br Funding br Acknowledgments br Introduction Adolescence is

Funding
Acknowledgments
Introduction Adolescence is a I-BET-762 of major change, both behaviourally and emotionally (Blakemore and Mills, 2013; Blakemore and Robbins, 2012; Crone and Dahl, 2012). Although some aspects of cognitive and behavioural performance improve during adolescence, this period is also marked by impaired decision making and emotional dysregulation (Smith et al., 2012; Steinberg, 2008; Wahlstrom et al., 2010; Yurgelun-Todd, 2007). The apparent tension between the broad improvements observed for cognitive functioning and self-regulation from childhood to adolescence, and contrasting observations regarding affective control may be understood from several points of view. For example, adolescence may mark a period when cognitive functioning and emotional control are poorly integrated or out of step with each other developmentally (Casey et al., 2008; Steinberg, 2008). Alternatively, cognitive and affective performance during adolescence may be more contextually bound, particularly to the social context (Gardner and Steinberg, 2005). These two broad accounts are not mutually exclusive. Recent research has begun to explore how social contexts shape adolescent decision making. In particular, the role of peer influence on cognitive and behavioural performance has been examined in a number of studies (Albert et al., 2013; Gardner and Steinberg, 2005). One domain that appears particularly prone to disruption by peer influence is feedback processing (Chein et al., 2011; Segalowitz et al., 2012). Despite a growing body of behavioural research, little is known about the neural processes that underpin socially-driven changes in cognition and behaviour throughout development, and in adolescence particularly. To that end, we employed electroencephalography (EEG) to examine the key neural processes associated with decision making and feedback processing during a competitive social task in younger (10–12 years) and older (14–16 years) adolescents. We aimed to reveal the trajectory of development across these two age groups.
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Acknowledgements
Introduction Working memory is the ability to maintain and manipulate information online during goal-directed task performance. This ability is central to the acquisition of knowledge and skills (e.g., reading, numerical calculation, and problem solving) throughout development and predicts academic achievement (Alloway and Alloway, 2010; Hitch et al., 2001). Verbal WM is particularly important given the role of linguistic processes in high-order cognitive functions. Behaviorally, the ability to hold information in memory (maintenance) increases during early childhood, while the ability to operate and use the stored information (manipulation) improves most dramatically during late childhood and adolescence (Gathercole, 1999). The development in brain architecture underlying these increases in WM capacity has yet to be determined. Task-based activation studies of WM development highlighted shifts from diffuse to focal patterns of activation, and increased recruitment of brain areas implicated in WM for adults (Bunge and Wright, 2007). Studies emphasize the frontoparietal network and its maturational status as major determinants of WM performance (Klingberg, 2006; Sander et al., 2012). Efforts to understand the development of WM components (maintenance, manipulation) have focused on prefrontal cortex (PFC) and superior parietal lobe (SPL) (Crone et al., 2006), attributing the late development of manipulation ability to protracted maturation of dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and SPL (Casey et al., 2008; Diamond, 2002). This differs from ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC), which is commonly implicated in both maintenance and manipulation (Owen et al., 2000), and matures during early childhood (Diamond, 2002). However, few studies provide insights into how changes in functional interactions between regions may contribute to WM development.