RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Strengthening of Top-Down Frontal Cognitive Control Networks Underlying the Development of Inhibitory Control: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Effective Connectivity Study
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 15535
OP 15545
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2825-10.2010
VO 30
IS 46
A1 Kai Hwang
A1 Katerina Velanova
A1 Beatriz Luna
YR 2010
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/46/15535.abstract
AB The ability to voluntarily inhibit responses to task-irrelevant stimuli, which is a fundamental component of cognitive control, has a protracted development through adolescence. Previous human developmental imaging studies have found immaturities in localized brain activity in children and adolescents. However, little is known about how these regions integrate with age to form the distributed networks known to support cognitive control. In the present study, we used Granger causality analysis to characterize developmental changes in effective connectivity underlying inhibitory control (antisaccade task) compared with reflexive responses (prosaccade task) in human participants. By childhood, few top-down connectivities were evident with increased parietal interconnectivity. By adolescence, connections from prefrontal cortex increased and parietal interconnectivity decreased. From adolescence to adulthood, there was evidence of increased number and strength of frontal connections to cortical regions as well as subcortical regions. Together, results suggest that developmental improvements in inhibitory control may be supported by age-related enhancements in top-down effective connectivity between frontal, oculomotor, and subcortical regions.