Trajectories of Response Inhibition Development in Adolescence

Response inhibition is a critical cognitive process that is not fully mature at the time of puberty but continues to improve during adolescence. To understand the neural basis of the maturation process, we obtained longitudinal behavioral, neurophysiological, and imaging data in macaque monkeys as they aged through adolescence. Behavioral performance in several variants of the antisaccade task improved markedly through this period. Neural activity in the prefrontal cortex generally increased, particularly when synchronized to the saccade generation. Trajectories of neural activity and cognitive performance were well predicted by maturation of long-distance white matter tracts connecting the frontal lobe with other brain areas. Our results link the maturation of response inhibition and prefrontal neural activity changes to white matter maturation.