PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - van Bijnen, Sam AU - Parkkonen, Lauri AU - Parviainen, Tiina TI - Activity level in left auditory cortex predicts behavioral performance in inhibition tasks in children AID - 10.1101/2020.04.30.069906 DP - 2020 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2020.04.30.069906 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/02/2020.04.30.069906.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/02/2020.04.30.069906.full AB - Sensory processing during development is important for the emerging cognitive skills underlying goal-directed behavior. Yet, it is not known how auditory processing in children is related to their cognitive functions. Here, we utilized combined magneto- and electroencephalographic (M/EEG) measurements to show that child-unique auditory cortical activity at ∼250 ms after auditory stimulation predicts the performance in inhibition tasks. While unaffected by task demands, the amplitude of the left-hemisphere response was significantly correlated with the variability of behavioral response time. Since this response is not present in adults, our results suggest divergent brain mechanisms in adults and children for consistent performance in auditory-based cognitive tasks. This difference can be explained as a shift in cognitive control functionality from sensorimotor associations in the auditory cortex of children to top–down regulated control processes involving (pre)frontal and cingulate areas in adults.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.