how big is a child’s brain? – Mental Health Zone

Question: how big is a child's brain?
- Keywords:
  brain,
  child,
  size
Asked by anon-216306 to Robert, Olly, Nicola, Jasmin, Dennis, Caroline on 8 Jun 2019.
- Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 8 Jun 2019:
  
  I googled it: In a newborn, it weighs about 350 – 400 grams. By comparison, an adult’s brain weighs 1300 – 1400 grams.
  
  That’s an interesting question but here’s what I’ll tell you: I did psychology and I don’t know a lot about the human brain. I don’t know how much it weights, nor can I accurately tell you the brain parts (without googling it). But hey, I made a career out of studying psychology – so can you!
- Nicola Johnstone answered on 8 Jun 2019:
  
  From around the age of 5, a child’s brain is very nearly the same size as an adult.
- Robert Dempsey answered on 10 Jun 2019:
  
  Depends on the child 🙂
  
  Dennis has answered the size of the brain as an organ here… I think it’s interesting to ask how big is a child’s mind (e.g. the psychological/mental ‘mind’). If you think about how much we learn as a child/baby in a matter of a few years (walking, speaking, using numbers, getting bigger children/adults to do things for them), I think its quite astonishing what children learn so quickly…
- Caroline Brett answered on 10 Jun 2019:
  
  I studied neuropsychology and I don’t have an answer to that question!
  However, my first instinct would be that the size of a human brain can only ever be as big as the size of the skull. For example, men tend to have larger brains than women but only because they tend to have larger skulls!
- Jasmin Moon answered on 10 Jun 2019:
  
  I didn’t know the answer to this until I read the other psychologist’s answers, as it is not my area of expertise.
  However I can tell you that amazingly the brain continues developing (although not necessarily growing) until your mid-20’s. The part the develops last is called the pre-frontal cortex (the bit at the front of the brain) which helps us make decisions and plans, pay attention and decide how risky something is.
- Oliver Clabburn answered on 10 Jun 2019:
  
  This is a great question (to which I have no idea…. thankfully the other scientists here do!) On a side note, I always think the soft spot on a babies head is pretty amazing (/strange)! I find it amazing how our bodies have evolved to create this little adaption to the skull to help with birth, and then our bodies fix it and fuse the bone shortly after?!

Question: how big is a child's brain?

Comments