Adolescent Cognitive Development and Connectivity

Abstract

This study focuses on the concurrent understanding of cognitive development by integrating contemporary psychometric modeling techniques to capture both broad latent cognitive abilities and specific, time-sensitive interactions within distinct domains. Using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study as a primary data source (Casey et al., 2018), we develop and validate a hybrid psychometric model grounded in Process Overlap Theory (Hao et al., 2025; Kovacs & Conway, 2016) that incorporates latent change score models (Kievit et al., 2018) and network modeling (Epskamp et al., 2018). Our study focuses on revealing how domain-general and domain-specific cognitive functions evolve and interact over time in adolescents.

In this exploratory investigation, the interrelations among cognitive measures in the large-scale ABCD dataset are examined using psychometric network modeling across multiple time points. Additionally, latent change score models track individual developmental trajectories of broad cognitive factors, namely working memory, executive functioning, and verbal ability, as identified in previous research on ABCD neurocognition measures (Moore & Conway, 2023). These findings illuminate the interdependencies among latent constructs, offering insights into the dynamic mechanisms underpinning cognitive change.

This framework informs current experimental investigations by providing a developmental perspective on cognitive processes within the context of Process Overlap Theory. By exploring the developmental dynamics of both domain-specific and domain-general abilities, our project contributes to concurrent theory building in cognitive individual differences and has practical implications for both educational and clinical interventions.