Mackenzie Mitchell

Abstract In order to transition between a resting state and carrying out cognitively-demanding processes the brain makes a host of subtle changes to its network organization. In adults, less reconfiguration relates to better task performance, suggesting a preconfigured brain organization at rest is beneficial, such that only minute changes are required to execute task demands.

Abstract Response inhibition and sustained attention are critical for higher-order cognition and rely upon specific patterns of functional brain network organization. This study investigated how functional brain networks reconfigure to execute these cognitive processes during a go/no-go task with and without the presence of rewards in 26 children between the ages of 8 and 12 years. First, we compared task performance between standard and rewarded versions of a go/no-go task.

English Learners (ELs), students from non-English-speaking backgrounds, are a fast-growing, understudied, group of students in the U.S. with unique learning challenges. Cognitive flexibility—the ability to switch between task demands with ease—may be an important factor in learning for ELs as they have to manage learning in their non-dominant language and access knowledge in multiple languages.