ABSTRACT
It is perhaps necessary at this point to interject a statement about how we might view studies in which simplified versions of traditional frontal lobe measures are utilized to study cognitive development. On the one hand, the argument could be made that we must use age-appropriate measures of frontal lobe function to study similar cognitive processes (e.g. inhibitory control) in children as well as adults. That is, a test such as the Day-Night Stroop could be viewed as functionally equivalent to the Stroop Colour-Word test, because both tests tap the capacity for behavioural inhibition. On the other hand, “similar” does not mean “identical” and, in many cases, simplified versus more difficult versions of the same test cannot be considered to be cognitively equivalent. The achievement of adult levels of performance on prefrontally mediated tasks requires mastery of a relatively high level of situational complexity through the simultaneous processing of multiple task demands. If one wishes to study when it is that the PFC is first engaged by a task, then simplified task demands can be employed. But if one wishes to determine when adult levels of proficiency are reached, then the same relatively challenging measures must be used to study behaviour in both children and adults, incorporating increasing levels of difficulty so that a dimensional assessment can be achieved.
