Longitudinal network re-organization across learning and development

NeuroImage, vol. 229, pp. 117784

Abstract

While it is well understood that the brain experiences changes across short-term experience/learning and long-term development, it is unclear how these two mechanisms interact to produce developmental outcomes. Here we test an interactive model of learning and development where certain learning-related changes are constrained by developmental changes in the brain against an alternative development-as-practice model where outcomes are determined primarily by the accumulation of experience regardless of age. Participants (8-29 years) participated in a three-wave, accelerated longitudinal study during which they completed a feedback learning task during an fMRI scan. Adopting a novel longitudinal modeling approach, we probed the unique and moderated effects of learning, experience, and development simultaneously on behavioral performance and network modularity during the task. We found nonlinear patterns of development for both behavior and brain, and that greater experience supported increased learning and network modularity relative to naïve subjects. We also found changing brain-behavior relationships across adolescent development, where heightened network modularity predicted improved learning, but only following the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. These results present compelling support for an interactive view of experience and development, where changes in the brain impact behavior in context-specific fashion based on developmental goals.

Authors 4

1. Ethan Michael McCormick corresponding

   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States. Electronic address: emccormick@unc.edu

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States

2. Sabine Peters Aachen Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Leiden University, 2333AK Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, 2333ZA Leiden, the Netherlands

   Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Leiden University, 2333AK Leiden, the Netherlands

   Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, 2333ZA Leiden, the Netherlands

3. Eveline A. Crone Aachen Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition

   Leiden University · Erasmus University Rotterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Leiden University, 2333AK Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, 2333ZA Leiden, the Netherlands; School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

   Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Leiden University, 2333AK Leiden, the Netherlands

   Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, 2333ZA Leiden, the Netherlands

   School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

4. Eva H. Telzer

   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States