Neural basis of executive function in young children
Executive function refers to the higher-order cognitive control process for the attainment of a specific goal. There are several subcomponents of executive function, such as inhibition, cognitive shifting, and working memory. Extensive neuro imaging research in adults has revealed that the lateral prefrontal cortex plays an important role in executive function. Developmental studies have reported behavioral evidence showing that executive function changes significantly during preschool years.
However, the neural mechanism of executive function in young children is still unclear. My colleagues and I have examined the relationship between the development of cognitive shifting and the lateral prefrontal cortexin young children using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).In crosssectional and longitudinal study, we found that the development of cognitive shifting was strongly correlated with the activations in the lateral prefrontal cortex. Moreover, our training program improved behavioral performances and the activations in the lateral prefrontal cortex during cognitive shifting task. Finally, we showed that the prefrontal activations during cognitive shifting tasks may be abnormal in children with developmental disorders. The results consistently showed that the lateral prefrontal cortex play an important role of the development of executive function in young children. I’ll discuss several methodological issues and future direction in the research areas.
Yusuke Moriguch is an Associate Professor at Joetsu University of Education, Niigata, Japan. He received his Ph. D. degrees from Kyoto University in 2008. Then, he worked at the University of
Tokyo (Supervisor: Kazuo Hiraki) and the University of Toronto (Supervisor: Kang Lee) as Post-
Doctoral Fellow. He is interested in cognitive and neural mechanism of the development of executive function in young children. He has revealed that the activations in the lateral prefrontal cortex are correlated with executive function in preschool children, using near infrared spectroscopy. His research also showed that children’s executive function can be developed in interaction with other persons. Given the evidence, he is now interested in how children’s executive function is trained and supported by social interaction. He is now editing the Special Issue
“Development of executive function during childhood” in Frontiers in Developmental Psychology.
Another research interest is children’s imaginary companion or imaginary friend, and he has examined cognitive and neural mechanism of imaginary companion in young children. His work is funded by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Japan Science and Technology Society.