Discuss the following study with reference to two or more of the following concepts: bias, causality, measurement, and/or change.
Noble et al. (2022) conducted a true experiment to test whether alleviating poverty can influence infant brain development. Over 1,000 low-income mothers in the United States were randomly assigned to receive either a high monthly cash gift ($333) or a low cash gift ($20) from the birth of their child.
After one year, infants in the high-cash group showed significantly more high-frequency (“fast”) brain activity, as measured by EEG, than those in the low-cash group. Such fast brain waves are associated with more advanced cognitive development, suggesting that the income boost had a positive causal effect on the babies’ brain development.
References: Noble, K. G., Magnuson, K., Gennetian, L. A., Duncan, G. J., Yoshikawa, H., Fox, N. A., Halpern-Meekin, S., Hyde, L. W., Ivory, J. J., & Ziol-Guest, K. M. (2022). Baby’s first years: Design of a randomized controlled trial of poverty reduction in the United States. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 53, 101044.
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