THE PHENOMENON OF BRAIN PLASTICITY 39economic, public health, and community- based programs that address pov-
erty itself.
The idea that poverty affects neurocognition fits well with a biopsycho-
social model of health and disease. While poverty is economic and struc-
tural, the deprivations and vulnerabilities that can be said to mark any
person’s experience of poverty are embodied, felt, and often physical. For
example, childhood poverty is positively correlated with elevated levels of
cortisol (a marker of chronic stress), higher rates of mortality, and greater
risk of chronic illness. Because they believe it makes an imprint on the
brain, Farah, Shera, et al. (2006) argue that poverty is a bioethical issue,
affecting people’s health and biological capacities. They articulate a desire
to offer increasingly precise targets and effective interventions that can
help vulnerable populations, improving their life chances irrespective of
whether poverty itself is conquered. But researchers commonly fail to rec-
ognize the role technoscientific practice itself plays in bringing forth spe-
cific configurations of neural difference. The cuts that are made are rooted
in particular commitments and enact specific differences that are made to
matter.
For example, while research on the neurobiological effects of poverty is
commonly informed by broad evidence of poor children’s inferior academic
performance, especially language skills, many interventions are aimed not
at linguistic but executive functions (efs) and corresponding behaviors,
particularly self- control. While efs are also correlated with academic
performance, they are in addition associated “with such problems as adhd,
teacher burnout, student dropout, drug use and crime” (Diamond et al.
2007, 1387). The strengthening of executive function through modifying
the prefrontal cortex reportedly has societal benefits; it may, for example,
“reduce needs for costly special education, societal costs from unregulated
antisocial behavior, and the number of diagnoses of ef disorders [e.g.,
adhd and conduct disorder]” (1388). Further, “Interventions addressing
self-control might reduce a panoply of societal costs, save taxpayers money,
and promote prosperity” (Moffitt et al. 2011, 2693). The choice to target
executive functions and associated brain regions over other functions and
brain areas is quite explicitly linked to the identification and prioritization of
social problems that are entangled with race, gender, and class inequalities.