Inasmuch as the instruments used in the present report measure mostly primary abilities (31) such as activity,attention and motor behavior, the data gathered in our two previous studies (1,12),taken together with the results herein described, seem to provide further support for the hypothesis that the limited extent of formal academic instruction in Brazilian metropolitan public schools may lead to specific underdevelopment of secondary abilities (31) or scientific concepts (32), as proposed by Brito and colleagues (1) and consistent with recent ideas formulated by Michel (33) and Gottlieb (34). Therefore, we hypothesize that neurobehavioral antidotes along the lines advanced by Hunt (35) almost half a century ago might eliminate at least some of the neuropsychological effects of cultural deprivation found in Brazilian metropolitan public school children (1).