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How the adult brain develops has been studied by a Harvard neuroscientist, who suggested that although the person grows old and matures over time, his or her brain remains younger than the person. This is because brain development lags compared to physical development. Is your brain younger than you?

Dr. Leah H. Somerville, a Harvard neuroscientist, had suggested that the human brain develops slower than a person's physicality. As was published in Neuron last Wednesday, Somerville raised the problem of neuron transmission that affects the maturity of a person's brain, reported New York Times.

As the reshaping of the brain develops after a person turns 10 years old, the connections of neurons would spread out to other parts of the brain which would lead to the deference of its maturity.

Although this was generally claimed by the doctor, separate parts of the brain reshape at different rates. For instance, the occipital lobe which is located at the hind part will officially become an adult brain when the person turns 20 years old. The frontal lobes, however, would fully develop when the person reaches at least 30 years of age.

When the anatomy of the adult brain progresses, brain activity would likewise change. A toddler's brain would work together with its neurons harmonically but as the brain ages, the neural networks would interact at a slower rate which will cause the brain to remain that of a child's until all its parts would fully progress as an adult brain.

In other news, CNN reported that no definite explanation has confirmed when a brain would leave adolescence and when it could be considered as an adult brain indefinitely. In fact, the brain was defined as a constantly-changing human organ that Dr. Somerville contended that brain maturity is different in each person and there is no definitive state when a human person has fully developed an adult brain.

Per Dr. Leah H. Somerville, there is no definitive period in a human's life when he or she could truly claim to have an adult brain. Although the physical development of a person is constant with age, this causation is distinct from brain development. Therefore, a human brain could be younger than the person's age is.