A novel ecological account of prefrontal cortex functional development.

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that prefrontal cortex ontogenetic functional development is best understood through an ecological lens. We first begin by reviewing evidence supporting the existing consensus that PFC structural and functional development is protracted based on maturational constraints. We then examine recent findings from neuroimaging studies in infants, early life stress research, and connectomics that support the novel hypothesis that PFC functional development is driven by reciprocal processes of neural adaptation and niche construction. We discuss implications and predictions of this model for redefining the construct of executive functions and for informing typical and atypical child development. This ecological account of PFC functional development moves beyond descriptions of development that are characteristic of existing frameworks, and provides novel insights into the mechanisms of developmental change, including its catalysts and influences.

The role of the visual association cortex in scaffolding prefrontal cortex development: A novel mechanism linking socioeconomic status and executive function

“…Access to complex sensory, linguistic, motoric, and social experiences that occur in the context of caregiver interactions have been argued to shape the early forms of learning that scaffold the development of more complex forms of cognition, including EF (McLaughlin et al, 2017). We argue that cognitive stimulation supports development of the feed-forward and feedback loops between sensory processing regions and the PFC, which lays the groundwork for the complex computations necessary for EF (Werchan and Amso, 2017).…”

“…However, unlike experience-expectant inputs that are critical in sensory development, there is unlikely to be a singular set of specific environmental experiences that is required optimal PFC development. Indeed, a recent model of PFC argues that PFC development reflects adaptation to the child’s changing environment (Werchan and Amso, 2017), an experience-dependent rather than experience-expectant process. Below, we articulate a novel conceptual account of how specific early environmental experiences that are associated with childhood SES could impact experience-dependent learning and in turn produce lasting differences in EF and PFC development.…”

“…In this section, we dissect how high level cognitive stimulation may drive lower-level sensory and perceptual processes that may impact the development of EF and PFC beginning in infancy. We use recent approaches to EF and PFC development as a guide to understanding these individual differences (Amso and Scerif, 2015; Werchan and Amso, 2017).…”

“…Visual input from the dorsal and ventral visual pathways converges onto PFC (Gilbert and Li, 2013) in a manner that results in increasing demand on PFC computations to adapt as various visual processing systems strengthen with development. Moreover, the PFC computations that facilitate the early ability to resolve competing perceptual inputs are likely to be similar to those that underlie more complex EF abilities—including working memory, task switching, and inhibitory control—that develop as the PFC adapts to increasingly changing and complex environmental inputs (Werchan and Amso, 2017). Indeed, recent work provides evidence that the PFC is performing computations similar to those of adults in infancy, but is adapted to infants’ unique ecological niche (Werchan and Amso, 2017; Werchan et al, 2015).…”

Executive Function and BMI Trajectories Among Rural, Poor Youth at High Risk for Obesity

“…Executive function (EF), a collection of potentially modifiable, integrated neurocognitive processes involved in higher‐order cognition (2), has been highlighted as a potential protective factor against obesity. EF undergoes rapid structural and functional growth between approximately 3 and 5 years of age (3) and it is necessary for self‐regulated, purposeful, and goal‐directed thought and behavior, including behaviors associated with obesity (4). Three commonly agreed upon EF processes are as follows: inhibitory control (the capacity to inhibit an automatic or prepotent thought, emotion, or behavior in favor of a less desirable but more beneficial response), cognitive flexibility (the capacity to fluidly shift the focus of attention from one dimension of a given set of stimuli to a second less salient dimension), and working memory (the ability to retain multiple pieces of transitory information, “on‐line,” in the mind, for potential manipulation) (5).…”