Longitudinal development of prefrontal function during early childhood

ABSTRACTThis is a longitudinal study on development of prefrontal function in young children. Prefrontal areas have been observed to develop dramatically during early childhood. To elucidate this development, we gave children cognitive shifting tasks related to prefrontal function at 3 years of age (Time 1) and 4 years of age (Time 2). We then monitored developmental changes in behavioral performance and examined prefrontal activation using near infrared spectroscopy. We found that children showed better behavioral performance and significantly stronger inferior prefrontal activation at Time 2 than they did at Time 1. Moreover, we demonstrated individual differences in prefrontal activation for the same behavioral tasks. Children who performed better in tasks at Time 1 showed significant activation of the right inferior prefrontal regions at Time 1 and significant activation of the bilateral inferior prefrontal regions at Time 2. Children who showed poorer performance at Time 1 exhibited no significant inferior prefrontal activation at Time 1 but significant left inferior prefrontal activation at Time 2. These results indicate the importance of the longitudinal method to address the link between cognitive and neural development.

Research highlights▸ We showed a longitudinal development of the prefrontal function. ▸ Development of cognitive shifting was related to inferior prefrontal activations. ▸ There might be individual differences in the development of prefrontal function.