Structural maturation and brain activity predict future working memory capacity during childhood development

Human working memory capacity develops during childhood and is a strong predictor of future academic performance, in particular, achievements in mathematics and reading. Predicting working memory development is important for the early identification of children at risk for poor cognitive and academi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of neuroscience 2014-01, Vol.34 (5), p.1592-1598
Main Authors: Ullman, Henrik, Almeida, Rita, Klingberg, Torkel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Age Factors
Anisotropy
Brain - blood supply
Brain - growth & development
Brain - physiology
Child
Child Development - physiology
Cognition - physiology
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Oxygen - blood
Predictive Value of Tests
Support Vector Machine
Young Adult
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Summary:Human working memory capacity develops during childhood and is a strong predictor of future academic performance, in particular, achievements in mathematics and reading. Predicting working memory development is important for the early identification of children at risk for poor cognitive and academic development. Here we show that structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data explain variance in children's working memory capacity 2 years later, which was unique variance in addition to that predicted using cognitive tests. While current working memory capacity correlated with frontoparietal cortical activity, the future capacity could be inferred from structure and activity in basal ganglia and thalamus. This gives a novel insight into the neural mechanisms of childhood development and supports the idea that neuroimaging can have a unique role in predicting children's cognitive development.
ISSN:0270-6474
1529-2401
1529-2401
DOI:10.1523/jneurosci.0842-13.2014