Description
The article focuses on the effect of one’s childhood experiences on their cognitive development into adulthood. More specifically, the work studied the role of a child’s socioeconomic status in the processes of their cognitive maturing. In order to study the objective, an experiment involving over 1000 male twins was carried out. Two average age categories of 20 and 62 were questioned using various cognitive tests, such as those focused on reasoning and memory. Moreover, another age group of 56 was surveyed on their socioeconomic status, including their own and their parents’ occupation. Once the practical part had been conducted, an analysis of the results was carried out. The results demonstrated lower cognitive ability levels for those participants who noted lower socioeconomic statuses. These results could be explained by the evident lack of extensive mental stimulation children can experience living in middle-class or lower conditions.
Opposite View/ideas
One opposing view clarifies that while a better socioeconomic status allows more mental stimulation, and hence better cognitive functioning, it is also associated with stronger cognitive decline in older age. The longitudinal study analysis included the investigation of cognitive trajectories from 50 to 96 years. As the researchers note, the main mental functions that become less efficient over time are recall and verbal fluency. In order to collect data, surveys from over 10 years were studied: the number of participants reached over 20 000. The results indicated that while the participants from more financially-stable families demonstrated better cognitive functioning abilities, they also expressed a faster and stronger decline of the same functioning over the years. Therefore, the article presents an opposing opinion to the initially described study, as it emphasizes the additional negative aspect of cognitive development in adults of higher socioeconomic status.
Reference for opposing views/ideas
Author(s): Aartsen, M.J., Cheval, B., Sieber, S.,Van der Linden, B.W., Gabriel, R., Courvoisier, D.S., Guessous, I., Burton-Jeangros, C., Blane, D., Ihle, A., Kliegel, M. and Cullati, S.
- Title: Advantaged socioeconomic conditions in childhood are associated with higher cognitive functioning but stronger cognitive decline in older age
- Journal/Magazine/Newspaper/Source Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Year: 2019
- Publisher: PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) Volume/Issue/etc.: Volume 116, Issue 12