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Being poor exerts the same effect on problem solving as losing a full night's sleep
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/poverty-saps-brain-us-india-study-203215314.html#a37DhBBFrom a shopping mall in New Jersey to the farm fields of India, experiments show that poverty saps people's brainpower and may lower IQ by 13 points, scientists said Thursday.
The findings in the US journal Science suggest that being poor can drain a person's mental resources, leaving him or her less capable of focusing on other things, like solving problems and controlling impulses.
"Because you have all these other things on your mind, you have less mind to give to everything else," said co-author Sendhil Mullainathan, a Harvard University economist.
Rather than blaming poverty on the individual or the environment, the study suggests that the state of being poor exerts the same effect as losing a full night's sleep or having lower intelligence.
The findings in the US journal Science suggest that being poor can drain a person's mental resources, leaving him or her less capable of focusing on other things, like solving problems and controlling impulses.
"Because you have all these other things on your mind, you have less mind to give to everything else," said co-author Sendhil Mullainathan, a Harvard University economist.
Rather than blaming poverty on the individual or the environment, the study suggests that the state of being poor exerts the same effect as losing a full night's sleep or having lower intelligence.
