TY - JOUR
T1 - Stronger synaptic connectivity as a mechanism behind development of working memory-related brain activity during childhood
AU - Edin, Fredrik
AU - Macoveanu, Julian
AU - Olesen, Pernille
AU - Tegnér, Jesper
AU - Klingberg, Torkel
PY - 2007/5
Y1 - 2007/5
N2 - The cellular maturational processes behind cognitive development during childhood, including the development of working memory capacity, are still unknown. By using the most standard computational model of visuospatial working memory, we investigated the consequences of cellular maturational processes, including myelination, synaptic strengthening, and synaptic pruning, on working memory-related brain activity and performance. We implemented five structural developmental changes occurring as a result of the cellular maturational processes in the biophysically based computational network model. The developmental changes in memory activity predicted from the simulations of the model were then compared to brain activity measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging in children and adults. We found that networks with stronger fronto-parietal synaptic connectivity between cells coding for similar stimuli, but not those with faster conduction, stronger connectivity within a region, or increased coding specificity, predict measured developmental increases in both working memory-related brain activity and in correlations of activity between regions. Stronger fronto-parietal synaptic connectivity between cells coding for similar stimuli was thus the only developmental process that accounted for the observed changes in brain activity associated with development of working memory during childhood.
AB - The cellular maturational processes behind cognitive development during childhood, including the development of working memory capacity, are still unknown. By using the most standard computational model of visuospatial working memory, we investigated the consequences of cellular maturational processes, including myelination, synaptic strengthening, and synaptic pruning, on working memory-related brain activity and performance. We implemented five structural developmental changes occurring as a result of the cellular maturational processes in the biophysically based computational network model. The developmental changes in memory activity predicted from the simulations of the model were then compared to brain activity measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging in children and adults. We found that networks with stronger fronto-parietal synaptic connectivity between cells coding for similar stimuli, but not those with faster conduction, stronger connectivity within a region, or increased coding specificity, predict measured developmental increases in both working memory-related brain activity and in correlations of activity between regions. Stronger fronto-parietal synaptic connectivity between cells coding for similar stimuli was thus the only developmental process that accounted for the observed changes in brain activity associated with development of working memory during childhood.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34248398031&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.5.750
DO - 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.5.750
M3 - Article
C2 - 17488202
AN - SCOPUS:34248398031
SN - 0898-929X
VL - 19
SP - 750
EP - 760
JO - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
IS - 5
ER -