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Developmental relations between working memory and inhibitory control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2006

CAROLINE RONCADIN ,
JUAN PASCUAL-LEONE ,
JILL B. RICH  and
MAUREEN DENNIS
CAROLINE RONCADIN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Peel Children's Centre, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
JUAN PASCUAL-LEONE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
JILL B. RICH
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
MAUREEN DENNIS
Affiliation:
Brain and Behaviour Research, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Departments of Psychology and Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Abstract

Working memory (WM) and inhibitory control (IC) are general-purpose resources that guide cognition and behavior. In this study, the developmental relations between WM and IC were investigated in 96 typically developing children aged 6 to 17 years in an experimental task paradigm using an efficiency metric that combined speed and accuracy performance. The ability to activate and process information in WM showed protracted age-related growth. Performance involving WM and IC together was empirically distinguishable from that involving WM alone. The results indicate that developmental improvements in WM are attributable to increased processing efficiency in activation, suppression, and strategic resource deployment, and that WM and IC are best studied in novel, complex situations that elicit competition among those resources (JINS, 2007, 13, 59–67.)

Keywords

MemoryInhibitionChild developmentPrefrontal cortexSpeed-accuracy tradeoff measurementCognitive science
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 59 - 67
Copyright
© 2007 The International Neuropsychological Society

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