Gender Differences in Brain Development

Longitudinal research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans allows for
unprecedented opportunity to study brain growth and changes in the structural morphology
of healthy children. Scientists from the NIH and the Child Psychiatry
Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (CPB/NIMH) have scanned the
brains of 145 healthy children at 2-year intervals (Giedd et al., 1999; Lenroot &
Giedd, 2007). The first phase of the study, initiated in 1989, investigated participants
between 4 and 25 years of age. The cross-sectional design was expanded
in later study phases so that a longitudinal investigation of brain development was
possible, and gender differences could be explored. Currently, 3600 scans have been
completed on 1800 subjects.