Visuospatial working memory and cortical structural development in early childhood

Abstract

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) is essential in multiple areas of life including academic abilities and emotional development. Studies focusing on early childhood and cortical structural development are scarce. We explored associations between VSWM (using Spin the pots task) in 2.5-year-olds as well as 5-year-olds and cortical metrics from T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of 157 typically developing 5-year-olds (mean age 5.41, SD 0.13; 83 males). MRIs were processed using FreeSurfer. We found that in 5-year-olds cortical volume and surface area were positively correlated in the right middle temporal region with Spin the pots scores. There were no associations between 2.5-year-olds Spin the pots scores and structural brain metrics. This study presents a brain region possibly significant for cognitive development in early childhood and is somewhat supported by previous studies with adult participants. Studies like ours focusing on parallels between brain maturation and neuropsychological development could broaden the understanding of the typical development of brain in early childhood, which is an interesting standpoint and offers a background for the research of abnormal and pathological development.