Optimal brain development is context-dependent: How socioeconomic status moderates brain-behavior relationships in cognitive and academic development

A multitude of human neuroimaging research demonstrates robust associations between an individual’s socioeconomic status (SES) and measures of brain structure and function, which in turn relate to individual differences in cognitive performance, particularly during childhood. These findings are often interpreted through a deficit framework that presumes a singular “optimal” pattern of neurocognitive functioning, whereby SES disparities are linked to diminished or inefficient patterns of brain functioning (e.g., lower magnitude or less efficient activation) or brain structure (e.g., less gray/white matter). Emerging evidence, however, challenges this assumption by suggesting that “optimal” neurocognitive patterns may vary across developmental contexts. In particular, features of children’s environments may moderate associations between brain organization and cognitive performance that were previously considered universal. In this review, we synthesize findings from seventeen neuroimaging studies demonstrating that associations between children’s brain structure or function and cognitive performance systematically vary by SES. These studies span core cognitive domains—including executive functioning, language, and reasoning—as well as academic outcomes such as reading, mathematics, and overall achievement. Across this literature, we identify three recurring patterns, specifically that SES can moderate the magnitude, directionality, and/or the region of brain-behavior associations. Notably, we discuss how these findings underscore the critical need to include diverse populations in neuroimaging studies so as to not obscure the meaningful heterogeneity in neurobiological foundations of cognition. We conclude by offering recommendations for future research to conceptualize neurocognitive development as adaptively shaped by context, rather than as reflecting deficits relative to a presumed normative standard.