Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 14, 2026

Author Spotlight: A Lightweight Drive Implant for Chronic Tetrode Recordings in Juvenile Mice
Published on: June 2, 2023
Longitudinal measures of monkey brain structure and activity through adolescence predict cognitive maturation
Junda Zhu1, Clément M Garin2,3, Xue-Lian Qi4
1Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
None:
In humans and other primates, adolescence is associated with improvement in cognitive abilities and with changes in brain structure and connectivity. However, how these changes affect neural activity underlying cognitive performance remains unknown. Here we conducted a multilevel, longitudinal study of monkey adolescent neurocognitive development by tracking behavior, neuronal activity and anatomical imaging measures. The trajectory of prefrontal neural activity accounted well for working memory improvements. Complex aspects of activity changed progressively during adolescence, but even simpler attributes, such as baseline rate and variability, had predictive power over behavior. Trajectories of neural activity and cognitive performance were well predicted by maturation of long-distance white matter tracts linking the frontal lobe with other brain areas but, surprisingly, not by decreases in brain volume and thickness, which underlie cognitive changes in humans. Our results link white matter maturation to neural activity changes in adolescent cognitive development.
More Related Videos
09:01A 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
07:25Simultaneous Monitoring of Wireless Electrophysiology and Memory Behavioral Test as a Tool to Study Hippocampal Neurogenesis
Published on: August 20, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Development During Adolescence
Longitudinal Research
Cognitive Development During Adulthood
Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition
Longitudinal Studies
Biological Influences on Intelligence