Want bright kids? Give the mother more money

The sight of money from early childhood has been shown to shape a toddler’s brain according to a new research-the first of its kind on money and cognition. The study, Baby's First Years, was carried out in the USA by scientists at Columbia University to support a proposed Safety Net Policy Bill for providing poor mothers with financial aid and subsidies.

 While being wealthy or poor has been previously linked to weaker cognitive skills in school, but the research found experimental evidence showing how growing up in poverty extends to babies' brain structure and function.

In the research, financially poor mothers who were provided with cash stipends for the first year of their children's lives showed that their babies' brain activity developed stronger cognitive development.

Dr Kimberly G. Noble, a physician and neuroscientist at Teachers College, Columbia University was the lead researcher in the study involving one thousand randomly selected mother-newborn pairs and randomly splitting the families into two groups: One group received a token of $20 (Sh2000) a month and another got $333 (Sh33,300).

Using electroencephalograms (EEG) tests to evaluate the children at their first birthday, the neurologists discovered that those in the high-cash group showed increased activity in most (but not all) parts of the brain, which previous research has linked to higher cognitive development, compared to those in the low-cash group. 

The differences were of moderate statistical magnitude, moving from the 75th position in a line of 100 to the 81st. "This is a big scientific finding," said Martha J. Farah, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania.

"It's proof that just giving the families more money, even a modest amount of more money leads to better brain development."

But a Harvard researcher, Charles A. Nelson III, cautioned against passing the bill, which recommends monthly payments of $333 until the children can take cognitive tests. He noted that while the brain patterns documented in the study are markers of higher cognitive skills, that is not always the case.

The study has limitations; it has not been clear if those differences come directly from the shortage of money or from related factors like parental education or neighbourhood influences

 "We have known for many years that growing up in poverty puts children at risk for lower school achievement, reduced earnings, and poorer health," explained Dr Noble, “however, and until now, we haven't been able to say whether poverty itself causes differences in child development, or whether growing up in poverty is simply associated with other factors that cause those differences."

The monthly payments will continue until the babies are at least four years old, upon which the researchers will conduct further tests.

Neurologists are still trying to figure out why money affects children's brain development.

It's unclear whether the outcomes were because more money allowed mothers access to better food or health care, allowed mothers to work less and spend quality time with their children, or reduced harmful levels of parental stress.

The study offered evidence that poverty itself holds children back from their earliest moments and Dr Noble concluded that the study revealed that money, in and of itself, has a causal impact on brain development.”

But a Harvard researcher, Charles A. Nelson III, cautioned against passing the bill, which recommends monthly payments of $333 until the children can take cognitive tests.

He noted that while the brain patterns documented in the study are markers of higher cognitive skills, that is not always the case.

The study has limitations; it has not been clear if those differences come directly from the shortage of money or from related factors like parental education or neighbourhood influences

“We have known for many years that growing up in poverty puts children at risk for lower school achievement, reduced earnings, and poorer health,” explained Dr Noble, “however, and until now, we haven’t been able to say whether poverty itself causes differences in child development, or whether growing up in poverty is simply associated with other factors that cause those differences.”

The monthly payments will continue until the babies are at least four years old, upon which the researchers will conduct further tests.