Considering the many children around the world that live in financially scarce conditions, it is of importance to know the consequences with regard to cognition. Life history theory suggests people...Show moreConsidering the many children around the world that live in financially scarce conditions, it is of importance to know the consequences with regard to cognition. Life history theory suggests people growing up in these scarce circumstances might develop different ways of adapting to this environment. This study looks at the influence of childhood financial scarcity on cognitive performance, when a current mindset of financial scarcity is activated. Specifically, this research is focused on determining performance on inhibition and cognitive switching tasks for people with different scarcity backgrounds and mindsets. In order to test this, people were questioned about their childhood. Then, half of the participants was instructed to recall a scarcity-related memory, while others recalled a neutral memory. Finally participants were presented with a cognitive task, which measured either inhibition or cognitive switching. It was expected that in a current scarcity mindset, people that had a scarcity background would perform lower on inhibition, but higher on switching. According to the results, neither childhood scarcity, current scarcity mindset, nor the combination of the two, were significant predictors of performance on the cognitive tasks. On these grounds, further research is needed to determine the relation between scarcity and cognition.Show less
Life History Theory is an evolutionary theory claiming that early life circumstances help us develop abilities and behaviors beneficial to those specific conditions. This study aimed to investigate...Show moreLife History Theory is an evolutionary theory claiming that early life circumstances help us develop abilities and behaviors beneficial to those specific conditions. This study aimed to investigate the effects of childhood poverty on cognitive abilities such as switching and visuospatial memory in current financially difficult situations. We hypothesized that people who grew up poor would score better on a task measuring switching and visuospatial memory, but only in current financially difficult situations. Conversely, their counterparts in the low financial difficulty situations would underperform due to the dissimilarity of the circumstances the cognitive abilities adapted to in childhood. Our results provided support for the hypothesis as participants who grew up poor performed better at switching and visuospatial memory in current financially difficult situations compared to their peers in the low difficulty situation. These findings indicate that difficult circumstances in childhood could improve cognitive abilities needed to persist in those circumstances.Show less
