Inverted U-shaped brain development of cognitive control across the human lifespan

Cognitive control plays a pivotal role in guiding human goal-directed behavior. While existing studies have documented an inverted U-shaped trajectory of cognitive control both behaviorally and anatomically, little is known about the corresponding changes in functional brain activation with age. To bridge this gap, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of 129 neuroimaging studies using conflict tasks, encompassing 3,388 participants aged from 5 to 85 years old. We have three major findings: 1) The inverted U-shaped trajectory is the predominant pattern; 2) Cognitive control-related brain regions exhibit heterogeneous lifespan trajectories: the frontoparietal control network follows inverted U-shaped trajectories, peaking between 24 and 40 years, while the dorsal attention network demonstrates no clear trajectories; 3) Both the youth and the elderly show weaker brain activities and greater left laterality than young to middle-aged adults. These results reveal the lifespan trajectories of cognitive control, highlighting heterogeneous fluctuations in brain networks with age. Classification: Biological Sciences/Psychological and Cognitive Sciences