Defining normal in the brain
Scans set standard for how connectivity evolves during maturation
Researchers have created a growth curve for the brain, similar to the height and weight charts pediatricians use to monitor their patients’ development. Scientists came up with the new developmental milestones by aggregating the results of brain scans that reveal active connections throughout the organ.
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Published September 10 in Science, the study reveals how a typical brain’s connections evolve with age, information that could help doctors detect a variety of disorders — many of which are marked by disordered neural connections — earlier.
“It’s really remarkable how much information can be gleaned with just a five-minute resting-state scan,” says neuroscientist Olaf Sporns of Indiana University in Bloomington. “The techniques they’ve developed here may be very powerful in making predictions for individual patients.”