The Age-Related Decline of Brain Function: What You Need to Know.
A recent study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester found that the speed of neuronal transmission in the brain continues to increase throughout adolescence and early adulthood, with long-range fibers connecting distant brain regions showing the greatest increases in transmission speed. The study, which used electrical stimulation to measure the timing of responses in adjacent areas of the brain, suggests that brain maturation continues well into the third decade of life and could help explain why psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia tend to develop during this stage of life.