Nice News - If you feel like you’re still waiting for your brain’s “adult mode” to kick in, recent research from the University of Cambridge may explain why. Scientists analyzed brain scans of 3,802 people ages zero to 90 to see how neural networks change over a lifetime.
They identified four turning points at which there are significant shifts in how we process information. Those points separate five distinct “epochs,” or phases. “Looking back, many of us feel our lives have been characterized by different phases. It turns out that brains also go through these eras,” senior author Duncan Astle said in a news release.
During the first era, childhood (birth to age 9), the brain’s synapses are refined while the brain grows and matures. Next comes the adolescent phase, from 9 to 32, marked by a steady increase in cognitive performance and efficiency. At age 32, the “strongest topological turning point of the lifespan” occurs, ushering in that “adult mode.” This is the longest phase, characterized by a stable plateau in intelligence and personality. The last two eras are early aging, when white matter begins to gradually degenerate around 66, and late aging, taking shape around 83.
The information provides greater clarity on how patterns of change affect neurological development, cognitive disorders, and mental health, Astle noted: “Understanding that the brain’s structural journey is not a question of steady progression, but rather one of a few major turning points, will help us identify when and how its wiring is vulnerable to disruption.”
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