Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 3 complete abstracts (615 words), 9 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
Continuous sequential changes which occur in the physiological and psychological functions during the life-time of an individual.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Development, Human.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms; Growth and Development
- Narrower topics
- Adolescent Development; Child Development
- See also
- Psychology, Developmental
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 81,714 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Human Development” (counts retrieved 2026-10-31). 14,992 of them (18.3%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is 2010-2019 with 27,897 records.
Reviews account for 10,018 records (12.3%) and meta-analyses for 680. Randomized controlled trials number 2,978 (3.6%) as a share of all records on the topic.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 24,931 |
| 2000-2009 | 13,894 |
| 2010-2019 | 27,897 |
| 2020 onward | 14,992 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 10,018 | 12.3% |
| Meta-analyses | 680 | 0.8% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 2,978 | 3.6% |
Method: PubMed query "Human Development"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-10-31.
Reading the evidence in anatomy and physiology
Anatomy describes how body structures are built and physiology describes how they normally work, so most findings here are descriptive or mechanistic rather than evidence about treatment. Much of what is known comes from dissection, imaging, tissue studies and experiments in animals, and measurements in healthy volunteers can differ from those in people with disease or at different ages. Normal ranges vary between individuals and populations. Check whether a result was measured in people or in another species, the age and health of the participants, and the method used.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 20 | cc by PMID 42143030 · DOI · PMC13376885 |
| Growth in early infancy drives optimal brain functional connectivity which predicts cognitive flexibility in later childhood | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 7 | cc by PMID 42247252 · DOI · PMC13241087 |
| Lifespan Trajectories of Asymmetry in White Matter Tracts | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 5 | cc by PMID 42249731 · DOI · PMC13241809 |
Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- In adults, left hemisphere (LH) damage often leads to aphasia, but many cases of early damage leave linguistic processing intact, with a functional language system developing in the right hemisphere.
- Closing excerpt
- Thus, although the RH can take over language function in some cases of early brain damage, this plasticity occurs in spite of adult-level LH bias present by age 4 years.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (152 words)
In adults, left hemisphere (LH) damage often leads to aphasia, but many cases of early damage leave linguistic processing intact, with a functional language system developing in the right hemisphere. To explain this early apparent equipotentiality of the two hemispheres for language, some have proposed that the language system is more bilateral during early development and becomes increasingly left-lateralized with age. We examined language lateralization using fMRI in two large developmental cohorts (total n = 273 children aged 4-16 years; n = 107 adults). Strong, adult-like LH lateralization (in response magnitude and activation volume) was evident by age 4, although other features of the LH language network showed protracted development, including the magnitude of language response and the strength of functional connectivity. Thus, although the RH can take over language function in some cases of early brain damage, this plasticity occurs in spite of adult-level LH bias present by age 4 years.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42143030 · DOI · PMC13376885
Growth in early infancy drives optimal brain functional connectivity which predicts cognitive flexibility in later childhood [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Functional brain network organisation, measured by functional connectivity (FC), reflects key neurodevelopmental processes for healthy development.
- Closing excerpt
- Our results highlight the measurable effects that poor growth in early infancy has on brain development and the possible subsequent impact on pre-school age cognitive development, underscoring the need for early life interventions throughout global settings of adversity.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (160 words)
Functional brain network organisation, measured by functional connectivity (FC), reflects key neurodevelopmental processes for healthy development. Early exposure to adversity, for example undernutrition, affects neurodevelopment, observable via disrupted FC, and leads to poorer outcomes from preschool age onwards. We assessed longitudinally the impact of early growth trajectories on developmental FC in a rural Gambian population from age 5-24 months. To investigate how these early trajectories relate to later childhood outcomes, we assessed cognitive flexibility at 3-5 years. We observed that early physical growth before the fifth month of life drove optimal developmental trajectories of FC that in turn predicted cognitive flexibility at pre-school age. In contrast to previously studied developmental populations, this Gambian sample exhibited long-range interhemispheric FC that decreased with age. Our results highlight the measurable effects that poor growth in early infancy has on brain development and the possible subsequent impact on pre-school age cognitive development, underscoring the need for early life interventions throughout global settings of adversity.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42247252 · DOI · PMC13241087
Lifespan Trajectories of Asymmetry in White Matter Tracts [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Asymmetry in white matter is believed to give rise to the brain's capacity for specialized processing and is involved in the lateralization of various cognitive processes, such as language and visuo-spatial reasoning.
- Closing excerpt
- It provides a foundational resource for understanding the principles of white matter organization from early to late life, its relation to functional specialization and inter-individual variability, and offers a key reference for interpreting deviations during healthy development and aging as well as those associated with clinical populations.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (303 words)
Asymmetry in white matter is believed to give rise to the brain's capacity for specialized processing and is involved in the lateralization of various cognitive processes, such as language and visuo-spatial reasoning. Although studies of white matter asymmetry have been previously documented, they have often been constrained by limited age ranges, sample sizes, or the scope of the tracts and structural features examined. While normative lifespan charts for brain structures are emerging, comprehensive charts detailing white matter asymmetries across numerous pathways and diverse structural measures have been notably absent. This study addresses this gap by leveraging a large-scale dataset of 35,120 typically developing and aging individuals, ranging from 0 to 100 years of age, from 50 primary neuroimaging studies. We generated comprehensive lifespan trajectories for 30 lateralized association and projection white matter tracts, examining six distinct microstructural and macrostructural features of these pathways. Our findings reveal that: (1) asymmetries are widespread across the brain's white matter and are present in all 30 pathways; (2) for a given pathway, the degree and direction of asymmetry differ between features of tissue microstructure and pathway macrostructure; (3) asymmetries vary across and within pathway types (association and projection tracts); and (4) these asymmetries are not static, following unique trajectories across the lifespan, with distinct changes during development, and a general trend of becoming more asymmetric with increasing age (particularly in later adulthood) across pathways. This study represents the most extensive characterization of white matter asymmetry across the lifespan to date, charting how lateralization patterns emerge, mature, and change throughout life. It provides a foundational resource for understanding the principles of white matter organization from early to late life, its relation to functional specialization and inter-individual variability, and offers a key reference for interpreting deviations during healthy development and aging as well as those associated with clinical populations.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42249731 · DOI · PMC13241809
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review [4]
- Research article Breast-feeding and cognitive development: a meta-analysis [5]
- Research article Gender differences in emotion expression in children: a meta-analytic review [6]
- Research article Association Between Maternal Perinatal Depression and Anxiety and Child and Adolescent Development: A Meta-analysis [7]
- Research article Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects [8]
- Research article Parenting interventions to promote early child development in the first three years of life: A global systematic review and meta-analysis [9]
References
- Ozernov-Palchik O, O'Brien AM, Lee EJ, Richardson H, Romeo R, Poliak M, et al.. Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age. . 2026. PMID 42143030 · DOI · PMC13376885
- Bulgarelli C, Blasi A, McCann S, Milosavljevic B, Ghillia G, Mbye E, et al.. Growth in early infancy drives optimal brain functional connectivity which predicts cognitive flexibility in later childhood. . 2026. PMID 42247252 · DOI · PMC13241087
- Bogdanov S, Kanakaraj P, Kim ME, Samir J, Gao C, Ramadass K, et al.. Lifespan Trajectories of Asymmetry in White Matter Tracts. . 2026. PMID 42249731 · DOI · PMC13241809
- Melby-Lervåg M, Hulme C. Is working memory training effective? A meta-analytic review. Dev Psychol. 2013. PMID 22612437 · DOI
- Anderson JW, Johnstone BM, Remley DT. Breast-feeding and cognitive development: a meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999. PMID 10500022 · DOI
- Chaplin TM, Aldao A. Gender differences in emotion expression in children: a meta-analytic review. Psychol Bull. 2013. PMID 23231534 · DOI · PMC3597769
- Rogers A, Obst S, Teague SJ, Rossen L, Spry EA, Macdonald JA, et al.. Association Between Maternal Perinatal Depression and Anxiety and Child and Adolescent Development: A Meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr. 2020. PMID 32926075 · DOI · PMC7490743
- Taylor RD, Oberle E, Durlak JA, Weissberg RP. Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects. Child Dev. 2017. PMID 28685826 · DOI
- Jeong J, Franchett EE, Ramos de Oliveira CV, Rehmani K, Yousafzai AK. Parenting interventions to promote early child development in the first three years of life: A global systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Med. 2021. PMID 33970913 · DOI · PMC8109838
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-10-31; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-10-31.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.