The two phenomena coincide, researchers discovered in a new study

Apr 2, 2012 10:03 GMT  ·  By

In a paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), investigators determined that the human brain matures at the exact same time when teenagers reach puberty.

The research, carried out on a sample of 67 teens, used electroencephalogram (EEG) readings to monitor the electrical activity of participants' brains. Important neural developments were found to occur in neural systems linked to the control of behavior and reproduction.

Evolutionarily speaking, it makes sense for the two phenomena to coincide, anthropologists say. Interestingly, these moments also coincide with a time in teens' lives when they are most prone to exhibit early indicators of conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

These diseases are known to manifest themselves primarily during young adulthood. Scientists now believe that they are caused by brain development abnormalities. Given that the likelihood of errors occurring is higher as the brain matures, it makes sense that this period puts teens at the highest risk.

“A connection between brain and body maturity has long been suspected, but demonstrating its existence has been difficult,” explains University of California in Davis (UCD) project scientist in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Ian Campbell.

“Because we were able to track both processes within a large group of teenagers over the course of the crucial years of adolescence, we could demonstrate this association,” adds the expert, who was also the senior author of the PNAS paper.

“Exploring the mechanisms that underlie this relationship could ultimately help us better understand the mental-health issues of teenagers,” he goes on to say. Past studies also revealed that EEG activity in teens tends to decrease by as much as 60 percent during adolescence.

One possible explanation is that the large number of neural connections that underlie learning by this age is reduced and reestablished, so that the skills teens actually need are strengthened, while everything else is eliminated.

This pruning process coincides with the progression of puberty. “Now that we know the processes are linked in time, we need to determine how,” Campbell concludes, quoted by PsychCentral.