Pupillometric and behavioral markers of a developmental shift in the temporal dynamics of cognitive control
- aDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; and
- bDepartments of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences and Psychology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912
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Edited by Susan E. Carey, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved February 11, 2009 (received for review October 6, 2008)
Abstract
The capacity to anticipate and prepare for future events is thought to be critical for cognitive control. Dominant accounts of cognitive control treat the developing system as merely a weaker version of the adult system, progressively strengthening over time. Using the AX Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) in combination with high-resolution pupillometry, we find that whereas 8-year-old children resemble adults in their proactive use of cognitive control, 3.5-year-old children exhibit a qualitatively different, reactive form of cognitive control, responding to events only as they unfold and retrieving information from memory as needed in the moment. These results demonstrate the need to reconsider the origins of cognitive control and the basis for children's behaviors across domains.
Footnotes
- 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: christopher.chatham{at}colorado.edu
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Author contributions: C.H.C., M.J.F., and Y.M. designed research; C.H.C. performed research; C.H.C. analyzed data; and C.H.C., M.J.F., and Y.M. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0810002106/DCSupplemental.
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↵* RTs on correct AX trials are uninformative, because they can reflect either prepotent responding or proactive preparation of a target response.
