Maturation of Cognitive Processes From Late Childhood to Adulthood

TLDR

The study aimed to characterize cognitive maturation through adolescence by measuring processing speed, voluntary response suppression, and spatial working memory in 245 healthy participants aged 8–30 using oculomotor tasks and discussing how adolescent brain maturation supports this development. The researchers assessed processing speed, voluntary response suppression, and spatial working memory in 245 healthy participants aged 8–30 via oculomotor tasks. Performance improved steeply then plateaued in adolescence, with adult‑level processing speed, response inhibition, and working memory reached at about 15, 14, and 19 years respectively, and while these functions developed largely independently, processing speed drove working memory maturation and response inhibition and working memory were interdependent.

Abstract

To characterize cognitive maturation through adolescence, processing speed, voluntary response suppression, and spatial working memory were measured in 8‐ to 30‐year‐old ( N =245) healthy participants using oculomotor tasks. Development progressed with a steep initial improvement in performance followed by stabilization in adolescence. Adult‐level mature performance began at approximately 15, 14, and 19 years of age for processing speed, response inhibition, and working memory, respectively. Although processes developed independently, processing speed influenced the development of working memory whereas the development of response suppression and working memory were interdependent. These results indicate that processing speed, voluntary response suppression, and working memory mature through late childhood and into adolescence. How brain maturation specific to adolescence may support cognitive maturation is discussed.