ArticleNature communications2023
A canonical trajectory of executive function maturation from adolescence to adulthood.
Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 134 papers.
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Who cites it
134 citing papers in PubMed.
- Understanding the developmental impact of psychological maltreatment through the lens of the dimensional model of adversity and psychopathology.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Executive functions as a transdiagnostic endophenotype in developmental psychopathology.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- The developing adolescent brain: Implications for youth justice and children in criminal proceedings.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Cognitive decline in psychotic disorders: A longitudinal matched case-control study.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2026Article
- The role of microRNAs in executive functions: a comprehensive review and bioinformatics analysis of human and animal studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Sex and pubertal stage as moderators of the association between resting-state connectivity of striatal circuitry and reward sensitivity in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- The longitudinal structure of cognition in the ABCD study and associations with neural function and psychopathology: A Bayesian probabilistic principal components analysis.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Neural focalization of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the inferior parietal lobule is associated with inhibitory control performance in adolescence.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- Specific Early Childhood Experiences Predict Executive Function Skills During Later Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from the ECHO Cohort.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Predicting comorbid anxiety in adolescents with major depressive disorder: an EEG-based machine learning approach with SHAP interpretability.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Executive function after childhood cancer: Insights from network neuroscience.Neuro-oncology advances · 2026Review
- Influence of stimulus material and effector specificity on performance in the measurement of interference control in adolescent handball and soccer players compared to non-player controls.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Individual Differences in Error-Related Brain Activity and Post-Error Slowing in Children.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Keeping it together: Hourly dynamics of children's behavioral regulation at school in a decades-long cohort study.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Developmental variation in basal ganglia tissue iron, neurocognitive functioning, and impulsivity is associated with substance use trajectories in youth.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Food Insecurity and Cognitive Performance Among Young People Living With and Without HIV: A Study Across Four African Countries.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Trajectories of Response Inhibition Development in Adolescence.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Distinct associations between multimodal brain measures and psychopathology domains predict adolescent functioning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Timing and tempo of puberty and neurodevelopment following adversity: A registered report.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Article
- The interplay between executive function and learning disabilities: Developmental cognitive neuroscience perspectives on reading, math, and ADHD.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Review
74 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Theories of human neurobehavioral development suggest executive functions mature from childhood through adolescence, underlying adolescent risk-taking and the emergence of psychopathology. Investigations with relatively small datasets or narrow subsets of measures have identified general executive function development, but the specific maturational timing and independence of potential executive function subcomponents remain unknown. Integrating four independent datasets (N = 10,766; 8-35 years old) with twenty-three measures from seventeen tasks, we provide a precise charting, multi-assessment investigation, and replication of executive function development from adolescence to adulthood. Across assessments and datasets, executive functions follow a canonical non-linear trajectory, with rapid and statistically significant development in late childhood to mid-adolescence (10-15 years old), before stabilizing to adult-levels in late adolescence (18-20 years old). Age effects are well captured by domain-general processes that generate reproducible developmental templates across assessments and datasets. Results provide a canonical trajectory of executive function maturation that demarcates the boundaries of adolescence and can be integrated into future studies.
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