Low-income children do not score as well as higher-income children in tests of “working memory,” the ability to manipulate information in the mind. Researchers say poor rural children had worse visuospatial working memory than verbal working memory, while poor urban children showed equal deficits in both categories. The study involved sixth-grade students. Researchers suggested that the stress of living in poverty could help explain the lower performance. The urban vs rural disparity may be due to language or racial differences, they said.