Smart children with cortex develop earlier

Smart babies don't necessarily have bigger brains than friends, but brain areas associated with thinking change more drastically during adolescence.

(Photo: en.wikipedia.org)

When children grow up, their cortex thickens and then thins out when nerve connections are created and then pruned to become effective. By brain scanning techniques, researchers found that the cortex of children with higher IQ scores increased faster and for longer periods of time than those with moderate intelligence.

307 children aged 6 to 20 participated in the experiment. Most children have a brain scan at least twice, two years apart. Based on IQ test, children are divided into 3 groups: super class (121-145), high (109-120) and average (83-108).

Brain scan shows the cortex of all children thickening in adolescence before thinning again.

For example, the brains of the smartest 7-year-olds in the group start thickening until the age of 11 or 12, before thinning. But in the group of children with average IQ, on the contrary, the cortex peaked at age 8, and gradually thinned afterwards.

This reflects smart kids who have "window" time to develop longer brain. In addition, their cortex is also thinner than at the end of adolescence, possibly in order to effectively eliminate unnecessary neurological connections, research leader Philip Shaw from the National Institute of Neurological Health America, said.

T. An