Funciones ejecutivas: Un estudio de los efectos de la pobreza sobre el desempe？o ejecutivo

recent published research on the negative impact of poverty on neurocognitive development has been broader in scope and has analyzed more in depth the issue. infant malnutrition, inadequate medical care, exposure to stress and violence (shore, 1997), weak speech stimulation and scarce organization of the environment are risk factors conditioning self regulation, as assessed in previous research (musso, 2005; ninio, 1980; peralta de mendoza, 1997; wood, bruner & ross, 1976). nevertheless, there is a need for further study of the mechanisms and various ways in which poverty exercises such negative impact. this work describes and analyzes the effects of some of the mechanisms present in poverty which impact on the development of executive functions such as: interference control and planning, at the beginning of schooling. the sample was conformed by 80 children, between 6 and 10 years of age, boys and girls, attending the first grade of general basic education (2005 cohort, in república argentina), at a school included in the national plan of a thousand schools below poverty level. the group deemed at risk by poverty displayed the following indicators: children with high levels of malnutrition, high percentage of students who repeat courses which accounts for the number of older children, high percentage of unemployed parents, and with low levels of schooling. a control group was used that was formed by children attending a city school, not part of the plan of one thousand schools under the poverty line; their parents had finished obligatory or high level education, they were merchants, employees or professionals. the instruments applied were: simon says game (la voie, anderson, fraze & johnson, 1981, see zelazo, 1996) to assess the executive or response control through the use of a rule, the hanoi tower (two rings version) to assess planing, a self report to assess the childrens′ perception of parental styles (mother / father version) (richaud de minzi, 2006), and the