Cleverness and wisdom in 12‐year‐olds: Electrophysiological evidence for late maturation of the frontal lobe

Abstract

We were interested in the degree to which neuropsychological indices of frontal lobe function could account for individual differences as well as matura‐tional aspects of cognitive development. Children selected for enrichment classes are typically those who perform well on tests of intelligence compared to peers. We compared the performance of a group of 18 bright children with 22 peers on a neuropsychological battery designed to examine tasks related to executive functions associated with the prefrontal area, to simple attention and memory, to reaction time performance, and on auditory oddball P300s and visual Contingent Negative Variations (CNVs). We found that, compared to peers, enrichment class children are advanced in almost all measures except those reputed to tap prefrontal lobe functions, and that both groups of children are significantly behind an adult control group on the early component of the CNV, which has been specifically related to activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal area.