The neuroscience of inequality: does poverty show up in children's brains?

There is increasing evidence that growing up poor diminishes the physical development of a child's brain. A landmark US study is attempting to establish a causal link - and find new ways to help our poorest children

With its bright colours, anthropomorphic animal motif and nautical-themed puzzle play mat, Dr Kimberly Noble's laboratory at Columbia University in New York looks like your typical day-care centre - save for the team of cognitive neuroscientists observing kids from behind a large two-way mirror.

The Neurocognition, Early Experience and Development Lab is home to cutting-edge research on how poverty affects young brains, and I've come here to learn how Noble and her colleagues could soon definitively prove that growing up poor can keep a child's brain from developing.