{
  "id": 3140049,
  "title": "Developmental Changes in Gray Matter Microstructure and Local Brain Connectivity Support Inhibitory Control from Adolescence to Young Adulthood",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/developmental-changes-in-gray-matter-microstructure-and-local-brain",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-24T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.19.745824v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Adolescence is a period of significant brain development, particularly in inhibitory control and cortical circuitry. Studies indicate a reduction in local neuronal inputs during this time, which may facilitate circuit refinement and mature behavior. The structural changes in gray matter, resulting from processes like synaptic pruning and myelination, could contribute to this refinement; however, the role of microstructural features in relation to the reconfiguration of functional circuitry remains unclear. To address this, researchers examined inhibitory control performance in 175 participants aged 10-26 using an anti-saccade task, alongside MRI scans capturing multi-shell diffusion-weighted imaging, resting state fMRI, and structural scans. They measured neurite density (NDI) in gray matter, local functional connectivity using surface-based and volumetric regional homogeneity (ReHo), and intracortical myelin through the T1w/T2w ratio. Generalized additive models analyzed non-linear age-related trends across various cortical and subcortical regions linked to inhibitory control, as well as correlations with anti-saccade performance. Their findings revealed that NDI consistently increased with age across all regions, while ReHo decreased. Greater NDI correlated with more accurate anti-saccade performance, and lower ReHo, particularly in younger adolescents, also improved performance. Notably, an interaction between ReHo and NDI, rather than individual measures, best predicted inhibitory control performance, indicating that mature neurite density had the most significant impact when local connectivity was high, suggesting that immature neurite density may initially enhance performance. Together, these results suggest that the simultaneous maturation of microstructural elements and the specialization of local functional circuitry work together to foster the emergence of stable adult-level inhibitory control.",
  "summary": "Background: Adolescence is marked by improvements in inhibitory control along with brain maturational processes affecting function and structure of cortical circuitry. Preliminary evidence shows a developmental decrease of local neuronal inputs, suggesting a weakening of local connectivity supporting circuit refinement and mature behavior. Microstructural changes in gray matter, arising from…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}