A shift from diffuse to focal cortical activity with development

Abstract

Recent imaging studies have suggested that developmental changes may parallel aspects of adult learning in cortical activation becoming less diffuse and more focal over time. However, while adult learning studies examine changes within subjects, developmental findings have been based on cross-sectional samples and even comparisons across studies. Here, we used functional MRI in children to test directly for shifts in cortical activity during performance of a cognitive control task, in a combined longitudinal and cross-sectional study. Our longitudinal findings, relative to our cross-sectional ones, show attenuated activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortical areas, paralleled by increased focal activation in ventral prefrontal regions related to task performance.

Differential patterns of age‐related cortical and subcortical functional connectivity in 6‐to‐10 year old children: A connectome‐wide association study

“…For example, MeanTS did not have significant associations with age in fronto‐frontal connections, whereas ALPACA's positive associations with age were exclusively found in fronto‐frontal, fronto‐temporal, and fronto‐parietal connections. This is in line with findings of an earlier study that suggested that cortical connections become increasingly focal with age (Durston et al., 2006). This is in contrast with age associations with the posterior cingulate, which were positive in MeanTS but not ALPACA.…”

“…First, we used the correlation of the mean time series for brain regions involved in a given connection to express uniform and homogenous connectivity. However, connectivity in some regions becomes increasingly focal during development (Durston et al., 2006), which we captured with a new measure of connectivity that determines the focal maxima of correlations between ROIs. Each approach measures different aspects of connectivity, which can help parse whether connectivity differences in development involve larger brain regions or tend to be more focal within an ROI.…”

Neural Correlates of Response Inhibition in Early Childhood: Evidence From a Go/No-Go Task

“…Using source localization methods, Jonkman and colleagues found that the neural activity underlying response inhibition in adults was adequately explained by frontal sources, but in children, contributions from additional posterior sources were required. Supporting evidence also comes from studies utilizing brain imaging techniques that have shown that as children develop, the neural networks controlling inhibitory processes shift from a more posterior, distributed pattern to a more frontal, localized one (Bunge et al, 2002; Casey, Thomas, Davidson, Kunz, & Franzen, 2002; Durston et al, 2006). …”

A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking

“…First, studies point to a gradual development of cognitive control mechanisms over the course of adolescence and early adulthood, consistent with the anatomical changes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex described earlier. Imaging studies examining performance on tasks requiring cognitive control (e.g., Stroop, flanker tasks, Go-No/Go, antisaccade) have shown that adolescents tend to recruit the network less efficiently than do adults, and that regions whose activity correlates with task performance (i.e., cognitive control areas) become more focally activated with age (Durston et al, 2006). It has been suggested that this increasingly focal engagement of cognitive control areas reflects a strengthening of connections within the control network, and of its projections to other regions (a claim consistent with data on increased connectivity among cortical areas with development; Liston et al, 2006).…”