Engagement of neural systems varies with level of executive function during late childhood: Evidence from a structural equation modeling approach to data from the adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study

The present study utilized structural equation models to investigate the association between brain activation and level of executive function in participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study at the baseline assessment and the two-year follow-up. The results indicated that increasing levels of a latent factor reflecting activation across multiple regions of the frontoparietal network (FPN) for the contrast of a 2 vs. 0 back condition in the emotional N-back task were significantly associated with higher levels of a latent factor of common executive functioning (cEF) drawn from a variety of behavioral measures, while the opposite was true for a latent factor of activation drawn from somatomotor regions. Moreover, these relationships were specific to cEF as they held even when a latent measure of general intelligence was included. In addition, these effects were observed at each of the two distinct time points 2 years apart. cEF scores at baseline predicted FPN scores at the Year 2 follow-up after controlling for FPN scores at baseline. These results provide for the possibility that increased levels of cEF during late childhood may provide a strong substrate for continued development of the FPN and decreased reliance on somatomotor regions.