Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2018 Sep;92:417-436. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.06.004. Epub 2018 Jul 1.
Alongside the exponential flourish of research on age-related trajectories of human brain development during childhood and adolescence in the past two decades, there has been an increase in the body of work examining the association between pubertal development and brain maturation. This review systematically examines empirical research on puberty-related structural and functional brain development in humans, with the aim of identifying convergent patterns of associations. We emphasize longitudinal studies, and discuss pervasive but oft-overlooked methodological issues that may be contributing to inconsistent findings and hindering progress (e.g., conflating distinct pubertal indices and different measurement instruments). We also briefly evaluate support for prominent models of adolescent neurodevelopment that hypothesize puberty-related changes in brain regions involved in affective and motivational processes. For the field to progress, replication studies are needed to help resolve current inconsistencies and gain a clearer understanding of pubertal associations with brain development in humans, knowledge that is crucial to make sense of the changes in psychosocial functioning, risk behavior, and mental health during adolescence.
在过去二十年中,伴随着关于儿童和青少年时期与年龄相关的人类大脑发展轨迹的研究呈指数级增长,越来越多的研究工作也开始关注青春期发育与大脑成熟之间的关系。本综述系统地考察了人类青春期相关的结构和功能大脑发育的实证研究,旨在确定关联的趋同模式。我们强调了纵向研究,并讨论了普遍存在但经常被忽视的方法学问题,这些问题可能导致结果不一致,并阻碍进展(例如,将不同的青春期指标和不同的测量工具混为一谈)。我们还简要评估了支持青少年神经发育的突出模型的证据,这些模型假设与情感和动机过程相关的大脑区域会发生与青春期相关的变化。为了推动该领域的发展,需要进行复制研究来帮助解决当前的不一致问题,并更清楚地了解青春期与人类大脑发育的关系,这些知识对于理解青少年时期的心理社会功能、风险行为和心理健康变化至关重要。