Natural experiments in cognitive neuroscience: A novel approach to study environmental causes of neuroplasticity

Understanding how the environment affects the brain is crucial, given the lifelong impacts of early neural and cognitive differences.

Natural experiments leverage external changes in the environment (e.g., local policy changes or ecological events) to isolate environmental exposures.

Across three work packages (WP), I will isolate and quantify environmental impacts on the human brain by combining large population-based neuroimaging studies with cutting-edge techniques from econometrics.

The first (WP1), will investigate immediate neuroplasticity by comparing the brains of children during summer vacation (not currently in school) to those that just started school, thereby isolating the neural changes specifically associated with the cognitive demands from schooling.

The second (WP2) examines how seasonal resource deprivation in The Gambia impacts the neural and cognitive outcomes of children.

Lastly (WP3), I will investigate how pollution impacts the brains of adolescents by using immediate wildfire pollution as an instrument. Together, these WPs represent the first time natural experimental designs are used in cognitive neuroscience. For this reason, I have included a primer paper aimed at psychologists (WP4) with a corresponding workshop.

These findings will not only represent a step change in fundamental scientific insight but also have direct translational implications on governmental policies, by informing guidelines on educational and air quality policy.