The development of spatial working memory abilities

Morphological development of the human prefrontal cortex (PFC) proceeds wel l into the 2nd decade of life. However, evidence regarding the developmenta l time course of "frontal" functions is limited. A wealth of evidence impli cates the dorsolateral PFC and its connections in spatial working memory fu nctions. In this study, we examined whether age-related changes occur in sp atial working memory abilities during the 2nd decade of life. Three hundred and eight male participants, approximately 14 years old, and 170 male part icipants, approximately 20 years old, performed a computerized spatial dela yed response task. The task was similar in design to tasks previously used in neurophysiological studies of the PFC in nonhuman primates. Results indi cate that spatial working memory abilities improve significantly from age 1 4 to 20. Similar results were obtained using a dual task design in which pa rticipants were required to read words during the delay period of the spati al working memory task.