Journal article
The lifespan trajectories of brain activities related to conflict-driven cognitive control
Science bulletin (Beijing), Vol.70(21), pp.3614-3624
11/15/2025
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.08.038
PMCID: PMC12435917
PMID: 40925803
Abstract
Cognitive control is fundamental to human goal-directed behavior. Understanding its trajectory across the lifespan is crucial for optimizing cognitive function throughout life, particularly during periods of rapid development and decline. While existing studies have revealed an inverted U-shaped trajectory of cognitive control in both behavioral and anatomical domains, the age-related changes in functional brain activities remain poorly understood. To bridge this gap, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of 139 neuroimaging studies using conflict tasks, encompassing 3765 participants aged 5 to 85 years. We adopted the seed-based d mapping (SDM), generalized additive model (GAM), and model comparison approaches to investigate age-related changes in brain activities to characterize the lifespan trajectories of cognitive control. Our analyses revealed two key findings: (1) The predominant lifespan trajectory is inverted U-shaped, rising from childhood to peak in young adulthood (between 27 and 36 years) before declining in later adulthood; (2) Both the youth and the elderly show weaker brain activities and greater left laterality than young adults. These results collectively reveal the lifespan trajectories of cognitive control, highlighting systematic fluctuations in brain activities with age.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The lifespan trajectories of brain activities related to conflict-driven cognitive control
- Creators
- Zhenghan LiIsaac T. PetersenLingxiao WangJoaquim RaduaGuochun YangXun Liu
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Science bulletin (Beijing), Vol.70(21), pp.3614-3624
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.scib.2025.08.038
- PMID
- 40925803
- PMCID
- PMC12435917
- NLM abbreviation
- Sci Bull (Beijing)
- ISSN
- 2095-9273
- eISSN
- 2095-9281
- Publisher
- ELSEVIER
- Grant note
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC): 32400855, 32300925 Scientific Research Fund of Zhejiang Provincial Education Department: Y202249966 Zhejiang Province Educational Science Planning Project: 2024SCG018 Hangzhou Normal University: 2021QDL079 Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): HD098235 China Postdoctoral Science Foundation: 2019M650884 Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China: 2021ZD0200505 STI 2030-Major Projects: 2021ZD0201705
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (32400855 and 32300925), the STI 2030-Major Projects (2021ZD0201705), the Scientific Research Fund of Zhejiang Provincial Education Department (Y202249966), the Zhejiang Province Educational Science Planning Project (2024SCG018), the Starting Research Fund from Hangzhou Normal University (2021QDL079), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (HD098235), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M650884), and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (2021ZD0200505) . The funders had no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, the decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We thank Baoming Li, Jiefeng Jiang, Haiyan Wu, Fergus I.M. Craik, and Beatriz Luna for valuable suggestions on this manuscript. We also thank Jing Yang and Yifan Zhang for the data check of the extracted coordinates.
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 08/2025
- Date published
- 11/15/2025
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984949514802771
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