U.S. scientists claim that majority of human brain development occurs at the age of 11 or 12.

The project is funded by National Institutes of Health. In the project nearly 500 newborn kids were monitored until they become teenagers. Regular MRI scans were conducted on these kids, to trace how different parts of the brain develop as they age.

According to the study, between the ages of 6 and 10, major brain development occurs in the areas of: spatial recognition, vocabulary, memory, reasoning and calculation, and then levels off.

Deborah Waber of Children’s Hospital Boston, who conducted the study, said, “We don’t honestly know why it happens.”

The part of the human brain, which is responsible for impulse control and moral judgment, matures in the last phase of brain development and it can sometimes not fully develop until a person’s early 20’s, according to the scientists.

In the study it was found that the girls usually start with a slightly better verbal ability but boys attain it by adolescence; both of them have an equal aptitude for math.

The experts mentioned that the medical images of the kid’s brains will be used by them. It will be utilize as a guide to childhood brain development.

Waber said:

This database will be like a library of brains that investigators can use to compare to other populations of children with disease and disorders.

The study published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

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