In line with structural development, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies show progressive linear increases with age between childhood and adulthood in the activation and functional inter-regional connectivity of task-relevant fronto-striatal, fronto-temporo-parietal and fronto-limbic networks mediating these late developing cognitive functions, well into the third and fourth decade of life [27–35]. Emerging evidence also points at gender differences in the age-associated changes [28, 30, 35]. The fMRI literature on resting state connectivity shows that this progressive age-associated increase in activation and inter-regional connectivity is associated with progressively stronger deactivation of the task-anti-correlated resting state network, both of which are associated with more mature performance [30]. Furthermore, children have more short-range connections which are progressively replaced by longer range connections in adulthood, suggesting that development is characterised by both progressive integration and segregation [36, 37]. This review summarises the current evidence for age-associated changes in brain function between childhood and adulthood during these late developing functions of cognitive and motivation control, attention and timing functions as well as of resting state networks.
