Brain development
How does the human brain structurally change as we grow up?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Brain structures change significantly from childhood to adulthood, but the way researchers adjust for overall brain size can dramatically alter their conclusions about these developmental patterns.
Key findings
They found that intracranial volume increases by approximately 1% annually until mid-adolescence, whereas whole brain volume decreases during adolescence. Cortical grey matter volume was highest at around 8 years of age and steadily declined, while white matter volume grew until mid-to-late adolescence. Crucially, correcting regional volumes using whole brain volume flattened differences between males and females, whereas using intracranial volume as a covariate did not.
Methodology
Researchers analyzed structural brain scans from four separate longitudinal datasets collected across three countries to track physical brain changes from childhood to early adulthood. They examined how measures like intracranial volume and whole brain volume change, and tested how different statistical methods of adjusting for overall brain size affect regional developmental curves. The scans were processed uniformly using either 1.5-T or 3-T MRI machines across the different study sites.
Limitations
This study cannot determine the biological cause behind these volume changes, such as whether grey matter reduction reflects synaptic pruning or changes in myelination. Furthermore, the results are sensitive to the specific age ranges of the cohorts; for instance, the site studying a narrow range of 10 to 16 years showed linear trajectories rather than the non-linear patterns found in broader cohorts. Additionally, because the study focused on gross cortical measures, it does not show how these size-correction methods impact smaller subcortical structures.
How this study connects
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