Neural correlates of inhibitory control and associations with cognitive outcomes in Bangladeshi children exposed to early adversities

There is strong support for the view that children growing up in low‐income homes typically evince poorer performance on tests of inhibitory control compared to those growing up in higher income homes. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the work documenting this association has been conducted in high‐income countries. It is not yet known whether the mechanisms found to mediate this association would generalize to children in low‐ and middle‐income countries, where the risks of exposure to extreme poverty and a wide range of both biological and psychosocial hazards may be greater. We examined relations among early adversity, neural correlates of inhibitory control, and cognitive outcomes in 154 5‐year‐old children living in Dhaka, Bangladesh, an area with a high prevalence of poverty. Participants completed a go/no‐go task assessing inhibitory control and their behavioral and event‐related potential responses were assessed. Cortical source analysis was performed. We collected measures of poverty, malnutrition, maternal mental health, psychosocial adversity, and cognitive skills. Supporting studies in high‐income countries, children in this sample exhibited a longer N2 latency and higher P3 amplitude to the no‐go versus go condition. Unexpectedly, children had a more pronounced N2 amplitude during go trials than no‐go trials. The N2 latency was related to their behavioral accuracy on the go/no‐go task. The P3 mean amplitude, behavioral accuracy, and reaction time during the task were all associated with intelligence‐quotient (IQ) scores. Children who experienced higher levels of psychosocial adversity had lower accuracy on the task and lower IQ scores.