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Journalism of Courage
LONDON, MARCH 9: Scientists have said they had successfully mapped the development of the brains of children between the ages of three and 15.
The achievement, reported in the science journal Nature
on Wednesday, is the first time detailed maps of growth patterns of the human brain have been recorded.
Arthur Toga and researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles said the images provided new information about which areas of the brain were involved in learning at different ages.
The high resolution, three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging MRI scans used in the mapping could also help track the effects of drug treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer8217;s and cancer.
8220;We detected striking, spatially complex patterns of growth and tissue loss in the developing human brain,8221; Toga said in the study.
The scans of three and six-year-olds showed peak growth rates in frontal circuits of the brain that help to sustain a vigilant mental state and to plan new actions.
The researchers also found that growth rates in an area of the brain linked to language were slow between the ages of three and six but speeded up from six to 15 years when fine tuning of language usually occurs.
8220;The ability to learn new languages declines rapidly after the age of 12 years, as does the ability to recover language function if linguistic areas in one brain hemisphere are surgically resected,8221; the scientists added.
The intervals of the scans ranged from two weeks to four years. Computers were used to calculate the growth patterns of the brain.
Scientists from the child psychiatry branch of the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington and the Montreal Neurological Institute in Canada also collaborated on the research.
