Brain Research

At the MDRs Center, a multi-disciplinary team of brain imagers, neurobiologists, psychiatrists, and cognitive psychologists are studying how structural racism influences brain development. Our analysis of the ABCD data has documented weaker effects of parental education and household income on neurocognitive outcomes such as executive function, memory, inhibitory control, and emotion for Black than White children. Using functional, structural, and diffusion MRI, we have also documented weaker SES effects on the amygdala, thalamus, cerebral cortex, NAcc, and cerebrum for Black than White children. These diminished returns of SES are in part because stress, trauma, and discrimination remain high for all Black children, regardless of class and SES. We have observed that high SES increases, rather than decreases exposure and vulnerability to discrimination in Black children. Here are our ABCD papers.