The 5 stages of the brain - 'adolescent' period lasts until age 32

"Their analysis revealed that the average human life is split up by four pivotal 'turning points' between five key stages - childhood, adolescence, adulthood, early ageing, and late ageing. If you're in your early 30s and still don't feel like a proper adult, you're not wrong, as scientists say the 'adolescent' period lasts until age 32. 'The brain goes through a natural transition around the time puberty begins, which extends until the early 30s,' lead researcher Dr Alexa Mousley told the Daily Mail. 'This age window exceeds what many consider "adolescence".'"

"These scans look at how water molecules move through the brain to map the neural connections in our brain tissue. By compiling thousands of scans, they found that our brain's wiring evolves through five main stages. Between the ages of zero and nine, we are in the 'childhood stage'. During this period, our brains undergo massive reconfiguration and development. Most importantly, the brain goes through a rapid process called 'network consolidation' in which the excess synapses - connections between neurons - are whittled down, with only the most active surviving."

Human brain development progresses through five main stages: childhood (0–9), adolescence (9–32), adulthood, early ageing, and late ageing. Brain wiring undergoes prolonged reconfiguration throughout childhood including rapid network consolidation that removes excess synapses while grey and white matter volumes increase and cortical folds stabilise. Adolescence extends into the early 30s as neural rewiring continues, and intelligence and personality reach a stable plateau by the mid-30s. MRI diffusion scans that map water-molecule movement across neural tissue reveal four major turning points and indicate nearly three decades of maturation before the adult brain form is reached.

Read at Mail Online