Cognitive correlates of medial temporal lobe development across adolescence: a magnetic resonance imaging study.

Full Abstract

Adolescent development involves progressive changes in brain structure and cognitive function, but relatively few studies have documented the cognitive correlates of differences in structural brain volumes in this age group. We examined the relations among age, cognitive processing, and mesial temporal lobe volume in 37 children and adolescents. Participants completed a brief cognitive assessment battery and underwent volumetric structural magnetic resonance imaging. For the sample as a whole, amygdala volume correlated positively with age, and larger volumes of both the left and right amygdala were significantly associated with better performance on several cognitive tasks assessing academic skills and acquired knowledge in long-term memory. In contrast, hippocampal volumes did not correlate with adolescents' age and were less frequently correlated with cognitive performance. Amygdala volumes were most predictive of cognitive abilities in boys, whereas for girls, the volume of the hippocampus contributed more frequently to the prediction of cognitive abilities. These data suggest that measurable differences in mesial temporal volumes during adolescence are reliably associated with long-term cognitive abilities, particularly academic skills and the acquisition of intellectual knowledge, and that these relationships may differ as a function of the sex of the child.

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Author information

Author/s: Yurgelun-Todd, Deborah A (DA); Killgore, William D S (WD); Cintron, Christina B (CB);

Affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brain Imaging Center, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA 02478, USA. ytodd(-atsign-)mclean.harvard.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Perceptual and motor skills (Percept Mot Skills), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Feb; vol 96 (issue 1) : pp 3-17

Dates: Created 2003/04/22; Completed 2003/08/04; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12705502, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent - physiology
Amygdala - anatomy & histology; growth & development
Aptitude - physiology
Cognition - physiology
Dominance, Cerebral - physiology
Female
Hippocampus - anatomy & histology; growth & development
Humans
Image Enhancement

Image Enhancement
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Reference Values
Retention (Psychology) - physiology
Sex Factors
Temporal Lobe - anatomy & histology; growth & development

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