Beyond What Develops When

Developmental and age differences in visuomotor adaptation across the lifespan

In the present cross-sectional study, we examined age and sex differences in sensorimotor adaptation. We tested 253 individuals at a local science museum (NEMO Science Museum, Amsterdam). Participants spanned a wide age range (8-70 years old; 54% male), allowing us to examine effects of both development and healthy aging within a single study. Participants performed a visuomotor adaptation task in which they had to adapt manual joystick movements to rotated visual feedback. We assessed the rate of adaptation following the introduction of the visual perturbation (both for early and later stages of adaptation), and the rate of de-adaptation following its removal. Results showed reliable adaptation patterns which did not differ by sex. We observed a quadratic relationship between age and both early adaptation and de-adaptation rates, with younger and older adults exhibiting the fasted adaptation rates. Our findings suggest that both younger and older age are associated with poorer strategic, cognitive processes involved in adaptation. We propose that developmental and age differences in cognitive functions and brain properties may underlie these effects on sensorimotor functioning.

Cross-Lagged Associations between Physical Activity, Motor Performance, and Academic Skills in Primary School Children

PURPOSE

Few longitudinal studies have investigated the interwoven longitudinal dynamics between physical activity (PA), motor performance, and academic skills in middle childhood. Therefore, we investigated the cross-lagged associations between PA, motor performance, and academic skills from grade 1 to grade 3 in Finnish primary school children.

METHODS

A total of 189 children 6-9 yr old at baseline comprised the study sample. Total PA was assessed using a questionnaire filled out by parents, moderate-to-vigorous PA by combined heart rate and body movement monitor, motor performance by 10 × 5-m shuttle run test, and academic skills by arithmetic fluency and reading comprehension tests in grade 1 and grade 3. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling adjusted for gender, parental education, and household income.

RESULTS

The final model fitted the data very well ( χ237 = 68.516, P = 0.0012, root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.067, comparative fit index = 0.95, Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.89) and explained 91% of variance in the latent academic skills variable, 41% of the variance in the latent PA variable, and 32% of variance in motor performance in grade 3. Better motor performance in grade 1 was associated with higher academic skills in grade 3, but it did not predict PA. PA was not directly or indirectly associated with academic skills. However, higher levels of PA in grade 1 predicted better motor performance in grade 3. Academic skills did not predict PA or motor performance.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that better motor performance, but not PA, predicts later academic skills. Academic skills in grade 1 do not contribute to PA or motor performance in the early school years.

Physical Activity, Fitness, and Executive Functions in Youth: Effects, Moderators, and Mechanisms

Over the last decade, a growing body of research has examined the link between physical activity, fitness, and cognitive function in children and adolescents. Physical activity experimental research conducted with children and adolescents has identified selectively greater effects for tasks requiring higher order executive functions. As such, the primary aim of our chapter is to provide an overview of findings from systematic reviews and meta-analyses that have examined the effects of physical activity on measures of executive function in child and adolescent populations. We begin our chapter with definitions of key concepts associated with physical activity, fitness and cognitive function. We then provide a synthesis of systematic reviews and meta-analyses that have examined the acute and chronic effect of physical activity on EFs. Following this, we discuss the quantitative (e.g., time, intensity) and qualitative (e.g., type) characteristics of physical activity that may moderate effects. The next section focuses on the neurobiological, psychosocial and behavioral mechanisms responsible for the effect of physical activity on executive functions. We conclude by highlighting the limitations of the existing evidence base and providing recommendations for future research.

Developing, mature, and unique functions of the child's brain in reading and mathematics

Cognitive development research shows that children use basic "child-unique" strategies for reading and mathematics. This suggests that children's neural processes will differ qualitatively from those of adults during this developmental period. The goals of the current study were to 1) establish whether a within-subjects neural dissociation between reading and mathematics exists in early childhood as it does in adulthood, and 2) use a novel, developmental intersubject correlation method to test for "child-unique", developing, and adult-like patterns of neural activation within those networks. Across multiple tasks, children's reading and mathematics activity converged in prefrontal cortex, but dissociated in temporal and parietal cortices, showing similarities to the adult pattern of dissociation. "Child-unique" patterns of neural activity were observed in multiple regions, including the anterior temporal lobe and inferior frontal gyri, and showed "child-unique" profiles of functional connectivity to prefrontal cortex. This provides a new demonstration that "children are not just little adults" - the developing brain is not only quantitatively different from adults, it is also qualitatively different.

Students Choosing Courses: Real-Life Academic Decision Making

We examined how high school and college students make an important real-life decision: choosing the courses they will take in the upcoming academic year. Current high school and college students completed an online survey. Participants listed their course choices and the criteria they used to make their decisions (e.g., time a course meets, subject matter of a course) and also responded to a modified version of the Reactions to Decision instrument (Galotti, Tandler, & Weiner, 2014), which measured their affective reactions to the decision-making process. College students tended to list more options and criteria when describing their decisions than did high school students. High school students rated the future importance of their decisions higher and their independence in the decision-making process lower than did college students. College students reported using information specific to courses, such as instructor, time a class is scheduled, and the requirements a course met, as criteria when using courses more than did high school students. High school and college students who listed more criteria tended to be less certain and comfortable with the decision-making process than their peers. We discuss the context of this decision for each group of students.

Impact of Acute Physical Activity on Children's Divergent and Convergent Thinking: The Mediating Role of a Low Body Mass Index

While prior studies have examined the positive influence of physical activity (PA) programs on children's creative potential, they have not explored the mediating roles of psychological and physiological variables. In this study, we investigated the impact of a single dance session as a form of PA on two indicators of creative potential-divergent and convergent thinking, each of which adopts a different cognitive pathway. We also investigated the influence of a physiological condition, low body mass index (BMI), on the relation between PA and creative potential. This was a randomized controlled experiment involving 34 school children randomly assigned to either the dance intervention or a sedentary group based on their BMI profile. We measured the children's divergent and convergent thinking at pre- and post-intervention time points. Following this single PA session, we found a significant difference between divergent and convergent thinking abilities in treatment group participants with normal BMI levels and participants in the control group, but there was no difference between low BMI level treatment group participants and those in the control group. This study supported hypothesized boundary conditions for executive function improvements from PA and suggests a need for a holistic approach (involving both proper nourishment and PA) in order to facilitate improved creativity in children.

Asynchronous Development of Cerebellar, Cerebello-Cortical, and Cortico-Cortical Functional Networks in Infancy, Childhood, and Adulthood

Evidence from clinical studies shows that early cerebellar injury can cause abnormal development of the cerebral cortex in children. Characterization of normative development of the cerebellar and cerebello-cortical organization in early life is of great clinical importance. Here, we analyzed cerebellar, cerebello-cortical, and cortico-cortical functional networks using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of healthy infants (6 months, n = 21), children (4-10 years, n = 68), and adults (23-38 years, n = 25). We employed independent component analysis and identified 7 cerebellar functional networks in infants and 12 in children and adults. We revealed that the cerebellum was functionally connected with the sensorimotor cortex in infants but with the sensorimotor, executive control, and default mode systems of the cortex in children and adults. The functional connectivity strength in the cerebello-cortical functional networks of sensorimotor, executive control, and default mode systems was the strongest in middle childhood, but was weaker in adulthood. In contrast, the functional coherence of the cortico-cortical networks was stronger in adulthood. These findings suggest early synchronization of the cerebello-cortical networks in infancy, particularly in the early developing primary sensorimotor system. Conversely, age-related differences of cerebellar, cerebello-cortical, and cortico-cortical functional networks in childhood and adulthood suggest potential asynchrony of the cerebellar and cortical functional maturation.

Mapping the Consequences of Impaired Synaptic Plasticity in Schizophrenia through Development: An Integrative Model for Diverse Clinical Features

Schizophrenia is associated with alterations in sensory, motor, and cognitive functions that emerge before psychosis onset; identifying pathogenic processes that can account for this multi-faceted phenotype remains a challenge. Accumulating evidence suggests that synaptic plasticity is impaired in schizophrenia. Given the role of synaptic plasticity in learning, memory, and neural circuit maturation, impaired plasticity may underlie many features of the schizophrenia syndrome. Here, we summarize the neurobiology of synaptic plasticity, review evidence that plasticity is impaired in schizophrenia, and explore a framework in which impaired synaptic plasticity interacts with brain maturation to yield the emergence of sensory, motor, cognitive, and psychotic features at different times during development in schizophrenia. Key gaps in the literature and future directions for testing this framework are discussed.

Does One Year of Schooling Improve Children's Cognitive Control and Alter Associated Brain Activation?

The "5-to-7-year shift" refers to the remarkable improvements observed in children's cognitive abilities during this age range, particularly in their ability to exert control over their attention and behavior-that is, their executive functioning. As this shift coincides with school entry, the extent to which it is driven by brain maturation or by exposure to formal schooling is unclear. In this longitudinal study, we followed 5-year-olds born close to the official cutoff date for entry into first grade and compared those who subsequently entered first grade that year with those who remained in kindergarten, which is more play oriented. The first graders made larger improvements in accuracy on an executive-function test over the year than did the kindergartners. In an independent functional MRI task, we found that the first graders, compared with the kindergartners, exhibited a greater increase in activation of right posterior parietal cortex, a region previously implicated in sustained attention; increased activation in this region was correlated with the improvement in accuracy. These results reveal how the environmental context of formal schooling shapes brain mechanisms underlying improved focus on cognitively demanding tasks.

An exploration of the role of executive functions in preschoolers' phonological development

There is limited yet compelling evidence that domain-general processes may contribute to speech sound change. This study explored whether executive functions contribute to the achievement of adult-like speech production. Children who are 4 to 5 years old, 42 with high-average speech production skills, 11 with low-average and nine with speech sound disorder (SSD), participated in a battery of executive function and speech production tasks. Performance accuracy was compared across groups and also correlated with speech sound accuracy from a single-word naming task. Children with SSD demonstrated poorer performance than other groups on forward digit span, whereas children with low-average speech skills underperformed their peers on the Flexible Item Selection Task (FIST). These preliminary results suggest that children with speech errors may have less mature working memory than peers who have mastered phonological targets earlier in development.

Network-Level Connectivity Dynamics of Movie Watching in 6-Year-Old Children

Better understanding of the developing brain’s functional mechanisms is critical for improving diagnosis and treatment of different developmental disorders. Particularly, characterizing how the developing brain dynamically reorganizes during different cognitive states may offer novel insight into the neuronal mechanisms of cognitive deficits. Imaging the brain during naturalistic conditions, like movie watching, provides a highly practical way to study young children’s developing functional brain systems. In this study we compared the network-level functional organization of 6-year-old children while they were at rest with their functional connectivity as they watched short video clips. We employed both a data-driven independent component analysis (ICA) approach and a hypothesis-driven seed-based analysis to identify changes in network-level functional interactions during the shift from resting to video watching. Our ICA results showed that naturally watching a movie elicits significant changes in the functional connectivity between the visual system and the dorsal attention network when compared to rest (t₍₃₂₎ = 5.02, p = 0.0001). More interestingly, children showed an immature, but qualitatively adult-like, pattern of reorganization among three of the brain’s higher-order networks (frontal control, default-mode and dorsal attention). For both ICA and seed-based approaches, we observed a decrease in the frontal network’s correlation with the dorsal attention network (ICA: t₍₃₂₎ = −2.46, p = 0.02; Seed-based: t₍₃₂₎ = −1.62, p =0.12) and an increase in its connectivity with the default mode network (ICA: t₍₃₂₎ = 2.84, p = 0.008; Seed-based: t₍₃₂₎ = 2.28, p =0.03), which is highly consistent with the pattern observed in adults. These results offer improved understanding of the developing brain’s dynamic network-level interaction patterns during the transition between different brain states and call for further studies to examine potential alterations to such dynamic patterns in different developmental disorders.

The development and malleability of executive control abilities

Executive control (EC) generally refers to the regulation of mental activity. It plays a crucial role in complex cognition, and EC skills predict high-level abilities including language processing, memory, and problem solving, as well as practically relevant outcomes such as scholastic achievement. EC develops relatively late in ontogeny, and many sub-groups of developmental populations demonstrate an exaggeratedly poor ability to control cognition even alongside the normal protracted growth of EC skills. Given the value of EC to human performance, researchers have sought means to improve it through targeted training; indeed, accumulating evidence suggests that regulatory processes are malleable through experience and practice. Nonetheless, there is a need to understand both whether specific populations might particularly benefit from training, and what cortical mechanisms engage during performance of the tasks used in the training protocols. This contribution has two parts: in Part I, we review EC development and intervention work in select populations. Although promising, the mixed results in this early field make it difficult to draw strong conclusions. To guide future studies, in Part II, we discuss training studies that have included a neuroimaging component – a relatively new enterprise that also has not yet yielded a consistent pattern of results post-training, preventing broad conclusions. We therefore suggest that recent developments in neuroimaging (e.g., multivariate and connectivity approaches) may be useful to advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the malleability of EC and brain plasticity. In conjunction with behavioral data, these methods may further inform our understanding of the brain–behavior relationship and the extent to which EC is dynamic and malleable, guiding the development of future, targeted interventions to promote executive functioning in both healthy and atypical populations.

Functional networks in parallel with cortical development associate with executive functions in children

Children begin performing similarly to adults on tasks requiring executive functions in late childhood, a transition that is probably due to neuroanatomical fine-tuning processes, including myelination and synaptic pruning. In parallel to such structural changes in neuroanatomical organization, development of functional organization may also be associated with cognitive behaviors in children. We examined 6- to 10-year-old children's cortical thickness, functional organization, and cognitive performance. We used structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify areas with cortical thinning, resting-state fMRI to identify functional organization in parallel to cortical development, and working memory/response inhibition tasks to assess executive functioning. We found that neuroanatomical changes in the form of cortical thinning spread over bilateral frontal, parietal, and occipital regions. These regions were engaged in 3 functional networks: sensorimotor and auditory, executive control, and default mode network. Furthermore, we found that working memory and response inhibition only associated with regional functional connectivity, but not topological organization (i.e., local and global efficiency of information transfer) of these functional networks. Interestingly, functional connections associated with "bottom-up" as opposed to "top-down" processing were more clearly related to children's performance on working memory and response inhibition, implying an important role for brain systems involved in late childhood.

Biological contributions to addictions in adolescents and adults: prevention, treatment, and policy implications

PURPOSE

Despite significant advances in our understanding of the biological bases of addictions, these disorders continue to represent a huge public health burden that is associated with substantial personal suffering. Efforts to target addictions require consideration of how the improved biological understanding of addictions may lead to improved prevention, treatment, and policy initiatives.

METHOD

In this article, we provide a narrative review of current biological models for addictions with a goal of placing existing data and theories within a translational and developmental framework targeting the advancement of prevention, treatment, and policy strategies.

RESULTS

Data regarding individual differences, intermediary phenotypes, and main and interactive influences of genetic and environmental contributions in the setting of developmental trajectories that may be influenced by addictive drugs or behavior indicate complex underpinnings of addictions.

CONCLUSIONS

Consideration and further elucidation of the biological etiologies of addictions hold significant potential for making important gains and reducing the public health impact of addictions.

Neural changes underlying the development of episodic memory during middle childhood

Episodic memory is central to the human experience. In typically developing children, episodic memory improves rapidly during middle childhood. While the developmental cognitive neuroscience of episodic memory remains largely uncharted, recent research has begun to provide important insights. It has long been assumed that hippocampus-dependent binding mechanisms are in place by early childhood, and that improvements in episodic memory observed during middle childhood result from the protracted development of the prefrontal cortex. We revisit the notion that binding mechanisms are age-invariant, and propose that changes in the hippocampus and its projections to cortical regions also contribute to the development of episodic memory. We further review the role of developmental changes in lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices in this development. Finally, we discuss changes in white matter tracts connecting brain regions that are critical for episodic memory. Overall, we argue that changes in episodic memory emerge from the concerted effort of a network of relevant brain structures.

Developmental changes in organization of structural brain networks

Recent findings from developmental neuroimaging studies suggest that the enhancement of cognitive processes during development may be the result of a fine-tuning of the structural and functional organization of brain with maturation. However, the details regarding the developmental trajectory of large-scale structural brain networks are not yet understood. Here, we used graph theory to examine developmental changes in the organization of structural brain networks in 203 normally growing children and adolescents. Structural brain networks were constructed using interregional correlations in cortical thickness for 4 age groups (early childhood: 4.8-8.4 year; late childhood: 8.5-11.3 year; early adolescence: 11.4-14.7 year; late adolescence: 14.8-18.3 year). Late childhood showed prominent changes in topological properties, specifically a significant reduction in local efficiency, modularity, and increased global efficiency, suggesting a shift of topological organization toward a more random configuration. An increase in number and span of distribution of connector hubs was found in this age group. Finally, inter-regional connectivity analysis and graph-theoretic measures indicated early maturation of primary sensorimotor regions and protracted development of higher order association and paralimbic regions. Our finding reveals a time window of plasticity occurring during late childhood which may accommodate crucial changes during puberty and the new developmental tasks that an adolescent faces.

Electrophysiological indices of emotion processing during retrieval of autobiographical memories by school-age children

We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine emotion processing during retrieval of emotional autobiographical memories by school-age children. We initiated processing of the emotional experiences using neutral cue words. On one-third of trials, children were instructed to think of a memory of a negative event, and on another third of trials, they were instructed to think of a memory of a positive event. We then recorded ERPs from 32 electrode sites as the children processed the emotional memories again later in the testing session. The 7- to 10-year-old children generated memories appropriate to the valences specified in the instructions. Neural responses differed as a function of the emotional valence of the events associated with the cues and as a function of gender. In the sample as a whole, differential processing of positive relative to negative and neutral emotions was apparent at posterior electrode sites 1,000-1,500 ms after stimulus onset. For girls, the effect was apparent beginning at 500 ms. No differences between the neural responses to negative and neutral stimuli were observed. At frontal electrode sites, girls evidenced faster processing of positive than of negative emotion, whereas boys evidenced faster processing of negative than of positive emotion. In conclusion, we discuss the possible origins of gender-differential patterns of neural processing.

Age-related changes in executive function: A normative study with the Dutch version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)

This study examined age-related change in executive function by using a Dutch translation of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF; Gioia et al., 2000) that was applied to a normative sample (age range 5-18 years). In addition, we examined the reliability and factorial structures of the Dutch BRIEF. Results with respect to age revealed a decrease in reported executive function problems with increasing age. On the Behavior Regulation Index (BRI), 5- to 8-year-olds showed significantly more executive function problems than 9- to 11-year-olds, as did the 12- to 14-year-olds compared to 15- to 18-year-olds (except on the Shift subscale). On the Metacognition Index, we found that 9- to 11-year-olds differed significantly from 5- to 8-year-olds on the Working Memory subscale. In addition, the current study showed that the internal consistency of the Dutch BRIEF is very high, and that this version of the BRIEF has a high test-retest stability. Item factor analysis confirmed the expected eight common factor model, and factor analysis of the eight test scores confirmed the two-factor model, as proposed by Gioia et al., in the Dutch data.

Normative data for composite scores for children and adults derived from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test

Norms on seven composite scores derived from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) are reported here. These scores reflect a variety of verbal memory processes: learning, interference, retention over time, and retrieval efficiency. The norms are based on 943 children ranging in age from 8 to 17 years, divided into 10 age cohorts, and 528 adults, ranging in age from 21 to 91 years, divided into 6 age cohorts. Overall, the learning measures were the most sensitive to age. The most significant changes in memory as measured with these composite scores took place in the very young and very old age groups. These changes may be attributable to frontal lobe maturation in youth and deterioration in old age. Female participants show superiority over male participants on various verbal memory measures. These norms on the composite scores are primarily expected to serve the clinician in the process of memory assessment by supplementing the existing norms on individual trials of the Rey AVLT.

Executive Functions after Age 5: Changes and Correlates

Research and theorizing on executive function (EF) in childhood has been disproportionately focused on preschool age children. This review paper outlines the importance of examining EF throughout childhood, and even across the lifespan. First, examining EF in older children can address the question of whether EF is a unitary construct. The relations among the EF components, particularly as they are recruited for complex tasks, appear to change over the course of development. Second, much of the development of EF, especially working memory, shifting, and planning, occurs after age 5. Third, important applications of EF research concern the role of school-age children's EF in various aspects of school performance, as well as social functioning and emotional control. Future research needs to examine a more complete developmental span, from early childhood through late adulthood, in order to address developmental issues adequately.

Exercise and Children's Intelligence, Cognition, and Academic Achievement

Studies that examine the effects of exercise on children's intelligence, cognition, or academic achievement were reviewed and results were discussed in light of (a) contemporary cognitive theory development directed toward exercise, (b) recent research demonstrating the salutary effects of exercise on adults' cognitive functioning, and (c) studies conducted with animals that have linked physical activity to changes in neurological development and behavior. Similar to adults, exercise facilitates children's executive function (i.e., processes required to select, organize, and properly initiate goal-directed actions). Exercise may prove to be a simple, yet important, method of enhancing those aspects of children's mental functioning central to cognitive development.

The prefrontal cortex: functional neural development during early childhood

The prefrontal cortex plays an essential role in various cognitive functions, such as planning and reasoning, yet little is known about how such neural mechanisms develop during childhood, particularly in young children. To better understand this issue, the present article reviews the literature on the development of the prefrontal cortex during early childhood, focusing mainly on the changes in structural architecture, neural activity, and cognitive abilities. Neuroanatomically, the prefrontal cortex undergoes considerable maturation during childhood, including a reduction of synaptic and neuronal density, a growth of dendrites, and an increase in white matter volume, thereby forming distributed neural networks appropriate for complex cognitive processing. Concurrently, behavioral performance of various cognitive tasks improves with age, and intercorrelations among performance on each task become weak through development. Furthermore, the correlation between subcategories of intelligence test decreases as general intellectual efficiency increases. In addition, recent neuroimaging findings suggest that the prefrontal cortex is already functional in 4-year olds and becomes organized into focal, fine-tuned systems through later development. The literature reviewed suggests that fractionation of the functional neural systems plays a key role in the development of prefrontal cortex and such fractionating process has already commenced in preschool children.

Age-group differences in set-switching and set-maintenance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task

This study examined developmental change in set-switching and set-maintenance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST), and sought to determine how executive function (EF) components (i.e., Working Memory, Shifting and Inhibition) may contribute to the observed changes on WCST performance. To this end, performance in four age groups (7-year-olds, 11-year-olds, 15-year-olds, and 21-year-olds) was measured on the WCST, and on three EF tasks assumed to tap Working Memory, Shifting, and Inhibition. The results showed that adult levels of performance were reached in 11-year-olds for set-switching, and in 15-year-olds for set-maintenance. A subsequent principal component analysis revealed that set-switching and set-maintenance loaded on two factors for 7-year-olds, but a single factor in the other age groups. Finally, regression analyses yielded a complex pattern of results concerning the prediction of set-switching and set-maintenance by the performance on tasks used to assess the EF components. The results were interpreted to suggest distinct developmental trends in set-switching and set-maintenance abilities required by the WCST.