Thinking Away from Home Entering a residence at college or university means experiencing new foods, new friends, and new neurons. A longitudinal study of 18-year-old students at the beginning and end of their first year in a post-secondary institution found increases in the brain areas that integrate emotion and cognition—namely, the cingulate cortex (blue and yellow), caudate nucleus (red), and insula (orange). Researchers also studied one-year changes in the brains of students over age 25 at the same institution and found no dramatic growth.

COURTESY CRAIG BENNETT & ABIGAIL BAIRD FROM ANATOMICAL CHANGES IN THE EMERGING ADULT BRAIN