Selective attention neutralizes the adverse effects of low socioeconomic status on memory in 9-month-old XXXX .

@entity1 @entity159
@entity159 ( @entity159 ) has a documented impact on brain and cognitive development. We demonstrate that engaging spatial selective attention mechanisms may counteract this negative influence of impoverished environments on early learning. We previously used a spatial cueing task to compare target object encoding in the context of basic orienting ("facilitation") versus a spatial selective attention orienting mechanism that engages distractor suppression ("IOR"). This work showed that object encoding in the context of IOR boosted 9-month-old @entity1 ' recognition memory relative to facilitation (Markant and Amso, 2013). Here we asked whether this attention-memory link further interacted with @entity159 in infancy. Results indicated that @entity159 was related to memory but not attention orienting efficacy. However, the correlation between @entity159 and memory performance was moderated by the attention mechanism engaged during encoding. @entity159 predicted memory performance when objects were encoded with basic orienting processes, with @entity1 from low- @entity159 environments showing poorer memory than those from high- @entity159 environments. However, @entity159 did not predict memory performance among @entity1 who engaged selective attention during encoding. Spatial selective attention engagement mitigated the effects of @entity159 on memory and may offer an effective mechanism for promoting learning among @entity1 at risk for poor cognitive outcomes related to @entity159 .
