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. 2016 May;26(5):2178-90.
doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhv050. Epub 2015 Mar 30.

Fronto-Parietal Network Reconfiguration Supports the Development of Reasoning Ability

Carter Wendelken, Emilio Ferrer, Kirstie J Whitaker, Silvia A Bunge

Fronto-Parietal Network Reconfiguration Supports the Development of Reasoning Ability

Carter Wendelken et al. Cereb Cortex. 2016 May.

Abstract

The goal of this fMRI study was to examine how well developmental improvements in reasoning ability can be explained by changes in functional connectivity between specific nodes in prefrontal and parietal cortices. To this end, we examined connectivity within the lateral fronto-parietal network (LFPN) and its relation to reasoning ability in 132 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years, 56 of whom were scanned twice over the course of 1.5 years. Developmental changes in strength of connections within the LFPN were most prominent in late childhood and early adolescence. Reasoning ability was related to functional connectivity between left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL), but only among 12-18-year olds. For 9-11-year olds, reasoning ability was most strongly related to connectivity between left and right RLPFC; this relationship was mediated by working memory. For 6-8-year olds, significant relationships between connectivity and performance were not observed; in this group, processing speed was the primary mediator of improvement in reasoning ability. We conclude that different connections best support reasoning at different points in development and that RLPFC-IPL connectivity becomes an important predictor of reasoning during adolescence.

Keywords: adolescent; child; development; dorsolateral; functional connectivity; inferior parietal lobule; parietal cortex; prefrontal cortex; processing speed; reasoning; rostrolateral; working memory.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The fronto-parietal network of regions commonly associated with reasoning, including approximate locations of left hemisphere ROIs examined in this study. Right hemisphere ROIs were a mirror image of these.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Age-related differences and longitudinal changes in reasoning ability, across the entire sample of participants. Age is on the x-axis, with reasoning ability factor score (RA) on the y-axis. Lines connecting data points indicate within-person longitudinal changes, while shape indicates the longitudinal time point (visit). The dotted line indicates the best-fitting cumulative normal distribution (with μ = 6, σ = 4), and shading shows the standard error of this fit line.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(A) Age-related differences in functional connectivity within the reasoning network. Regions are connected here if they demonstrated a significant pattern of age-related changes (calculated using nonlinear mixed modeling). Thin lines indicate P < 0.05 uncorrected for multiple comparisons, thick lines indicate P < 0.05 Bonferroni-corrected. (B) Scatter plot of the relationship between age left DLPFC-RLPFC connectivity. (C) Scatter plot of the relationship between age and left RLPFC-IPL connectivity.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Graphs depicting the relationship between functional connectivity and reasoning ability (RA) in older children and adolescents. (A) A scatter plot of the positive relation between left RLPFC-IPL connectivity and reasoning ability. (B) A scatter plot of the negative relation between left RLPFC-SPL connectivity and reasoning ability.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Summary of mediation analysis results, for models examining the relationships between age, functional connectivity, processing speed (PS), working memory (WM), and reasoning ability (RA). Dashed lines indicated relationships that do not hold in the presence of PS- and/or WM-mediating variables. (A) In younger children (6–8 years), processing speed mediated the relationship between age and reasoning ability. (B) In middle children (9–11), working memory mediated the relationship between functional connectivity (RLPFC bilateral connectivity) and reasoning ability. (C) In older children and adolescents (12–18 years), neither processing speed nor working memory mediated the relationship between functional connectivity (left RLPFC-IPL connectivity) and reasoning ability.
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