Brain connections may explain why girls mature faster
Newcastle University scientists have discovered that as the brain re-organises connections throughout our life, the process begins earlier in girls which may explain why they mature faster during the teenage years.
As we grow older, our brains undergo a major re-organisation reducing the connections in the brain. Studying people up to the age of 40, scientists led by Dr Marcus Kaiser and Ms Sol Lim at Newcastle University found that while overall connections in the brain get streamlined, long-distance connections that are crucial for integrating information are preserved.
The researchers suspect this newly-discovered selective process might explain why brain function does not deteriorate – and indeed improves –during this pruning of the network. Interestingly, they also found that these changes occurred earlier in females than in males.
Source and further reading:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/brain-connections-may-explain-why-girls-mature-faster
Reference:
http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/13/cercor.bht333.full
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Great ideas and beautiful pic.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping research will be done on the 40+ year populations.
How does aging effect long and short range structures and thereby perhaps longevity or ability.
Yes, yes! This gray matter is still fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThe more you expose it to different tasks in early years, the easier you might find it later.
Especially with girls you (at least me) can see a much earlier adoption of language and eloquence.
If you yourself use a diversity of words and possibilities to explain the same thing in different ways and are able to explain missing words for your kids you will be fascinated what the outcome will be. :-)
Well the major connectivity changes can be seen during the period of maturation and improvement in the brain, and that is between 4 and 40 Mark Bloom .
ReplyDeleteAge-related changes in brain structure and function are not uniform across the whole brain or across individuals, and I'm sure you know a lot of studies focus on neurodegenerative diseases. So ..patience =)
Joachim Kessel you're right.
ReplyDeleteLike I always like to say.... I'm a brain, rest of me is a mere appendix. =)
But then again is the other side of an active brain...doesn't come with a switcher, and is kinda exhausting sometimes.
Corina Marinescu , I'd love to see more of your brain. You already have very nice postings that I really enjoy!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I'm missing the switch, too.
Especially if you are involved in a lot of topics.
Invisible threads are the strongest ties Nat Manley =D
ReplyDeleteThomas McKeown are you familiar with the expression " Biology gives you a brain, life turns it into a mind"?
ReplyDeleteYou should try to digest the surroundings...we are all build the same, it's up to you to live the best way you can.
In my opinion..if you have time to complain, you have also time to do something about it.
A lot of people live on this planet stick with the ones who are your type of crazy...no reason to lose time and energy with this.
This study shows indeed that girls mature faster and is absolutely true...but perhaps should be this way isn't it? After all women are the ones giving birth so biologically speaking women brain's mature faster.
Thomas McKeown
ReplyDeleteA positive attitude may not solve all our problems but that is the only option we have if we want to get out of problems.
Stay positive, find solutions, solve your problems....what's the other alternative?
To stay miserable, angry and hurt?
You sound like a smart guy...learn from bad experiences and don't forget failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
Thomas McKeown your rant above was classic catastrophizing. Believing (ie projecting) the worst in everything is an advanced state of a depressed mind. I hope you don't think I'm being patronizing, but that frame of mind is poison to you and people in contact with you. Developing that level of negativity creates a self-fulfilling momentum of cynicism.
ReplyDeleteSincerely, you need to find ways to manager yourself out of that. Making a conscious decision to focus on positive things can help. It sort of rebalances your emotional context and helps you stop ruminating etc. Corina's posts are a great example - she's clearly focused on things she finds delightful. You might also consider the Book of Awesome: http://1000awesomethings.com/book/
Life's just way too short to waste on an emotionally destructive rut - find your way out of it man.