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. 2002 Jan 17;33(2):301-11.
doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00583-9.

Immature frontal lobe contributions to cognitive control in children: evidence from fMRI

Silvia A Bunge  1 , Nicole M Dudukovic, Moriah E Thomason, Chandan J Vaidya, John D E Gabrieli
Affiliations

Immature frontal lobe contributions to cognitive control in children: evidence from fMRI

Silvia A Bunge et al. Neuron. .

Abstract

Event-related fMRI was employed to characterize differences in brain activation between children ages 8-12 and adults related to two forms of cognitive control: interference suppression and response inhibition. Children were more susceptible to interference and less able to inhibit inappropriate responses than were adults. Effective interference suppression in children was associated with prefrontal activation in the opposite hemisphere relative to adults. In contrast, effective response inhibition in children was associated with activation of posterior, but not prefrontal, regions activated by adults. Children failed to activate a region in right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex that was recruited for both types of cognitive control by adults. Thus, children exhibited immature prefrontal activation that varied according to the type of cognitive control required.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Trial Types Performed in the Scanner
On each trial, subjects viewed an array of stimuli on the screen and responded by pressing the left button when the central arrow pointed to the left and by pressing the right button when it pointed to the right. On neutral trials, the flankers were not associated with a response. On congruent trials, they were associated with the same response as the target. On incongruent trials, they were associated with the opposite response from the target. Subjects were to refrain from pressing a button on no-go trials, when the flankers were ×’s.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Activation Related to Interference Suppression in Children and Adults
(A) Group contrast and (B) regions exhibiting a positive correlation between activation and success of interference suppression.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Brain-Behavior Correlations for Interference Suppression
(A) Regions identified in regression analyses for adults or children, and (B) magnitude of activation (as measured by the fitted amplitude of response) plotted against interference susceptibility (in ms) across individuals.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Activation Related to Response Inhibition in Children and Adults
(A) Group contrast and (B) regions exhibiting a positive correlation between activation and success of response inhibition.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Common Areas for Cognitive Control in Prefrontal Cortex
(A) Region in inferior frontal gyrus activated by both interference suppression and response inhibition in adults. (B) Magnitude of activation in this region across adults and children.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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