Medical professionals can measure us against weight, height and other scientific scales. What about our brains? How do they know if our brains are growing as expected?

Neuroscientist, Jakob Seidlitz has worked with colleagues to amass more than 120,000 brain scans — the largest collection of its kind — to create the first comprehensive growth charts for brain development. The charts provide a visual aid to show how human brains expand quickly early in life and then shrink slowly with age.

Grey matter appears to decline from late childhood, and ventricular volume appears to be stable until late adulthood. Take a look at the article below to explore the findings and the methodology involved in the research.

This type of research suggests that there may be newer ways to monitor brain growth and function over a lifespan, which is a great implication of using brain scans.

Read: Your Brain Expands and Shrinks!