Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28748537›Full record

ArticleDevelopmental science2018

Differences in brain morphology and working memory capacity across childhood.

Joe Bathelt, Susan E Gathercole, Amy Johnson, Duncan E Astle

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Developmental science, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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  9. Illusory Essences: A Bias Holding Back Theorizing in Psychological Science.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2022
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Joe BatheltMRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-5195-956X
Susan E GathercoleMRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
Amy JohnsonMRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
Duncan E AstleMRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.

Funding

Medical Research Council MC_UP_A060_1103Medical Research Council MC_UP_A060_1104Medical Research Council MC_UU_00005/2Medical Research Council MC_UU_00005/7
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Working memory (WM) skills are closely associated with learning progress in key areas such as reading and mathematics across childhood. As yet, however, little is known about how the brain systems underpinning WM develop over this critical developmental period. The current study investigated whether and how structural brain correlates of components of the working memory system change over development. Verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory were assessed in 153 children between 5.58 and 15.92 years, and latent components of the working memory system were derived. Fractional anisotropy and cortical thickness maps were derived from T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted MRI and processed using eigenanatomy decomposition. There was a greater involvement of the corpus callosum and posterior temporal white matter in younger children for performance associated with the executive part of the working memory system. For older children, this was more closely linked with the thickness of the occipitotemporal cortex. These findings suggest that increasing specialization leads to shifts in the contribution of neural substrates over childhood, moving from an early dependence on a distributed system supported by long-range connections to later reliance on specialized local circuitry. Our findings demonstrate that despite the component factor structure being stable across childhood, the underlying brain systems supporting working memory change. Taking the age of the child into account, and not just their overall score, is likely to be critical for understanding the nature of the limitations on their working memory capacity.

Indexed as

Brain MappingAdolescentAge FactorsAnisotropyBrainCerebral CortexChildChild DevelopmentChild, PreschoolDiffusion Magnetic Resonance ImagingFemaleHumansMaleMemory, Short-Term

Identifiers

PMID28748537
PMCPMC5947821

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.