Adolescent maturation of the relationship between cortical gyrification and cognitive ability

Abstract

There are changes to the degree of cortical folding from gestation through adolescence into young adulthood. Recent evidence suggests that degree of cortical folding is linked to individual differences in general cognitive ability in healthy adults. However, it is not yet known whether age-related cortical folding changes are related to maturation of specific cognitive abilities in adolescence. To address this, we examined the relationship between frontoparietal cortical folding as measured by a Freesurfer-derived local gyrification index (lGI) and performance on subtests from the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence and scores from Conner’s Continuous Performance Test-II in 241 healthy adolescents (ages 12–25 years). We hypothesized that age-related lGI changes in the frontoparietal cortex would contribute to cognitive development. A secondary goal was to explore if any gyrification-cognition relationships were either test-specific or sex-specific. Consistent with previous studies, our results showed a reduction of frontoparietal local gyrification with age. Also, as predicted, all cognitive test scores (i.e., Vocabulary, Matrix Reasoning, the CPT-II Commission, Omission, Variabiltiy, d’) showed age × cognitive ability interaction effects in frontoparietal and temporoparietal brain regions. Mediation analyses confirmed a causal role of age-related cortical folding changes only for CPT-II Commission errors. Taken together, the results support the functional significance of cortical folding, as well as provide the first evidence that cortical folding maturational changes play a role in cognitive development.

New insights into the dynamic development of the cerebral cortex in childhood and adolescence: Integrating macro- and microstructural MRI findings

“…Partly inconsistent with this spatial pattern, Mutlu et al (2013) analyzed209 scans from 137 individuals between the age of 6 to 30 years and observed linear decreases in local gyrification index across the majority of the cortical surface, but no change in medial and inferior prefrontal, occipital and some lateral temporal cortices. Cross-sectional studies indirectly support the conclusion that cortical folding decreases across adolescence and with a somewhat slower pace in adult age, but also here, different spatial patterns are reported (Cao et al, 2017;Chung et al, 2017;Klein et al, 2014).…”

“…The effects are largely consistent with normative scaling laws, with larger brains having disproportionately higher gyrification index due to a relative expansion of total versus hull area (Fish et al, 2016). There are also findings linking age-related decreases in local gyrification to cognitive development (Chung et al, 2017), but longitudinal studies on this are lacking.…”

“…In general, cortical morphology show rapid changes early in life (Gilmore et al, 2018), followed by protracted changes throughout childhood and adolescence (Tamnes et al, 2017;Vidal-Pineiro et al, 2020;Vijayakumar et al, 2016), and has been related to sociodemographic variables, behavior, and cognition in healthy and clinical populations (e.g. (Alnaes et al, 2020;Chung et al, 2017;Ehrlich et al, 2012;Farah, 2017;Hooker et al, 2011;Schnack et al, 2015). Recently, a growing number of neuroimaging studies collecting or combining data in a large number of individuals (e.g.…”

Readiness for Medical School: a Radical Proposal

“…Areas responsible for sensory and motor functions mature first while areas of association cortex in the temporal, parietal, and frontal lobes have a more prolonged period of maturation [9,10]. Notably, the prefrontal cortex is a region with the most protracted period of growth and maturation expressing significant developmental modifications in volume [11], connectivity [12,13], gyrification [14], and myelination [15] into the mid 20s. Coincident with this structural maturation of the prefrontal cortex is the maturation and emergence of higher-order cognitive processes, executive functions, and social emotional maturation that are thought to be mediated by the circuitry of this area [12,14].…”

“…Notably, the prefrontal cortex is a region with the most protracted period of growth and maturation expressing significant developmental modifications in volume [11], connectivity [12,13], gyrification [14], and myelination [15] into the mid 20s. Coincident with this structural maturation of the prefrontal cortex is the maturation and emergence of higher-order cognitive processes, executive functions, and social emotional maturation that are thought to be mediated by the circuitry of this area [12,14]. The maturation of these behaviors provides the necessary substrate for the emergence of characteristics of personality and character development that are needed for the professional behaviors required of health care students and professionals.…”