Brains Don't Enter Their 'Adult Era' Until Well After 30, Study Finds

You might have heard that the brain doesn’t mature fully until 25, though there’s little to no evidence to support this oft-repeated claim. And personally, the results of a recent study, published in Nature Communications, make a lot more sense to me. After looking at over 4,000 brain scans from participants aged zero to 90, researchers found that our minds seem to enjoy five “eras”, separated by four turning points which appear, on average, to happen at roughly the same ages.The brain’s developmental shift to adulthood seemed to happen well after 30. Dr Alexa Mousley, who led the research, told Cambridge University: “Looking back, many of us feel our lives have been characterised by different phases. It turns out that brains also go through these eras”. When do the brain age shifts happen?Per the 2025 paper, the brain goes through five developmental phases in our lifetimes: childhood (from birth ’til about 9), adolescence (9-32), adulthood (32-66), early ageing (66-83), and late ageing (83 onwards). That’s right – our mind’s adult phase, the longest era, was found to begin years after our 30th birthday.“Around the age of 32, we see the most directional changes in wiring and the largest overall shift in trajectory, compared to all the other turning points,” Dr Mousley said. “While puberty offers a clear start, the end of adolescence is much harder to pin down scientifically. Based purely on neural architecture, we found that adolescent-like changes in brain structure end around the early thirties.”The “adult” period seemed to be characterised by a “plateau in intelligence and personality”, more stability across the brain, and the increased compartmentalisation of different regions. What might this research mean? “We know the brain’s wiring is crucial to our development, but we lack a big picture of how it changes across our lives and why,” Dr Mousley shared. “These eras provide important context for what our brains might be best at, or more vulnerable to, at different stages of our lives.“It could help us understand why some brains develop differently at key points in life, whether it be learning difficulties in childhood, or dementia in our later years.”Personally, though, I’ve already found a use case for the research: it’ll help me to justify my interest in Twilight rewatches and dubious tattoos for a precious couple more years, even if it’s just to myself.Related...Boosting A Protein May Clear Dementia-Linked Plaques 'Like A Vacuum Cleaner'Emma Thompson's Right – Writing By Hand Is Great For Our BrainsScientists Think These Brain Changes May Link Insomnia To Dementia

Comments

Breaking news

David Lammy set to unveil major reforms to UK justice system this week

Independent

Comments

Similar News

Paige, 27, was told she was going to die from terminal brain cancer. Months later, doctors looked at her scans in pure disbelief

How to Not Waste Your Life, According to a Brain Surgeon

Furries, 'gooning' and 'muscle mommies': What really goes on in the warped porn chatrooms that have broken the brains of young men - and even driven some to kill. Special report by CLARE FOGES

The young Brits jetting off to work in Australia and Dubai as near-record numbers flee Labour's tax raids in new UK 'brain drain'

What Davina McCall eats in a day as she focuses on staying fit and healthy after undergoing lumpectomy for breast cancer and brain surgery

Adolescence lasts into your 30s, major new study on brain development finds

The brain drain from Starmer's socialist chaos: Record 110,051 seek asylum but Britons leave in droves

Weekly quiz: What age did scientists say your brain reaches adulthood?

Just one session of weightlifting or resistance training boosts brain power, study finds

Putin’s scientists are creating spy pigeons controlled by brain implants

Mother, 32, diagnosed with brain cancer after arm tingling dismissed as anxiety

Putin scientists unveil 'spy pigeons fitted with brain implants and cameras that can be controlled like drones'

Why the 'arm cutting' scene in 127 Hours makes you squirm: Scientists reveal how your brain simulates pain it sees on screen

Slash your daily calories to live longer and have a healthier brain, say scientists

Gagging Kelly Brook's eyes stream as she doubles over and SPITS OUT pig's brain in stomach-churning first look at I'm A Celebrity eating trial against Vogue Williams

Woman, 30, put double vision down to airplane cabin pressure - but it was warning sign of deadly brain tumour

Adolescence lasts into your 30s, major new study on brain development finds

Katie Price's ex Alex Reid is rushed to hospital with a suspected bleed on his brain after walking around 'punch drunk'

Mum dreading 'difficult Christmas' amid heartbreaking loss of son to brain cancer

Influencer Lorna Luxe, 43, reveals her husband John, 64, has had surgery to remove a brain tumour amid his battle with stage 4 cancer

Breaking news

David Lammy set to unveil major reforms to UK justice system this week

Dozens of Palestine Action supporters arrested after fresh wave of protests

Pentagon rolls out the welcome wagon for new MAGA-friendly press corps

Cheating in lightning chess - how unproven allegations ended in tragedy

David Lammy says Labour inherited 'courts emergency' amid plans to axe most jury trials

New trial allows HIV testing kits delivered to your door with results on phone

Gemma Collins 'confirms she is staying in Essex with plans to buy new home after £1.8M payday' despite stalker hell and rumoured Dubai move

MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: Honesty in politics will count for nothing if Reeves does not quit

Crime boss 'living the high life' after returning to UK fights second deportation on human rights grounds

Reeves will be lucky if the only punishment for this shameful deceit is the loss of her job: DAN HODGES

Now Angela Rayner faces new storm over tax on her grace and favour apartment

EastEnders legend Shaun Williamson reveals heartbreaking reason behind his epic soap return

Exposed: the Dubai-based fat cats making millions from asylum-seekers' taxis

Linda Robson shares update on best friend and Birds Of A Feather co-star Pauline Quirke amid dementia battle

Neighbours star Holly Valance snapped lounging on a steam train with hard-Right thug Tommy Robinson... as friends of the pop star say she has gone down a 'rabbit hole'

Alex Scott jokes she's too boring for I'm A Celebrity after Lioness is first kicked out of the jungle

Andrew told Epstein victim: I know he's been 'inappropriate' with another woman... a YEAR before ex-prince met his accuser Virginia Giuffre, lawyers for abused actress claim

RIP Sir Tom Stoppard: The woman-loving wordsmith who fled Hitler to become the greatest (and wittiest) playwright of his generation

Freddy Brazier's pregnant ex Holly Swinburn breaks silence on their split as she claims star had 'drug parties with girls in her house'

Catastrophic south-east Asia flooding leaves at least 600 dead with tens of thousands displaced as villages are submerged

Ellie Goulding strolls in west London wearing padded £2,950 Miu Miu jacket... but is it to hide some 'good news' for her and boyfriend Beau Minniear?

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi backtrack on plan to stay in UK while Trump is in power as couple plot return to sunny California to escape chilly Cotswold winter

TALK OF THE TOWN: V&A is just not ready for Freddie as it turns down Queen frontman's fashion collection

Corbyn's Your Party in chaos after co-founder Zarah Sultana snubs her own conference

Thousands of men with prostate cancer risk life-changing side effects because they aren't offered type of therapy received by David Cameron

The five things that set the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season apart

Is tracking your adult children OK or should parents learn to let go?

They have six packs - but they're still jumping on and off weight-loss jabs

A simple test could have given our son a very different future

The Papers: 'Reeves must go' and Tom Stoppard tributes

It's time to lock in and let your winter arc begin

The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine

Syria Tiptoes Toward Transitional Justice One Year After Assad’s Ouster

First picture of ‘genuine and funny’ man, 25, who died after falling from tower block

Lotto jackpot rolls over to £8,600,000 after no one claims prize

MP Ayoub Khan ‘killed a dog with his hands to save a baby’

Prince William ‘moved by courage’ of Gazan children brought to UK for treatment

Arrests made in New York after protesters appear to foil ICE raid with barricade of bodies and garbage bags

Thanksgiving home invasion leaves dog dead and widow without wedding ring and mortgage payment

Female cop banned from force after making 'unwanted sexual approach' to senior officer

Ukrainian officials head to US for peace talks - while dramatic footage shows Russian oil tanker being hit

Woman jailed for having sex outside busy shopping centre in broad daylight

Councils given record funding to fix potholes - but could lose it if they don't

Man accused of shooting Glasgow gangsters dead at Spanish bar pictured

'Severe allergic reaction made me lose my memory - I couldn't recognise myself'

Mum and dad screamed 'help us' as son 'beat them, set fire to home then escaped'

Rapist Met cop David Carrick's downfall - from 'popular' boy to serial sex offender

'Black hole' row: Call for Financial Conduct Authority investigation

Reeves must go for her Budget lies, say voters: Poll delivers damning verdict on Chancellor as No 10 admits that PM also knew there was no 'black hole'

I'm A Celebrity's Alex Scott reveals she is leaving Australia early to be with her girlfriend Jess Glynne

I'm A Celeb viewers brand Vogue Williams 'Superwoman' as gym loving model 'smashes' brutal 'Total Wipeout style' trial

Extraordinary moment explosion sends concrete blocks and chemical tank flying through the air near homes in Sydney's west - with factory fire set to burn ALL DAY

Vanessa Hudgens gives birth! High School Musical star welcomes second child with Cole Tucker

Greta Thunberg launches foul-mouthed tirade at 'fascist' Italian government during pro-Palestine protest in Rome - days after climate activist was banned from Venice

Was Charles' secret Cotswolds meeting with King of Bahrain a summit on his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's future?

Paige, 27, was told she was going to die from terminal brain cancer. Months later, doctors looked at her scans in pure disbelief

Russian drone and missile blitz on Ukraine's energy infrastructure leaves more than 600,000 in Kyiv without power