Natural variance in executive function components by pubertal timing in neurotypical population of females

Abstract

Abstract We have shown recently that biological age assessed by skeletal maturity is positively associated with specific cognitive abilities in a cohort of adolescent girls. Here we report executive function components assessed by the Numerical Stroop test of 107 female participants from the same cohort. We have disentangled the effect of chronological and biological age (bone age) on inhibition and task switching by analyzing the performance with varying task requirements. Both chronological and biological age had an effect on the performance in all analyzed conditions. Chronological age had an independent effect on inhibition, however, no independent effect of biological age was present. However, we did not find an independent effect of chronological or biological age related to switching. When the successful completion of tasks required the simultaneous engagement of two executive components, we observed that both chronological and biological age had independent effects. This suggests that higher biological maturity, alongside chronological age, is associated with more successful performance in tasks with a higher cognitive load. Our study highlights the interplay between chronological and biological age in executive function development, where the effects of pubertal maturation become more apparent when simultaneous operation of multiple cognitive processes is required for task completion.