Does the Brain Really Mature at the Age of 25?
At what point is the brain considered to be truly mature is a question that has varying answers, but many consider the age of 25 as the best bet due to a very notable increase in rationality and decreased adaptability. However, brain development does not cease at 25, as apparently, things are more intricate than that.
Age Doesn’t Stop Brain Development
The idea that brain development is not complete until the age of 25 pertains to the development of the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex forms part of the frontal lobe and is often referred to as the section of the brain responsible for logic. Compared to regions involved in learning languages, the prefrontal cortex is slower to develop. The area becomes more developed in adolescence, and adults benefit from a well-developed prefrontal cortex, allowing them to perfect skills that require focus, learning, and memory.
Multiple sources point toward research in the early 2000s as the one suggesting this area matures at the age of 25 specifically. However, the research was still ongoing at the time and involved magnetic resonance imaging scans of 2,000 people aged between 4 and 26 years old. In that research, the dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex’s development timeline was observed to vary between individuals. So, the answer is that there is no conclusive proof that the brain stops developing at 25 or that there are correlations between certain behavior and brain changes.
MRI Scans Help Examine the Brain
How does the brain change throughout life? In a 2022 study, researchers analyzed over 120,000 MRI scans from over 100,000 participants, spanning a wide age range from 115 days post-conception to 100 years old. They created charts illustrating the growth of different brain tissues. It was discovered that most basic morphological properties reached their peak early in development, often before the sixth year of life. Consequently, changes occur rapidly in early development, while in later stages of life, they become more subtle and gradual. This indicates that a universal timeline for brain development across a lifetime is highly unlikely.