The cultural neuroscience of socioeconomic status

In this chapter, we review an emerging body of research that has used neuroscientific techniques (EEG, ERP, fMRI) to examine how our socioeconomic status (SES) affects brain functioning. We focus on SES effects on neural responses reflecting (1) attunement to others, (2) vigilance, (3) trait inference, and (4) emotion regulation. We also address relevant findings regarding the effects of SES on (5) selective attention from a cultural neuroscience perspective. We end by outlining future directions for cultural neuroscience research on the impact of SES, including expanding the scope of inquiry to assess potential interactions between SES and broader cultural context.