Research into adolescent brain development has long been an area of fascination for scientists, educators and parents alike. While the brain is known to undergo significant changes during this period, precisely what these changes entail and how they unfold has remained something of a mystery. However, recent breakthroughs have begun to reveal a fascinating picture of the adolescent brain and how it develops over time. In this article, we explore the latest findings from pioneering research that is changing the way we understand brain development in adolescence.
A new study from Penn Medicine has revealed that brain development is not a uniform process that happens throughout the entire brain. The study suggests that young people are vulnerable to socioeconomic situations until adolescence due to the brain’s various regions retaining the capacity to change, adapt, and remodel for different lengths of time. The findings, which were published in Nature Neuroscience, came from observing the brains of individuals aged between 8-23 years using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The study proposes a novel method of working out how different brain regions lose flexibility during different developmental stages. Brain plasticity refers to the ability of neural circuits to change and restructure in response to the environment, and it is generally accepted that children are more capable of changing than adults. This study, however, provides much more detailed insights into the exact developmental stage at which different areas of the brain lose plasticity throughout the individual’s development from childhood to adolescence.
The research suggests that reductions in brain plasticity begin at different times, with sensory-motor areas, which include visual and auditory regions, seeing the earliest reductions in flexibility. Meanwhile, associative regions, which are involved in higher order thinking abilities such as problem-solving and social learning, experience a later loss of plasticity. As a result, brain areas that support executive, social, and emotional functions are most susceptible during early adolescence, with plasticity declining later in the older developing brain regions.
Study author Theodore D. Satterthwaite, MD, explained that “studying brain development in the living human brain is challenging. A lot of neuroscientists’ understanding about brain plasticity during development actually comes from studies conducted with rodents. But rodent brains do not have many of what we refer to as the association regions of the human brain, so we know less about how these important areas develop”. To overcome this challenge, researchers used this new method, which combined insights from previous rodent studies with youth MRI imaging.
Analysing MRI scans from over 1,000 individuals, the authors found that functional markers of plasticity reduced during earlier childhood in sensory-motor regions, but did not decline until adolescence in associative ones. Satterthwaite adds: “These slow-developing associative regions are also those that are vital for children’s cognitive attainment, social interactions, and emotional well-being. We are really starting to understand the uniqueness of human’s prolonged developmental program”.
The study also reveals that environments remain vitally important throughout brain development, with youths’ socioeconomic environments having a greater impact on brain development in the late-maturing associative brain regions. This impact was found to be largest in adolescence. Future research using this methodology could focus on whether environmental enrichment programs have a beneficial impact on each child’s neurodevelopmental trajectory, with findings supporting the need for programs designed to alleviate disparities in youths’ socioeconomic environments throughout the adolescent period.
In conclusion, the discovery of the brain developing sequence through adolescence is an exciting step towards better understanding the complex processes that shape our cognitive abilities. By shedding light on critical periods of brain development and identifying key factors that affect neural growth, researchers are paving the way for more targeted interventions and treatments that could help optimize cognitive function and potentially prevent a range of neurological disorders. As the field continues to evolve and new discoveries emerge, we can look forward to a future where we have a deeper understanding of our brains and the incredible potential they hold.
