Maturational Changes in Anterior Cingulate and Frontoparietal Recruitment Support the Development of Error Processing and Inhibitory Control

Documenting the development of the functional anatomy underlying error processing is critically important for understanding age-related improvements in cognitive performance. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine time courses of brain activity in 77 individuals aged 8-27 years during correct and incorrect performance of an oculomotor task requiring inhibitory control. Canonical eye-movement regions showed increased activity for correct versus error trials but no differences between children, adolescents and young adults, suggesting that core task processes are in place early in development. Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was a central focus. In rostral ACC all age groups showed significant deactivation during correct but not error trials, consistent with the proposal that such deactivation reflects suspension of a default mode necessary for effective controlled performance. In contrast, dorsal ACC showed increased and extended modulation for error versus correct trials in adults, which, in children and adolescents, was significantly attenuated. Further, younger age groups showed reduced activity in posterior attentional regions, relying instead on increased recruitment of regions within prefrontal cortex. This work suggests that functional changes in dorsal ACC associated with error regulation and error-feedback utilization, coupled with changes in the recruitment of long-range attentional networks, underlie age-related improvements in performance.