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A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance
09:01

A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance

Published on: May 7, 2014

Developmental trajectories of neural mechanisms supporting conflict and error processing in middle childhood

Catharina S van Meel1, Dirk J Heslenfeld, Nanda N Rommelse

  • 1Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands. vanmeel@fsw.eur.nl

Developmental Neuropsychology
|May 23, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Younger children show greater conflict susceptibility, with distinct neural responses to errors compared to adults. This suggests developing cognitive control involves separate timelines for conflict monitoring and error processing.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Cognitive control undergoes significant development throughout childhood and adolescence.
  • Understanding age-related neural mechanisms of cognitive control is crucial for developmental research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate age-related changes in cognitive control using event-related potentials (ERPs).
  • To examine neural responses to conflict monitoring and error processing across different age groups.

Main Methods:

  • Recorded ERPs in children (6-9 years, 10-12 years) and young adults during a Flanker task.
  • Analyzed N2 component for conflict monitoring and error-related negativity (ERN) for error processing.

Main Results:

  • Younger children exhibited higher susceptibility to conflict compared to older children and adults.
  • N2 amplitude was smaller in younger children versus older children and adults.
  • ERN amplitude was larger in adults than in children, with no difference between child groups.

Conclusions:

  • Neural responses to error processing mature later than those for conflict monitoring.
  • Dissociable developmental timelines for subdivisions of the anterior cingulate cortex may underlie these findings.

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