Abstract
Our ability to hold information in mind is limited, requires a high degree of cognitive control, and is necessary for many subsequent cognitive processes. Children, in particular, are highly variable in how, trial-by-trial, they manage to recruit cognitive control in service of memory. Fronto-parietal networks, typically recruited under conditions where this cognitive control is needed, undergo protracted development. We explored, for the first time, whether dynamic changes in fronto-parietal activity could account for children's variability in tests of visual short-term memory (VSTM). We recorded oscillatory brain activity using magnetoencephalography (MEG) as 9- to 12-year-old children and adults performed a VSTM task. We combined temporal independent component analysis (ICA) with general linear modeling to test whether the strength of fronto-parietal activity correlated with VSTM performance on a trial-by-trial basis. In children, but not adults, slow frequency theta (4–7 Hz) activity within a right lateralized fronto-parietal network in anticipation of the memoranda predicted the accuracy with which those memory items were subsequently retrieved. These findings suggest that inconsistent use of anticipatory control mechanism contributes significantly to trial-to-trial variability in VSTM maintenance performance.
Highlights
Many cognitive functions rely on our ability to hold in mind small amounts of information for brief periods of time
Our main experimental question was whether dynamic changes in the state of activity within fronto-parietal areas contribute to trial-to-trial variability of children’s visual short-term memory (VSTM) performance
We demonstrated a significant link between activity in the fronto-parietal network and the marked variability that children display in VSTM performance
Summary
Many cognitive functions rely on our ability to hold in mind small amounts of information for brief periods of time. The capacity of this short-term store is variable across individuals and increases gradually with development (Astle et al 2012; Astle and Scerif 2012; Finn et al 2010; Ciesielski et al 2010; Sander et al 2012). The neural correlates of memory successes and failures have been studied extensively in adults, using the subsequent memory paradigm (e.g., Brewer et al 1998; Wagner et al 1998). This trialto-trial variability is less well studied in children, even though it is a core feature of immature memory performance in childhood. We are interested in the dynamic neural mechanisms that underpin trial-to-trial variability in short-term memory in a
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