Luna B, Thulborn K R, Munoz D P, Merriam E P, Garver K E, Minshew N J, Keshavan M S, Genovese C R, Eddy W F, Sweeney J A
Neurobehavioral Studies Program, MR Research Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Neuroimage. 2001 May;13(5):786-93. doi: 10.1006/nimg.2000.0743.
Cognitive and brain maturational changes continue throughout late childhood and adolescence. During this time, increasing cognitive control over behavior enhances the voluntary suppression of reflexive/impulsive response tendencies. Recently, with the advent of functional MRI, it has become possible to characterize changes in brain activity during cognitive development. In order to investigate the cognitive and brain maturation subserving the ability to voluntarily suppress context-inappropriate behavior, we tested 8-30 year olds in an oculomotor response-suppression task. Behavioral results indicated that adult-like ability to inhibit prepotent responses matured gradually through childhood and adolescence. Functional MRI results indicated that brain activation in frontal, parietal, striatal, and thalamic regions increased progressively from childhood to adulthood. Prefrontal cortex was more active in adolescents than in children or adults; adults demonstrated greater activation in the lateral cerebellum than younger subjects. These results suggest that efficient top-down modulation of reflexive acts may not be fully developed until adulthood and provide evidence that maturation of function across widely distributed brain regions lays the groundwork for enhanced voluntary control of behavior during cognitive development.
认知和大脑成熟变化在儿童晚期和青少年时期持续存在。在此期间，对行为的认知控制增强，从而增强了对反射性/冲动性反应倾向的自主抑制。最近，随着功能磁共振成像（fMRI）的出现，人们能够描绘认知发展过程中大脑活动的变化。为了研究有助于自主抑制不适当情境行为能力的认知和大脑成熟情况，我们在一项眼动反应抑制任务中对8至30岁的人群进行了测试。行为结果表明，抑制优势反应的类似成人的能力在儿童期和青少年期逐渐成熟。功能磁共振成像结果表明，额叶、顶叶、纹状体和丘脑区域的大脑激活从儿童期到成年期逐渐增加。前额叶皮质在青少年中比在儿童或成人中更活跃；成年人在外侧小脑的激活程度比年轻受试者更高。这些结果表明，对反射行为的有效自上而下调节可能直到成年才完全发展，并提供证据表明广泛分布的大脑区域功能成熟为认知发展过程中行为的增强自主控制奠定了基础。
