Differences in the neural recruitment for EF and mathematics by children from diverse socio-cultural contexts

Early mathematical development is a strong predictor of overall academic achievement, with poor mathematical skills presenting negative correlations with quality of life, income, and health. Socioeconomic achievement gaps in mathematics arise before children begin school, and increase throughout education, making it vitally important to understand how socioeconomic status (SES) disparities arise, to disrupt negative life trajectories for children in low-income families. Executive functions (EFs) are cognitive functions that promote goal directed behaviours, including working memory, shifting and inhibition. EF and mathematical development are tightly linked, suggesting that EFs could have the potential to narrow achievement gaps. However, the SES-EF gradient, presenting lower-SES children with poorer EF than their higher-SES peers, results almost entirely from within country samples of children from within the same region, town, or classroom. Whilst this is a strength, allowing researchers to explore SES whilst controlling for other factors, it could potentially be masking EF-protective factors that have recently been identified cross-culturally. The current research aims to explore whether the SES-EF gradient exists so robustly within-country with samples of children from diverse sociocultural settings and how certain factors may impact the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms implicated in mathematics and EF. This study will be the first to extend research on the SES-EF gradient across diverse socio-cultural contexts within-country, elucidating our understanding of
the development of EF and mathematical ability. Doing so will enable the development of interventions which have the potential to diminish SES-related disparities in children, and improve subsequent life trajectories.