Verbal Brains: Neural word paths take a mature turn

Kids have less experience with words than adults do. Specific neural correlates of that difference have now shown up in a new series of brain scans conducted on members of the two age groups by neuroscientist Bradley L. Schlaggar of Washington University in St. Louis and his colleagues.

Experience isn’t everything, however. Some of the adults’ neural responses on word tasks stem from a physical maturation of the brain that hasn’t yet occurred in school-age youngsters, the scientists say.