ANALYSIS OF AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE CORTICAL THICKNESS OF THE HUMAN CEREBRAL AND CEREBELLAR CORTEX IN AREAS ASSOCIATED WITH FACE RECOGNITION

AIMS. Perception and recognition of faces is supported by a network of nerve centers in the human brain that have different maturation periods in postnatal ontogenesis. In this article, we analyze the relationship between changes in the thickness of the cortex in facial recognition centers in children from birth to 12 years old. METHODS. Histological material was obtained from the left cerebral hemispheres and bilaterally from the cerebellum of 62 boys who died from injuries without brain damage. The material was grouped at annual intervals. Measurements of the cortical thickness were carried out in field 37a in the fusiform face area on the medial surface of the occipital lobe, in field 10 on the lateral surface of the frontal pole, as well as in the lateral right and left parts of the posterior quadrangular lobule (H VI) of cerebellum. Morphometry was performed on virtual images of sagittal paraffin sections, stained with Nissl cresyl violet. The mean, standard error and confidence interval were calculated for the indicators of different age groups. RESULTS. The most significant increase in cortical thickness in fields 37a and 10 occurs during the first year of life, at 2-3 and 6 years. Increases in cortical thickness in the lobule H VI of the on the right cerebellum are observed at 1, 2, and 7 years, on the left during the first two years of life. Evaluation of the relationship between age-related changes in cortical thickness using Spearman's rank correlation analysis showed that the strongest, direct and significant two-way relationship is between the indicators in the pairs field 37a & field 10 and field 10 & H VI on the right, a moderate significant relationship in the pair field 37a & H VI on the left. CONCLUSIONS. It is assumed that age-related changes in the cortical thickness in the centers of face recognition and their relationship reflect the stages of the formation of the facial processing in children.