Working memory performance in typically developing children and adolescents: Behavioral evidence of protracted frontal lobe development
Working memory performance in typically developing children and adolescents: Behavioral evidence of protracted frontal lobe development
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DOI：
10.1207/s15326942dn3101_6
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发表时间：
2007-01-01
影响因子：
1.5
通讯作者：
Yarger, Rebecca S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Conklin, Heather M.;Luciana, Monica;Yarger, Rebecca S.
死后组织学和体内神经影像学研究结果都表明额叶发育会持续到青少年时期之后。很少有研究探讨这种长期的神经发育是否与青少年在假定的额叶任务上的表现提高相一致。额叶所支持的一项重要功能是工作记忆，即在线维持和操作信息的能力。本研究调查了正常发育的儿童和青少年在一系列工作记忆任务上的表现。研究结果显示，在青少年时期，大多数工作记忆任务的表现都有所提高。相比之下，在主要由更靠后的神经基质支持的任务上没有观察到表现的提高。目前的研究结果表明，言语工作记忆的执行方面与先前在空间工作记忆中所展示的情况有相似的发展过程。因子分析显示，工作记忆任务主要根据任务要求进行分组，而与工作记忆领域无关，这为前额叶组织的特定过程模型提供了支持。文中还讨论了对正常和异常额叶发育的重要影响。
Post-mortem histological and in vivo neuroiniaging findings both reveal frontal lobe development that extends beyond the adolescent years. Few studies have examined whether this protracted neurodevelopment coincides with improvements in adolescent performance on putative frontal lobe tasks. An instrumental function supported by the frontal lobes is working memory, the ability to maintain and manipulate information "online." This study investigated the performance of typically developing children and adolescents on a battery of working memory tasks. Findings revealed an improvement in performance on most working memory tasks across the adolescent years. In contrast, no improvement was observed on tasks largely supported by more posterior neural substrates. Current findings indicate a similar unfolding of the executive aspects of verbal working memory as previously demonstrated with spatial working memory. Factor analysis revealed a grouping of working memory tasks based largely on task demands, irrespective of working memory domain, adding support for process-specific models of prefrontal organization. Important implications for typical and atypical frontal lobe development are discussed.