Changes wrought by the pandemic during the last few years may have affected the development of teen brains.
The researchers looked at differences in 64 scans from each group, matched by the kids’ sex and age, with an average age of around 16 for each group.Adolescent brains naturally go through a maturation process that results in the thickening of the hippocampus, an area involved with memory and concentration, and the amygdala, which regulates emotional processing. At the same time, the cortex — an area that regulates emotional functioning — starts thinning.
Exactly what part of the pandemic may have shaped teen brains is unclear. But “this study shows that the pandemic has had a material impact on brain maturation,” says Joan Luby, a child psychiatrist at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, who wasn’t involved in the research. , “it’s not a big leap” to think that the stressful conditions could also have shaped brain development in his study’s cohort, Gotlib says.
And it’s unclear whether accelerated brain aging has impacted teen health, or if issues will manifest later in life. While researchers can’t say for sure, “if your brain is prematurely aging, that’s generally not a good thing,” Luby says.
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