Age-related progress in cognitive control reflects more frequent engagement of proactive control during childhood. As proactive preparation for an upcoming task is adaptive only when the task can be reliably predicted, progress in proactive control engagement may rely on more efficient use of contextual cue reliability. Developmental progress may also reflect increasing efficiency in how proactive control is engaged, making this control mode more advantageous with age. To address these possibilities, 6-year-olds, 9-year-olds, and adults completed three versions of a cued task-switching paradigm in which contextual cue reliability was manipulated. When contextual cues were reliable (but not unreliable or uninformative), all age groups showed greater pupil dilation and a more pronounced (pre)cue-locked posterior positivity associated with faster response times, suggesting adaptive engagement of proactive task selection. However, adults additionally showed a larger contingent negative variation (CNV) predicting a further reduction in response times with reliable cues, suggesting motor preparation in adults but not children. Thus, early developing use of contextual cue reliability promotes adaptiveness in proactive control engagement from early childhood; yet, less efficient motor preparation in children makes this control mode overall less advantageous in childhood than adulthood.

与年龄有关的认知控制进展反映了儿童期主动控制的频繁发生。因为仅当可以可靠地预测任务时才为即将到来的任务进行主动准备，所以主动控制参与的进度可能依赖于上下文提示可靠性的更有效利用。发展进步也可能反映出主动控制的效率不断提高，从而使这种控制方式随着年龄的增长而变得更加有利。为了解决这些可能性，六岁，九岁和成人完成了三种提示操作任务转换范例，其中使用了上下文提示可靠性。当上下文线索可靠（但不是不可靠或缺乏信息）时，所有年龄段的人都表现出更大的瞳孔扩张和更显着的（前）提示锁定后阳性，并伴有更快的反应时间，这表明他们积极参与了主动的任务选择。然而，成年人还显示出较大的或有负性变异（CNV），预示着可靠线索的响应时间将进一步减少，这表明成年人应做好运动准备，而儿童则不能。因此，早期使用上下文提示的可靠性促进了儿童早期主动控制参与的适应性。然而，儿童的运动准备工作效率较低，使得这种控制模式在儿童时期的整体优势不及成年时期。成年人还显示出较大的或有负性变化（CNV），预示着可靠线索的响应时间会进一步减少，这表明成年人中有运动准备，而儿童则没有。因此，早期使用上下文提示的可靠性促进了儿童早期主动控制参与的适应性。然而，儿童的运动准备工作效率较低，使得这种控制模式在儿童时期的整体优势不及成年时期。成年人还显示出较大的或有负性变化（CNV），预示着可靠线索的响应时间会进一步减少，这表明成年人中有运动准备，而儿童则没有。因此，早期使用上下文提示的可靠性促进了儿童早期主动控制参与的适应性。然而，儿童的运动准备工作效率较低，使得这种控制模式在儿童时期的整体优势不及成年时期。