The current task can be contrasted with two popular measures of working memory (e.g., n-back; Owen et al. 2005) and the Sternberg tasks (Sternberg 1966; Manoach et al. 2003). Although a working memory task, our task differs in theoretically interesting ways from the classic paradigms that gave it an advantage for answering our hypotheses. We used a variant of a 1-back task in which difficulty in cognitive processes MS-275 cell line increased with the number of relevant cues, in this case colors.
Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical In terms of cognitive load and methodology, what sets our fMRI research paradigm apart is the following: First, difficulty was parametrically graded across classes of items (according to theoretical modeling and prior developmental work, Arsalidou et al. 2010). Second, executive demand was Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical controlled (i.e., constant across levels). Third, most other imaging studies fail to consider a sufficient number of graded difficulty levels (Rypma et al. 2002 being an exception in the verbal domain). Without these many levels, it is impossible to account for the capacity limitations in mental attention proposed by both working memory (Cowan 2005) and developmental researchers (e.g., Pascual-Leone 1970; Halford et al. 1998). Fourth, in terms of statistical power, the current task was designed as a block paradigm with relatively short trials in order Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to accommodate
six levels of difficulty. In this regard, it should be noted that fMRI studies that have many conditions face a trade-off between the number of trials needed for sufficient statistical power and the time participants Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical can stay in the scanner, particularly so in studies with children (Gaillard et al. 2001). The range of levels of working memory capacity that can be assessed using our tasks is very relevant for the study of developmental and clinical populations. With a future aim to use the tasks for neuroimaging with developmental Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical populations, we were interested
in methods that minimize extraneous developmental-laden factors (we used short runs, child friendly content, etc.; see Gaillard et al. 2001; Luna et al. 2010). To facilitate comparisons across populations, Luna et al. (2010) recommended the use of tasks with well-understood neural correlations in the adult literature. Thus, prior to this study, our working memory task was validated behaviorally in adults as well as in children (Arsalidou ALOX15 et al. 2010). Behavioral performance followed a graded age-dependent growth pattern such that 7–8, 9–10, 11–12, 13–14 year olds, and adults could cope with working memory demands up to 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 units, respectively (Arsalidou et al. 2010). These observations point to a linear pattern in working memory development that is captured by our task. It is on this basis that our current hypotheses and analyses investigate particularly a linear pattern.