Introducing the brain: slow adaptation of adolescent (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, April 10, 2023, 19:20 (593 days ago) @ David Turell

Malleable frontal lobe adaptations:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230410132201.htm

"Brain development does not occur uniformly across the brain, but follows a newly identified developmental sequence, according to a new Penn Medicine study. Brain regions that support cognitive, social, and emotional functions appear to remain malleable -- or capable of changing, adapting, and remodeling -- longer than other brain regions, rendering youth sensitive to socioeconomic environments through adolescence.

"Researchers charted how developmental processes unfold across the human brain from the ages of 8 to 23 years old through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The findings indicate a new approach to understanding the order in which individual brain regions show reductions in plasticity during development.

"Brain plasticity refers to the capacity for neural circuits -- connections and pathways in the brain for thought, emotion, and movement -- to change or reorganize in response to internal biological signals or the external environment. While it is generally understood that children have higher brain plasticity than adults, this study provides new insights into where and when reductions in plasticity occur in the brain throughout childhood and adolescence.

"The findings reveal that reductions in brain plasticity occur earliest in "sensory-motor" regions, such as visual and auditory regions, and occur later in "associative" regions, such as those involved in higher-order thinking (problem solving and social learning). As a result, brain regions that support executive, social, and emotional functions appear to be particularly malleable and responsive to the environment during early adolescence, as plasticity occurs later in development.

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"When a brain region is less developed and more plastic, there tends to be more intrinsic activity within the region, and that activity also tends to be more synchronized. This is because more neurons in the region are active, and they tend to be active at the same time. As a result, measurements of brain activity waves show an increase in amplitude(or height).

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"Analyzing MRI scans from more than 1,000 individuals, the authors found that the functional marker of brain plasticity declined in earlier childhood in sensory-motor regions but did not decline until mid-adolescence in associative regions.

"'These slow-developing associative regions are also those that are vital for children's cognitive attainment, social interactions, and emotional well-being," Satterthwaite added. "We are really starting to understand the uniqueness of human's prolonged developmental program."

"'If a brain region remains malleable for longer, it may also remain sensitive to environmental influences for a longer window of development," Sydnor said. "This study found evidence for just that."

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"Critically, youths' socioeconomic environments generally had a larger impact on brain development in the late-maturing associative brain regions, and the impact was found to be largest in adolescence.

"'This work lays the foundation for understanding how the environment shapes neurodevelopmental trajectories even through the teenage years," said Bart Larsen, PhD, a PennLINC postdoctoral researcher and co-author."

Comment: most adolescent brains are complete4ly developed by 25. Allowing adult behaviors and activities at earlier ages results in drinking and driving problems. It is a question whether to allow voting before age 21.