Working memory gating mechanisms explain developmental change in rule-guided behavior

Abstract

Cognitive control requires choosing contextual information to update into working memory (input gating), maintaining it there (maintenance) stable against distraction, and then choosing which subset of maintained information to use in guiding action (output gating). Recent work has raised the possibility that the development of rule-guided behavior, in the transition from childhood to adolescence, is linked specifically to changes in the gating components of working memory (Amso, Haas, McShane, & Badre, 2014). Given the importance of effective rule-guided behavior for decision making in this developmental transition, we used hierarchical rule tasks to probe the precise developmental dynamics of working memory gating. This mechanistic precision informs ongoing efforts to train cognitive control and working memory operations across typical and atypical development. The results of Experiment 1 verified that the development of rule-guided behavior is uniquely linked to increasing hierarchical complexity but not to increasing maintenance demands across 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order rule tasks. Experiment 2 then investigated whether this developmental trajectory in rule-guided behavior is best explained by change in input gating or output gating. Further, as input versus output gating also tend to correlate with a more proactive versus reactive control strategy in these tasks, we assessed developmental change in the degree to which these two processes were deployed efficiently given the task. Experiment 2 shows that the developmental change observed in Experiment 1 and in Amso et al. (2014) is likely a result of increased efficacy of output gating processes, as well as greater strategic efficiency in that adolescents opt for this costly process less often than children.

The relationship between cognitive enrichment and cognitive control: A systematic investigation of environmental influences on development through socioeconomic status

“…However, we did not observe the expected Age by Block effect on RTs seen in the Response and Feature tasks above [ F (2, 198) = 1.63, p = 0.20, = 0.02] and previously demonstrated in Unger et al. (). Unger et al.…”

“…None of the SES data analyses in this report were in Unger et al. (). Of the N = 141 participants tested, N = 114 contributed data to the Response task, N = 115 contributed full data to the Feature task, and N = 123 contributed data to the Dimension task.…”

“…From a mechanistic perspective, success in cognitive control requires both updating rules into WM (WM updating) and being able to maintain (WM maintenance) these rules in WM in the presence of competing alternatives for action selection (Amso et al., ; Badre & D'Esposito, ; Chatham & Badre, ; Unger, Ackerman, Chatham, Amso, & Badre, ). Both mechanisms become increasingly difficult as rule‐order increases.…”

Abstracting and Aligning Essential Features of Cognitive Development

“…More complex rule representations are inherently more abstract (in that they apply across a wider range of situations) and allow for more flexibility and intentional control, as manifested in specific EF skills that continue to improve into early adulthood. These accounts are supported by research on the development of rule use [e.g., Amso, Haas, McShane & Badre, 2014;Bunge & Zelazo, 2006;Crone, Donohue, Honomichl, Wendelken, & Bunge;Unger, Ackerman, Chatham, Amso, & Badre, 2016;Zelazo, Muller, Frye, & Marcovitch, 2003], which shows clear age-related increases in abstraction, hierarchical complexity, and intentional control, including a progressive shift from more reactive to more proactive control over behavior [e.g., Doebel, Barker, Chevalier, Michaelson, Fisher, & Munakata, 2017]. In addition, there is evidence that the formulation and use of more complex rules that control the application of simpler rules (e.g., if color game, then if red, then it goes here) involves the recruitment of increasingly anterior regions of lateral prefrontal cortex into an increasingly complex, hierarchically arranged network of prefrontal cortex regions, where higher levels in the hierarchy operate on the products of lower levels [e.g., Badre & D'Esposito, 2007;Botvinick, 2008;Christoff & Gabrieli, 2000;Goldberg & Bilder, 1987;Koechlin, Ody, & Kouneiher, 2003;Ranti, Chatham, & Badre, 2015].…”

Learning of hierarchical serial patterns emerges in infancy

“…This evidence comes from studies that are based on work of Badre, D'Esposito, and colleagues (Badre, ; Badre & D'Esposito, ; Badre, Kayser, & D'Esposito, ; Kayser & D'Esposito, ). This work indicates that children have the ability to use hierarchical rule sets to guide response categorizations (Amso, Haas, McShane, & Badre, ; Unger, Ackerman, Chatham, Amso, & Badre, ; Werchan et al, ). One of these studies is particularly relevant in the current context because Werchan et al () investigated whether 8‐month‐old infants can learn hierarchical rule sets.…”