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Progressive increase of frontostriatal brain activation from childhood to adulthood during event-related tasks of cognitive control
Rubia K, Smith AB, Woolley J, Nosarti C, Heyman I, Taylor E, Brammer M.. Human brain mapping, 2006-12-01
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Higher cognitive inhibitory and attention functions have been shown to develop throughout adolescence, presumably concurrent with anatomical brain maturational changes. The relatively scarce developmental functional imaging literature on cognitive control, however, has been inconsistent with respect to the neurofunctional substrates of this cognitive development, finding either increased or decreased executive prefrontal function in the progression from childhood to adulthood. Such inconsistencies may be due to small subject numbers or confounds from age-related performance differences in block design functional MRI (fMRI). In this study, rapid, randomized, mixed-trial event-related fMRI was used to investigate developmental differences of the neural networks mediating a range of motor and cognitive inhibition functions in a sizeable number of adolescents and adults. Functional brain activation was compared between adolescents and adults during three different executive tasks measuring selective motor response inhibition (Go/no-go task), cognitive interference inhibition (Simon task), and attentional set shifting (Switch task). Adults compared with children showed increased brain activation in task-specific frontostriatal networks, including right orbital and mesial prefrontal cortex and caudate during the Go/no-go task, right mesial and inferior prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe, and putamen during the Switch task and left dorsolateral and inferior frontotemporoparietal regions and putamen during the Simon task. Whole-brain regression analyses with age across all subjects showed progressive age-related changes in similar and extended clusters of task-specific frontostriatal, frontotemporal, and frontoparietal networks. The findings suggest progressive maturation of task-specific frontostriatal and frontocortical networks for cognitive control functions in the transition from childhood to mid-adulthood.
Key findings
- Adults compared with children showed increased brain activation in task-specific frontostriatal networks, including right orbital and mesial prefrontal cortex and caudate during the Go/no-go task, right mesial and inferior prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe, and putamen during the Switch task and left dorsolateral and inferior frontotemporoparietal regions and putamen during the Simon task.
Why it matters
This brain imaging study found that adults showed more activation than children in frontostriatal networks during tasks of cognitive control. It concerns normal cognitive development and does not address treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 47/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Human brain mapping) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Human Brain Mapping: journal h-index 271 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2006 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 635 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 28.9 citations a year over 22 year(s) since 2006 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 14.6× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 37 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Mick J. Brammer: h-index 28 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | King's College London: institution h-index 1,348 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 16683265) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 47 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Rubia, K., Smith, A. B., Woolley, J., Nosarti, C., Heyman, I., Taylor, E., et al. (2006). Progressive increase of frontostriatal brain activation from childhood to adulthood during event-related tasks of cognitive control. Human brain mapping. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20237
Vancouver
Rubia K, Smith AB, Woolley J, Nosarti C, Heyman I, Taylor E, et al. Progressive increase of frontostriatal brain activation from childhood to adulthood during event-related tasks of cognitive control. Human brain mapping. 2006. doi:10.1002/hbm.20237. PMID: 16683265.
BibTeX
@article{rubia2006-16683265,
author = {Rubia, K. and Smith, A. B. and Woolley, J. and Nosarti, C. and Heyman, I. and Taylor, E. and Brammer, M.},
title = {{Progressive increase of frontostriatal brain activation from childhood to adulthood during event-related tasks of cognitive control}},
journal = {Human brain mapping},
year = {2006},
doi = {10.1002/hbm.20237},
pmid = {16683265},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20237}
}