Overview
- The peer-reviewed study, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, pooled nine datasets and applied tractography with 12 network metrics to define structural epochs.
- Researchers report an extended adolescence-like remodeling from age 9 to about 32, after which an adult architecture stabilizes for roughly three decades.
- An early aging phase begins near 66 with reduced connectivity linked to white-matter degeneration, and a late aging phase near 83 shows further global decline with greater reliance on hub regions.
- Childhood (0–9) is characterized by network consolidation as excess synapses are pruned and gray and white matter volumes grow rapidly.
- Independent experts highlight limits of the cross-sectional, mostly white pooled samples and harmonization challenges, urging longitudinal and more diverse studies to validate precise ages and clinical implications.