Neurocognitive development of relational reasoning

Relational reasoning is an essential component of fluid intelligence, and is known to have a protracted developmental trajectory. To date, little is known about the neural changes that underlie improvements in reasoning ability over development. In this event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, children aged 8-12 and adults aged 18-25 performed a relational reasoning task adapted from Raven's Progressive Matrices. The task included three levels of relational reasoning demands: REL-0, REL-1, and REL-2. Children exhibited disproportionately lower accuracy than adults on trials that required integration of two relations (REL-2). Like adults, children engaged lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and parietal cortex during task performance; however, they exhibited different time courses and activation profiles, providing insight into their approach to the…