The key to brain grooves may have better reasoning skills

The tiny wrinkles covering the brain are more than just a cosmic accident that stuffs too much gray matter into the skull.

New research from UC Berkeley shows that these small grooves can actually be delicate neural highways that can improve your thinking skills. Scientists have found that a stronger connection between deeper brain folding and reasoning centers is better with children and adolescents performing better.

The study, published May 19 in the Journal of Neuroscience, challenges long-term hypotheses about cortical folding. For decades, neuroscientists have viewed these surface dents as a byproduct of Evolution’s attempt to load the super-large human brain into a compact skull.

Small groove, great influence

The researchers examined 43 participants aged 7 to 18 to map brain activity in the inference task using a functional MRI scanner. They focus on the tertiary groove, the smallest, shallowest groove that appears last during prenatal development, and are unique to humans.

These findings reveal a fascinating connection between anatomy and ability. Participants in the deeper tertiary groove showed increased connectivity between the lateral prefrontal cortex and the lateral wall cortex, which was crucial for reasoning and higher thinking.

“The motivation for this study is to see that the depth of the groove is related to reasoning in children and adolescents,” said Silvia Bunge, a psychology professor and a member of the Helen Wells Institute for Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley.

Understanding beyond the surface level

Think of these grooves as shortcuts in a busy city. Deeper folds may bring physical close proximity to the brain area, creating shorter communication pathways and faster neural processing. This is an elegant bioengineering disguised as random wrinkles.

Kevin Weiner, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley, explains the broader implication: “The hypothesis is that the formation of grooves leads to a shorter gap between connected brain regions, which may increase neural efficiency and then lead to individual differences in improved cognitive aspects.”

The discovery came from Weiner’s curiosity about his own brain scan. “What I know is that I have some cortical bends that are not in the ordinary brain map in the lab,” he recalls. The observation conducted a 15-year survey of these neglected brain features.

Single brain fingerprint

This study reveals individual changes in brain folding patterns. Among the study participants, the size, shape and depth of the tertiary grooves vary greatly. Some grooves are measured as small as 3 mm, while others extend to 7 cm.

The main findings of the study include:

• Deeper sulfur is associated with increased network connection between inference centers
• A single groove can be distinguished by its unique connectivity pattern
• Religious grouping does not follow simple spatial proximity rules
• Larger groove depth vs higher network centering in several brain regions

But, for parents and educators, this is interesting: these patterns are not set on the stone. The researchers stress that brain structures respond to experiences throughout development.

A stretchable mind

“Do we think that an individual’s ability to reason is set on its cortical folded stone? No!” Bonge stressed. “Like the quality of schools, experience plays a powerful role in shaping an individual’s cognitive trajectory, and is extendable even in adulthood.”

This plasticity suggests that while some people may start with favorable brain architecture, everyone can enhance their reasoning abilities through learning and practice. The groove itself can even deepen or change according to the way we think.

Future applications

Can measuring brain grooves become a diagnostic tool? The researchers believe that these anatomical markers may help identify neurodevelopmental disorders or predict cognitive intensity. They are developing computer programs to help other scientists map these complex brain landscapes more accurately.

Currently, most brain mapping software only recognizes about 35 major grooves. When a third-level groove is included, the number jumps to more than 100 different landmarks in each brain, creating a detailed single neural fingerprint.

When we uncover these brain mysteries, one thing becomes obvious: the wrinkle surface of the human brain is more than just packaging. It is precise engineering, folded with purpose and thought.