There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Non-invasive mapping of brain structure and function with magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) has opened up unprecedented opportunities for studying the neural substrates
underlying cognitive development. There is an emerging consensus of a continuous increase
throughout adolescence in the volume of white matter, both global and local. There
is less agreement on the meaning of asynchronous age-related decreases in the volume
of grey matter in different cortical regions; these might equally represent loss ("pruning")
or gain (intra-cortical myelination) of tissue. Functional MRI studies have so far
focused mostly on executive functions, such as working memory and behavioural inhibition,
with very few addressing questions regarding the maturation of social cognition. Future
directions for research in this area are discussed in the context of processing biological
motion and matching perceptions and actions.