The Teen Brain: Insights from Neuroimaging

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.01.007

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 42, Issue 4, April 2008, Pages 335-343

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.01.007 Get rights and content

Abstract

Few parents of a teenager are surprised to hear that the brain of a 16-year-old is different from the brain of an 8-year-old. Yet to pin down these differences in a rigorous scientific way has been elusive. Magnetic resonance imaging, with the capacity to provide exquisitely accurate quantifications of brain anatomy and physiology without the use of ionizing radiation, has launched a new era of adolescent neuroscience. Longitudinal studies of subjects from ages 3–30 years demonstrate a general pattern of childhood peaks of gray matter followed by adolescent declines, functional and structural increases in connectivity and integrative processing, and a changing balance between limbic/subcortical and frontal lobe functions, extending well into young adulthood. Although overinterpretation and premature application of neuroimaging findings for diagnostic purposes remains a risk, converging data from multiple imaging modalities is beginning to elucidate the implications of these brain changes on cognition, emotion, and behavior.

Section snippets

NIMH Child Psychiatry Branch Longitudinal Brain Imaging Project

Begun in 1989 under the direction of Markus Krusei, M.D., the Child Psychiatry Branch (CPB) of the National Institute of Mental Health has been conducting a longitudinal study of brain development in health and illness. The study design is for participants to come to the National Institutes of Health at approximately 2-year intervals for brain imaging, neuropsychologic and behavioral assessment, and collection of DNA. As of September 2007, we have acquired approximately 5000 scans from 2000

Total Cerebral Volume

In the CPB cohort, total cerebral volume peaks at 10.5 years in girls and 14.5 years in boys [1]. By age 6 years, the brain is at approximately 95% of this peak (Figure 1a). Total cerebral volume decreases during adolescence were not previously detected with postmortem data [2], [3] or cross-sectional MRI studies [4], [5]. Consistent with the adult neuroimaging literature [6], mean total cerebral volume is approximately 10% larger in boys. Total brain size differences should not be interpreted

Summary of sMRI Changes Occurring in the Second Decade

In the typically developing CPB cohort, total cerebral and GM volumes peak during the ages from 10–20 years, whereas WM and ventricular volumes increase. Age of peak size for GM volumes differs, varies by region, and is generally earlier in females than in males.

Genes and Environment

To discern the relative contributions of genetic and nongenetic influences on trajectories of brain development, we are conducting a longitudinal neuroimaging study of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. To date we have acquired approximately 600 scans from 90 MZ and 60 DZ twin pairs. Correlation differences between MZ and DZ twins are analyzed with structural equation modeling to estimate the relative contributions to phenotypic variance of additive genetic (A), shared environmental

Discussion

Three themes emerge from the cumulative neuroimaging research of adolescents, each buttressed by behavioral, EEG, and postmortem studies.

The first is an increase in associative cognitive activity as distributed brain modules become more and more integrated [70]. This increased connectivity is reflected by the WM changes, with fMRI studies suggesting more extensive neural networks, and by increased EEG coherence (reviewed in [71]). If we consider a literary/linguistic metaphor, maturation would

Addendum: Technical Aspects, Analysis, and Modalities of Imaging

The term magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), if not specifically qualified as a different type, usually refers to the technique that yields different signal intensities for different tissue types (i.e., white matter [WM], gray matter [GM], or cerebrospinal fluid [CSF]). It is sometimes referred to as structural MRI (sMRI) or anatomic MRI to distinguish it from the more recent variants, such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), magnetization transfer (MT), or functional MRI (fMRI).

The DTI technique

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Review articleThe Teen Brain: Insights from Neuroimaging

Abstract

Section snippets

NIMH Child Psychiatry Branch Longitudinal Brain Imaging Project

Total Cerebral Volume

Summary of sMRI Changes Occurring in the Second Decade

Genes and Environment

Discussion

Addendum: Technical Aspects, Analysis, and Modalities of Imaging

Neuroimage

Int Rev Neurobiol

Neuroimage

Trends Neurosci

Psychiatry Res

Biol Psychiatry

Brain Res

Dev Brain Res

Behav.Brain Res

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Neuroimage

Cortex

Neuropsychologia

Neuroimaging Clin North Am

Neurobiol Learn Mem

Neuropsychologia

Exp Neurol

Neuroimage

Trends Neurosci

Curr Opin Neurobiol

Lancet Neurol

Trends Cogn Sci

Neurosci.Lett

Int J Psychophysiol

Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol

Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol

Tables of cranial and orbital measurements, cranial volume, and derived indexes in males and females from 7 days to 20 years of age

Ann Neurol

Changes in brain weight during the span of human life: relation of brain weights to body heights and body weights

Ann Neurol

Late childhood changes in brain morphology observable with MRI

Dev.Med Child Neurol

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of human brain development: ages 4–18

Cereb Cortex

Normal sexual dimorphism of the adult human brain assessed by in vivo magnetic resonance imaging

Cereb Cortex

Cerebellar development and clinical outcome in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Am J Psychiatry

Disorders of the cerebellum: ataxia, dysmetria of thought, and the cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome

J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci

The cerebellum contributes to higher functions during development: evidence from a series of children surgically treated for posterior fossa tumours

Brain

Cerebellar projections to the prefrontal cortex of the primate

J Neurosci

New insights into neuron–glia communication

Science

A quantitative magnetic resonance imaging study of changes in brain morphology from infancy to late adulthood

Arch.Neurol

Brain development, gender and IQ in childrenA volumetric imaging study

Brain

Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study

Nat Neurosci

Mapping continued brain growth and gray matter density reduction in dorsal frontal cortex: inverse relationships during postadolescent brain maturation

J Neurosci

Mapping cortical change across the human life span

Nat Neurosci

Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps

Nature

Interhemispheric asymmetries in visual discrimination: a neurophysiological hypothesis

Doc Opthal Proc Ser

Review article
The Teen Brain: Insights from Neuroimaging