贫困经历对儿童执行功能的影响：有限资源的损耗及其补偿

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.0221

摘要/Abstract

摘要： 在全面推进乡村振兴实现共同富裕的新进程中, 如何提升贫困经历儿童的内生动力, 阻断贫困代际传递仍是当前面临的核心问题。本研究沿用稀缺理论的视角, 聚焦有贫困经历儿童的心理加工过程, 以中国某原贫困县易地扶贫搬迁配建学校的学龄儿童为被试, 分别诱发稀缺损耗(研究1)、进行稀缺损耗后补偿(研究2), 考察有限资源的损耗与恢复, 能否解释贫困经历儿童执行功能的变化。研究发现：(1)稀缺损耗情境下仅有贫困经历儿童的执行功能下降更多, 由注意资源与自我控制资源的损耗共同解释; (2)金钱和糖果补偿的方式能补充贫困经历儿童已损耗的资源, 而休息和表扬的方式未能起到补偿效果, 即缓解注意稀缺、补充自我控制能量可补偿贫困经历儿童的稀缺损耗, 进一步恢复执行功能表现。本研究揭示了贫困损害儿童执行功能的有限资源机制, 并通过短期补偿为提升贫困经历儿童的执行功能提供可行建议。

关键词: 贫困经历儿童, 执行功能, 稀缺, 损耗

Abstract: Poverty has always been a challenge for human society. For children living in poverty, improving and developing their abilities in childhood accurately is crucial for overcoming this fatalism. Despite the long-established negative effects of poverty, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. In contrast to traditional explanations that focus primarily on the disadvantaged environments or personality traits of the poor, this study focused on the mental processes required by poverty and provided initial evidence that short interventions could compensate for the depletion of poverty on Chinese children’s executive function.
Two studies were conducted within the framework of limited resource depletion, which encompasses both attention scarcity and self-depletion in cognitive processing. Study 1 aimed to investigate the specific impact of money scarcity on executive function in poor children. This was achieved by examining the effects of both money-related (scarcity) and non-money-related (normal) depletion using the classic paradigm of depletion. A total of 179 children (M = 10.89, SD = 1.45, 55.30% boys) participated in this study. Half of the participants were from families in poverty registration or poverty alleviation relocation, and the other half were from a first-tier city in China. On the basis of these results, Study 2 was designed to explore whether four common compensations of self-depletion could counteract money-scarcity depletion among children in poverty and promote their executive function. A total of 180 children (M = 11.36, SD = 1.59, 45.60% boys) whose families were identified as either poverty-registered or poverty-alleviation relocated participated. This study first primed a money-scarcity state, similar to Study 1. Four compensations (i.e., money, candy, praise, and rest) were subsequently provided to simulate the depletion and recovery of mental resources in real world contexts.
The findings of Study 1 indicated that the scarcity resulting from a money-related situation led to a distinctive depletion of executive function in children who had experienced poverty. This was attributed to a combination of diminished attention and self-control resources. Specifically, for children living in poverty, the scarcity-depletion group performed worse in terms of executive function than did the control group and the normal-depletion group. In contrast, children in the non-poverty group demonstrated no significant differences in inhibition control or cognitive flexibility between the scarcity-depletion and normal-depletion groups, and both groups performed worse than the control group did. The results of Study 2 revealed that not all conventional forms of compensation were effective in counteracting the depleted executive function observed in children with poor experience. Among the four compensation options, monetary and candy rewards were observed to counteract the depleted resources after scarcity depletion. These rewards were further found to facilitate the recovery of the three components of executive function, whereas resting for five minutes and praise rewards were unable to restore the expected original state of executive function.
In conclusion, this study integrates and explains the significant role of limited resource depletion theory on executive function in children living in poverty. Furthermore, the temporary depletion effect of poverty on executive function in poor children can be compensated for by alleviating scarce resources or restoring self-control, which further explains the joint influence of attention and self-control resources in poverty depletion underlying the limited resource depletion framework. This study provides a novel approach to mitigate the adverse effects of poverty on children’s executive function through brief interventions. Thus, by changing the accustomed thinking process, this intervention may effectively enhance poor children’s executive function and alleviate poverty while also fostering intrinsic motivation and breaking the poverty cycle.

Key words: children in poverty, executive function, scarcity, depletion

中图分类号:

B844

蒋莹, 明桦, 张凤, 任屹, 梅刻寒, 黄四林. (2026). 贫困经历对儿童执行功能的影响：有限资源的损耗及其补偿. 心理学报, 58(2), 221-234.

JIANG Ying, MING Hua, ZHANG Feng, REN Yi, MEI Kehan, HUANG Silin. (2026). Poverty experience and children’s executive function: Depletion and compensation of limited resources. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 58(2), 221-234.

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