Abstract
A number of studies have concluded that cognitive control is not fully established until late adolescence. The precise differences in brain function between adults and adolescents with respect to cognitive control, however, remain unclear. To address this issue, we conducted a study in which 185 adolescents (mean age (SD) 14.6 (0.3) years) and 28 adults (mean age (SD) 25.2 (6.3) years) performed a single task that included both a stimulus-response (S-R) interference component and a task-switching component. Behavioural responses (i.e. reaction time, RT; error rate, ER) and brain activity during correct, error and post-error trials, detected by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), were measured. Behaviourally, RT and ER were significantly higher in incongruent than in congruent trials and in switch than in repeat trials. The two groups did not differ in RT during correct trials, but adolescents had a significantly higher ER than adults. In line with similar RTs, brain responses during correct trials did not differ between groups, indicating that adolescents and adults engage the same cognitive control network to successfully overcome S-R interference or task switches. Interestingly, adolescents with stronger brain activation in the bilateral insulae during error trials and in fronto-parietal regions of the cognitive control network during post-error trials did have lower ERs. This indicates that those mid-adolescents who commit fewer errors are better at monitoring their performance, and after detecting errors are more capable of flexibly allocating further cognitive control resources. Although we did not detect a convincing neural correlate of the observed behavioural differences between adolescents and adults, the revealed interindividual differences in adolescents might at least in part be due to brain development.
Highlights
Cognitive control denotes several functions within the cognitive system that are necessary for performing non-routine tasks or coping with challenging situations, e.g. for shifting flexibly between competing tasks
During correct trials RTs did not differ and brain responses were widely comparable for both groups and only less pronounced in the right cerebellum of adolescents compared to adults
We conclude that adolescents with a stronger brain response in these trials are better at monitoring their performance and after detecting errors are more capable of flexibly allocating additional cognitive control resources, and they make fewer errors than their peers
Summary
Cognitive control denotes several functions within the cognitive system that are necessary for performing non-routine tasks or coping with challenging situations, e.g. for shifting flexibly between competing tasks. Amongst others, two phenomena of cognitive control: effects of interference and task-switching effects [4,5]. The conflict-monitoring hypothesis [9] proposes that the socalled ‘‘conflict-monitoring system’’ detects the occurrence of conflicts. This has been confirmed in studies with adults on the behavioural level [10,11] and on the imaging level: Brain areas which are more activated during ‘‘conflict monitoring’’ include the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) [5,12,13,14] and the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) [5,15]. All of the above-mentioned brain areas constitute the so-called ‘‘cognitive control network’’ [21]
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