Prefrontal engagement during sequential manual actions in children at early adolescence compared with adults

Abstract In everyday behavior, we perform numerous goal-directed manual tasks that contain a sequence of actions. However, knowledge is limited regarding developmental aspects of predictive control mechanisms in such tasks, particularly with regard to brain activations supporting sequential manual actions in children. We investigated these issues in typically developing children at early adolescence (11–14 years) compared with previously collected data from adults. While lying in a MRI scanner, the participants steered a cursor on a computer screen towards sequentially presented targets using a hand-held manipulandum. The next target was either revealed after completion of the ongoing target (one-target condition), in which case forthcoming movements could not be planned ahead, or displayed in advance (two-target condition), which allowed the use of a predictive control strategy. The adults completed more targets in the two-than one-target condition, displaying an efficient predictive control strategy. The children, in contrast, completed fewer targets in the two-than one-target condition, and difficulties implementing a predictive strategy were found due to a limited capacity to inhibit premature movements. Brain areas with increased activation in children, compared with the adults, included prefrontal and posterior parietal regions, suggesting an increased demand for higher-level cognitive processing in the children due to inhibitory challenges. Thus, regarding predictive mechanisms during sequential manual tasks, crucial development likely occurs beyond early adolescence. This is at a later age than what has previously been reported from other manual tasks, suggesting that predictive phase transitions are difficult to master.