Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, PO Box 9600; 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2012 Feb 15;2 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S180-91. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.09.001. Epub 2011 Sep 9.
Functions that rely on dorsolateral prefrontal and parietal cortex, including working memory manipulation, are among the latest functions to mature. Yet, several behavioral studies have shown that children may improve on these functions after extensive practice. In this pilot study, we examined whether children would be able to demonstrate increased frontoparietal brain activation after practice. Twelve-year-old children and young adults practiced for 6 weeks with a working memory manipulation task. Before and after practice, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired. Both children and adults demonstrated better performance, lasting at least up to 6 months after the practice period. Before practice, children showed immature frontoparietal activation for manipulation of information in working memory relative to pure maintenance, specifically during the delay period of the task. After practice, the activation differences between children and adults were considerably reduced, suggesting that children may show increased frontoparietal activation if given extensive practice. These preliminary findings argue against the hypothesis that certain brain structures cannot be engaged because of immaturity. Yet, future studies with larger samples should further examine flexibility in the developing brain, and establish what can and cannot be expected of children across school-aged development.
依赖于背外侧前额叶和顶叶皮层的功能，包括工作记忆操作，是最新成熟的功能之一。然而，几项行为研究表明，儿童在大量练习后可能会提高这些功能。在这项初步研究中，我们研究了练习后儿童是否能够表现出额顶叶大脑激活的增加。12 岁的儿童和年轻人用工作记忆操作任务进行了 6 周的练习。在练习前后，采集了功能磁共振成像数据。儿童和成年人都表现出更好的表现，至少在练习期结束后 6 个月内持续。在练习之前，儿童在工作记忆中进行信息操作时相对于纯维持表现出不成熟的额顶叶激活，特别是在任务的延迟期。在练习之后，儿童和成年人之间的激活差异大大减少，这表明如果给予大量练习，儿童可能会表现出增加的额顶叶激活。这些初步发现反对了某些大脑结构由于不成熟而无法参与的假设。然而，未来更大样本的研究应进一步检查发育中大脑的灵活性，并确定在整个学龄期发展中对儿童的期望。
