Mar. 30, 2006 Youth with superior IQ are distinguished by how
fast the thinking part of their brains thickens and thins as
they grow up, researchers at the National Institutes of Health's
(NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have
discovered. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans showed that
their brain's outer mantle, or cortex, thickens more rapidly
during childhood, reaching its peak later than in their peers —
perhaps reflecting a longer developmental window for high-level
thinking circuitry. It also thins faster during the late teens,
likely due to the withering of unused neural connections as the
brain streamlines its operations. Drs. Philip Shaw, Judith
Rapoport, Jay Giedd and colleagues at NIMH and McGill University
report on their findings in the March 30, 2006 issue of Nature.
"Studies of brains have taught us that people with higher IQs do
not have larger brains. Thanks to brain imaging technology, we
can now see that the difference may be in the way the brain
develops," said NIH Direct