The gap between higher and lower income populations in their level of academic and professional achievement is a major societal problem. While it is well known and often discussed – the poverty cycle, where disadvantaged youth tend to remain poor while advantaged youth succeed, it is rarely approached as a perpetuation of biological, or more specifically, neurological differences.

Researchers are now investigating the possibility that a working memory deficit, caused and maintained by the heightened levels of stress associated with poverty, may be an underlying deficit that perpetuates the income-achievement gap.
It is possible that using an intervention like Cogmed training on disadvantaged children under chronic stress may be useful in curbing cognitive deficits associated with poverty. This could be one useful step in helping to address a complex and pervasive social problem.