Functional Maturation of the Executive System during Adolescence
- Theodore D. Satterthwaite1,
- Daniel H. Wolf1,
- Guray Erus2,
- Kosha Ruparel1,
- Mark A. Elliott2,
- Efstathios D. Gennatas1,
- Ryan Hopson1,
- Chad Jackson1,
- Karthik Prabhakaran1,
- Warren B. Bilker3,
- Monica E. Calkins1,
- James Loughead1,
- Alex Smith2,
- David R. Roalf1,
- Hakon Hakonarson4,
- Ragini Verma2,
- Christos Davatzikos2,
- Ruben C. Gur1,2,5, and
- Raquel E. Gur1,2
- 1Departments of Psychiatry and
- 2Radiology, and
- 3Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104,
- 4Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA 19104, and
- 5Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, Philadelphia PA 19104
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Author contributions: K.R., M.A.E., K.P., M.E.C., J.L., H.H., R.V., C.D., R.G., and R.E.G. designed research; T.D.S., D.H.W., K.R., M.E., R.H., K.P., M.E.C., J.L., H.H., R.C.G., and R.E.G. performed research; T.D.S., G.E., M.A.E., E.D.G., C.J., and A.S. contributed unpublished reagents/analytic tools; T.D.S., D.H.W., G.E., K.R., M.A.E., E.D.G., R.H., C.J., and W.B.B. analyzed data; T.D.S., D.H.W., W.B.B., M.E.C., J.L., D.R.R., H.H., R.V., C.D., R.C.G., and R.E.G. wrote the paper.
Abstract
Adolescence is characterized by rapid development of executive function. Working memory (WM) is a key element of executive function, but it is not known what brain changes during adolescence allow improved WM performance. Using a fractal n-back fMRI paradigm, we investigated brain responses to WM load in 951 human youths aged 8–22 years. Compared with more limited associations with age, WM performance was robustly associated with both executive network activation and deactivation of the default mode network. Multivariate patterns of brain activation predicted task performance with a high degree of accuracy, and also mediated the observed age-related improvements in WM performance. These results delineate a process of functional maturation of the executive system, and suggest that this process allows for the improvement of cognitive capability seen during adolescence.
- Received June 3, 2013.
- Revision received September 1, 2013.
- Accepted September 5, 2013.
- Copyright © 2013 the authors 0270-6474/13/3316249-13$15.00/0
