The expression of established cognitive brain states stabilizes with working memory development

We present results from a longitudinal study conducted over 10 years in a sample of 126 8-33 year olds demonstrating that adolescent development of working memory is supported by decreased variability in the amplitude of expression of whole brain states of task-related activity. fMRI analyses reveal that putative gain signals affecting maintenance and retrieval aspects of working memory processing stabilize during adolescence, while those affecting sensorimotor processes do not. We show that trial-to-trial variability in the reaction time and accuracy of eye-movements during a memory guided saccade task are related to fluctuations in the amplitude of expression of task-related brain states, or brain state variability, and also provide evidence that individual developmental trajectories of reaction time variability are related to individual trajectories of brain state variability. These observations demonstrate that underlying the maturation of cognition through adolescence is the stabil...

本研究报告了一项为期10年的纵向研究成果，该研究纳入126名8至33岁的受试者，结果表明：青少年工作记忆（working memory）的发育，依托于任务相关活动全脑状态的表达振幅的变异程度降低。功能磁共振成像（fMRI）分析显示：影响工作记忆加工维持与提取环节的推定增益信号，在青少年时期趋于稳定；而影响感觉运动加工的此类信号则无此变化。本研究证实：记忆引导眼跳任务中，眼动反应时与准确率的逐试变异，与任务相关脑状态（或称脑状态变异）的表达振幅波动存在关联；同时也提供证据表明，反应时变异的个体发育轨迹，与脑状态变异的个体发育轨迹密切相关。上述观察结果证实，青少年期认知成熟的底层机制是稳