Abstract
Children show remarkable developments in their ability to decide when and how to flexibly move between a variety of routine and novel activities. While such developments are viewed as adaptive, they may also come with costs. We consider such trade‐offs in the development of increasingly active, abstract goal representations supported by prefrontal cortical regions. These developments support key transitions in children's increasingly flexible behavior, but are also resource‐demanding, with implications for learning, creativity, and training.
