“Teens need our support now more than ever.”Significant socioemotional development occurs during adolescence, along with substantial changes to brain structure and function.
The researchers originally intended to track ordinary adolescent brain development over time, starting with MRIs the authors conducted on participants’ brains in 2018.
The study revealed accelerated cortical thinning in the post-pandemic brains of teens — occurring in 30 brain regions across both hemispheres and all lobes for girls, and in only two regions for boys.
The prevalence of the thinning amounted to 43% and 6% of the studied brain regions for girls and boys, respectively.
The regions affected in boys’ brains are involved in processing objects in the visual field as well as faces.
Persons:
”, Patricia K, Kuhl, Max Wiznitzer, Wiznitzer wasn’t, Wiznitzer, It’s, Ian Gotlib, wasn’t, ” Kuhl, Gotlib
Organizations:
CNN, National Academy of Sciences, Institute for Learning, Sciences, University of Washington, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Stanford, Stanford University
Locations:
Seattle, Washington