picture emerges where bilateral inferior fronto-cingulo-striato-parietal areas that are typical for adult switching [40] were progressively more recruited between late childhood and adulthood between 10 and 43 years which correlated with a more reflective performance [28, 42] (Fig. 1d). Findings persisted when performance was covaried, suggesting true age effects [28, 42]. Four studies used categorical age comparisons between relatively small groups of children and adolescents and adults. Two studies showed enhanced activation during switching tasks in adults between 18 and 32 years in parieto-temporal and thalamic regions relative to children of 7–11 years [48] or children and adolescents between 11 and 13 years [49]. However, one study found that adults had enhanced right superior frontal activation while the other study found that children had enhanced activation in this region [49]. The third study showed higher switch costs in children and more immature activation patterns in pre-SMA and VLPFC in children aged 8–12 years and in VLPFC in adolescents aged 13–17 years relative to adults between 18 and 25 years [50]. Similarly, enhanced inferior and medial frontal as well as parietal and cerebellar activation was observed for adults between 22 and 40 relative to children and adolescents between 10 and 16
