Question: Is there an research on why people's brains develop differently?

anon answered on 8 Mar 2021:

Hi JoeL,

Our brains are as unique to us as our fingerprints! Given this, it is very easy to see how our brains develop so differently if even from day one we are wired so uniquely. There are a few overarching ideas as to why people’s brains develop differently which I will try to briefly cover.
We can look at genes, so things like having a parent with bipolar disorder significantly effects a young person’s chance of developing the disorder, which, in turn effects their brains on a biological level.
Then there is environment, and I personally would say this has the most dramatic effect on differentiating how brains develop between people. Probably the best evidence comes from a theory called ‘neuroplasticity’ where ‘what fires together wires together’, that is to say, the more we do something like learning the piano, the more the neurons that use these skills become stronger in connection (and voice versa for things we don’t do anymore/less of) – making our brains so so unique to who we are and our world and life experiences.
But where do we go from here!? Neuroscience 30 years ago thought that the brains were very similar, yet now we are preaching nearly the opposite message! Where will science be in 10 years? In 30 years? I have no idea but excited to see and be part of this!