WASHINGTON – The part of the human brain involved in face recognition keeps developing into adulthood, a pair of new studies found, surprising scientists who thought brain tissue growth stopped in early childhood. Researchers led by Kalanit Grill-Spector, a psychology professor at Stanford University, examined the brains of children and adults using a new type of imaging technique, focusing on an area of the cerebral cortex that plays a key role in face recognition. In a study published in Cerebral Cortex, the researchers showed that regions of the brain that recognize faces have a unique cellular makeup. In a separate study published in Science, they explained how they found microscopic structures within that region that change as children grow into adulthood. The growth in tissue mirrored changes in a person's ability to distinguish faces, which would explain why adults are better than children in telling faces apart.

The fusiform gyrus is thought to play a role in recognising faces, something that adults are better at doing than children. Brain scans of 47 people of different ages found – after taking into account the differing overall sizes of their brains – that adults had 12.6 per cent more solid brain matter in this area than children did. The team compared the growth of the face recognition region with a different area, responsible for recognising places. Inadequate growth of the brain's face recognition areas might contribute to autism, Duchaine suggests, as well as conditions that make people unable to recognise faces.

If you feel overwhelmed by an ever-growing social circle, fear not. Your brain can keep up with all those new faces, thanks to one region that continues to grow even in adulthood. The discovery is surprising, because most changes to the brain as it matures involve the altering of existing connections between neurons. But brain scans have revealed that one area of the cortex, the fusiform gyrus, gets much larger as we age. The fusiform gyrus is thought to play a role in recognising faces, something that adults are better at doing than children.

With laptops and hand-held devices slowly replacing pencils and paper, some educators question the importance of teaching handwriting in the classroom. Although some say it is a nonessential motor skill, researchers have found evidence that in fact it helps children pay attention to and understand the written language. Brain scans in children who did not yet know how to print revealed they are unable to distinguish letters and respond to them'the same as to a triangle'. Although some say it is a nonessential motor skill, researchers have found evidence this skill helps children pay attention to and understand the written language. Brain scans in children who did not yet know how to print yet revealed they are unable to distinguish letters and respond to them'the same as to a triangle' You have to see letters in'the mind's eye' in order to create them on a piece of paper she explained.