There is a general assumption that brain changes cause changes in intelligence and cognition. I am looking for studies explicitly connecting specific brain changes with changes in the functions above at specific ages from infancy to adolescence.
Dear Andreas, I hope this is of use. There are different types of brain changes that indicate changes at specific ages. The ones I am most aware of are related to different types of brain injury and organic diseases. Please let me know if this is the type of evidence you are looking for and which ages in particular and I may be able to send you some case studies and some other literature which I have seen. In some cases the literature is linked to clinical trials or off label use of pharmacological drugs, or neuropsychological testing etc.
Dear Cheryl,
In a series of recent studies we found that speed relates with fluid intelligence (gf) more than working memory (WM) at major cognitive transitions (at 2-3, 6-7 and 11-13 years), when there is change in the kind of representations that can be processed (global mental representations, integrated concepts, and abstract principles, respectively). WM was found to relate with Gf more than speed when they are relatively well mastered to be aligned and coordinated with each other at 4-5, 8-10, and 14-17 years. Thus, i am looking for literature in brain development research that would allow us to connect the patterns of relations between these mental processes with patterns in brain development.
Thanks for your interest.
Andreas
Hi Andreas, I may have some literature in my archives, it will just take me a few days to dig them out and then I will send them to you via the message system. My archives are quite big, so it just takes a little while to search them. Keep well!
Cheryl, this is much appreciated. A few days is never a problem in this kind business. You can use my email to send them: [email protected]
Warm wishes,
Andreas
Dear Andreas,
I recommend that you take a look at the following articles from Luna and colleagues:
· Luna B, Thulborn KR, Munoz DP, Merriam EP, Garver KE, Minshew NJ, Keshavan MS, Genovese CR, Eddy WF, Sweeney JA (2001) Maturation of widely distributed brain function subserves cognitive development. Neuroimage 13(5):786-93.
· Luna B, Sweeney JA (2004) The emergence of collaborative brain function: FMRI studies of the development of response inhibition. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1021:296-309.
· Luna B, Garver KE, Urban TA, Lazar NA, Sweeney JA (2004) Maturation of cognitive processes from late childhood to adulthood. Child Dev 75(5):1357-72.
And these from Casey et al. (2005) and Nagy et al. (2004):
· Casey BJ, Galvan A, Hare TA (2005) Changes in cerebral functional organization during cognitive development. Curr Opin Neurobiol 15(2):239-44.
· Nagy Z, Westerberg H, Klingberg T (2004) Maturation of white matter is associated with the development of cognitive functions during childhood. J Cogn Neurosci 16(7):1227-33.
Perhaps these articles may help you. All of them relate the maturational changes that take place in the brain with the development of different cognitive processes, such as inhibitory control or working memory.
Regards,
Eduardo
Dear Eduardo:
Many thanks for this. I do talk with Beatrz Luna and she sent me her work. The problem is that they do not really associate specificaaly particular brain changes with particular cognitive changes. Assuming this relation is not necessary though! And it definitely does not point to the direction of causality.
Andreas
Ok. I'm not sure but perhaps articles that establish a relationship between brain activity and cognitive development can be useful for you. Here are a few examples:
· Bunge SA, Dudukovic NM, Thomason ME, Vaidya CJ, Gabrieli JD (2002) Immature frontal lobe contributions to cognitive control in children: evidence from fMRI. Neuron 33(2):301-11.
· Bunge SA, Wright SB (2007) Neurodevelopmental changes in working memory and cognitive control. Curr Opin Neurobiol 17(2):243-50.
· Durston S, Casey BJ (2006) What have we learned about cognitive development from neuroimaging? Neuropsychologia 44(11):2149-57.
· Durston S, Davidson MC, Tottenham N, Galvan A, Spicer J, Fossella JA, Casey BJ (2006) A shift from diffuse to focal cortical activity with development. Dev Sci 9(1):1-8.
· Somerville LH, Hare T, Casey BJ Frontostriatal maturation predicts cognitive control failure to appetitive cues in adolescents. J Cogn Neurosci 23(9):2123-34.
Eduardo
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