varying proficiency.