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Comparative Study
. 2006 Dec;27(12):973-93.
doi: 10.1002/hbm.20237.

Progressive increase of frontostriatal brain activation from childhood to adulthood during event-related tasks of cognitive control

Affiliations
Comparative Study

Progressive increase of frontostriatal brain activation from childhood to adulthood during event-related tasks of cognitive control

Katya Rubia et al. Hum Brain Mapp. 2006 Dec.

Abstract

Higher cognitive inhibitory and attention functions have been shown to develop throughout adolescence, presumably concurrent with anatomical brain maturational changes. The relatively scarce developmental functional imaging literature on cognitive control, however, has been inconsistent with respect to the neurofunctional substrates of this cognitive development, finding either increased or decreased executive prefrontal function in the progression from childhood to adulthood. Such inconsistencies may be due to small subject numbers or confounds from age-related performance differences in block design functional MRI (fMRI). In this study, rapid, randomized, mixed-trial event-related fMRI was used to investigate developmental differences of the neural networks mediating a range of motor and cognitive inhibition functions in a sizeable number of adolescents and adults. Functional brain activation was compared between adolescents and adults during three different executive tasks measuring selective motor response inhibition (Go/no-go task), cognitive interference inhibition (Simon task), and attentional set shifting (Switch task). Adults compared with children showed increased brain activation in task-specific frontostriatal networks, including right orbital and mesial prefrontal cortex and caudate during the Go/no-go task, right mesial and inferior prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe, and putamen during the Switch task and left dorsolateral and inferior frontotemporoparietal regions and putamen during the Simon task. Whole-brain regression analyses with age across all subjects showed progressive age-related changes in similar and extended clusters of task-specific frontostriatal, frontotemporal, and frontoparietal networks. The findings suggest progressive maturation of task-specific frontostriatal and frontocortical networks for cognitive control functions in the transition from childhood to mid-adulthood.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Within‐group brain activation maps for adults (red) and adolescents (green). Brain activation clusters that overlapped between the two groups are indicated in yellow. Shown are suprathreshold brain activation clusters at P < 0.05 at voxel, and P < 0.0025 at cluster levels. The z‐coordinate is indicated in mm‐distance from the anterior–posterior commissure. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]
Figure 2
Figure 2
Go/no‐go task. Shown is increased BOLD fMRI response in adults compared with adolescents in anterior cingulate gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, and caudate nucleus. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]
Figure 3
Figure 3
Simon task. Shown is increased BOLD fMRI response in adults compared with adolescents in (a) left dorsolateral and inferior prefrontal cortices, premotor and inferior parietal cortices, and (b) in anterior cingulate gyrus and right putamen. c: Increased BOLD fMRI response in adolescents compared with adults in right cerebellum and in posterior cingulate gyrus/precuneus. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]
Figure 4
Figure 4
Switch task. a: Increased BOLD fMRI response in adults compared with adolescents in right dorsolateral, inferior prefrontal, and premotor cortices. b: Anterior cingulate gyrus, reaching ventrally into anterior putamen. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]
Figure 5
Figure 5
Linear positive and negative correlations with age are shown on horizontal slices for (a) Go/no‐go task, (b) Simon task, and (c) Switch task. The z‐coordinate is indicated in mm‐distance from the anterior–posterior commissure. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

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