Electrophysiological and behavioral indices of cognitive conflict processing across adolescence

Abstract

Cognitive control enables goal-oriented adaptation to a fast-changing environment and has a slow developmental trajectory that spans into young adulthood. The specifics of this development are still poorly understood, as are the neurodevelopmental mechanisms that drive it. In a cross-sectional sample of participants 8-19 years old (n = 108), we used blind source separation of EEG data recorded in a Flanker task to derive electrophysiological measures of attention and the processing of cognitive conflict, including a frontal negative component corresponding to the N2 and a parietal positive component corresponding to the P3. Additionally, we examined multiple behavioral measures of interference control derived from the Flanker, Stroop, and Anti-saccade tasks. We found a positive association between age and the amplitude of the parietal positive component, while there was no relationship between age and the amplitude of the frontal negative component. A stronger frontal negative amplitude was, however, ageindependently related to better performance on both Stroop and Anti-saccade measures of interference control. Finally, we examined post-conflict behavioral adjustment on the Flanker task. A Gratton effect was found with slower reaction times on current congruent and better accuracy on current incongruent trials when preceded by incongruent as opposed to congruent trials. The Gratton effect on accuracy was positively associated with age. Together, the findings suggest a multifaceted developmental pattern in neurocognitive mechanisms for conflict processing across adolescence, with a more protracted development of the parietal positive compared to the frontal negative component.

Temporal Dynamics of Event-Related Potentials During Inhibitory Control Characterize Age-Related Neural Compensation

“…These findings are 107 consistent with other studies showing right hemisphere dominant activation underlying 108 the P300 component during inhibitory control [16,53]. P300 is associated with activation 109 of a large network, including right hemisphere dominant precentral gyrus, pre-SMA, 110 inferior frontal gyrus, and caudal anterior cingulate cortex, with purported roles in 111 motoric response inhibition and performance evaluation [7,16,54]. These hemispheric 112 patterns demonstrate the different lateralization of the N200 and P300 components in 113 healthy young adults.…”

Age‐related differences in the error‐related negativity and error positivity in children and adolescents are moderated by sample and methodological characteristics: A meta‐analysis

“…Childhood and adolescence are periods of dramatic developmental changes in body and behavior, including changes in the brain and cognitive functions. A hallmark feature of neurocognitive development during this period is that various cognitive functions develop at different speeds, with the continued development of complex cognitive control subprocesses into young adulthood (Crone & Steinbeis, 2017; Downes et al, 2017; Overbye et al, 2021). These include implicit and explicit subprocesses, such as error processing, that become increasingly efficient during childhood and adolescence (Overbye et al, 2019).…”

Age-related differences in the error-related negativity and error positivity in children and adolescents are moderated by sample and methodological characteristics: A meta-analysis

“…Childhood and adolescence are periods of dramatic developmental changes in body and behavior, including changes in the brain and cognitive functions. A hallmark feature of neurocognitive development during this period is that various cognitive functions develop at different speeds, with continued development of complex cognitive control subprocesses into young adulthood (Crone & Steinbeis, 2017;Downes et al, 2017;Overbye et al, 2021). These include implicit and explicit subprocesses, such as error processing, that become increasingly efficient during childhood and adolescence (Overbye et al, 2019).…”