DEVELOPMENTAL-CHANGES IN PERFORMANCE ON TESTS OF PURPORTED FRONTAL-LOBE FUNCTIONING

To investigate developmental changes in performance on cognitive and memory tests purported to reflect frontal lobe functioning, 52 normal children and adolescents were studied including 17 children in the 7- to 8-year-old group, 17 children in the 9- to 12-year-old age range, and 18 adolescents who ranged from 13 to 15 years. The tests included the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version, Word Fluency, Animal Naming and Design Fluency, the Twenty Questions task, the Go-No Go task, the Tower of London, and Delayed Alternation. With the exception of Delayed Alternation, developmental changes were confirmed on all of the tests. Major gains were found primarily between the 7- to 8- and 9- to 12-year-old groups on Wisconsin Card Sorting measures and false-positive errors on the Go-No Go Task. However, further advances in performance in the 13- to 15-year-old age range were confirmed on the California Verbal Learning Test, Twenty Questions, and Tower of London. A principal components analysis revealed a three-factor solution, including a semantic association/concept formation factor, a freedom from perseveration factor, and a planning/strategy factor. Our findings encourage the application of these tests to children with frontal lobe lesions.