Nature Neuroscience
2, 859 - 861 (1999)
doi:10.1038/13154
In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regionsElizabeth R. Sowell1, Paul M. Thompson1, Colin J. Holmes1, Terry L. Jernigan2
& Arthur W. Toga11
Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, 710 Westwood Plaza, Room 4-238, Los Angeles, California 90095-1769,USA
2
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Departments of Psychiatry and Radiology, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, California
90095, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Elizabeth R. Sowell esowell@loni.ucla.eduWe spatially and temporally mapped brain maturation between adolescence and young adulthood using a whole-brain, voxel-by-voxel statistical analysis of high-resolution structural magnetic resonance images (MRI). The pattern of brain maturation during these years was distinct from earlier development, and was localized to large regions of dorsal, medial and orbital frontal cortex and lenticular nuclei, with relatively little change in any other location. This spatial and temporal pattern agrees with convergent findings from post-mortem studies of brain development and the continued development over this age range of cognitive functions attributed to frontal structures.
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