Synaptic pruning, myelination and the emergence of psychiatric disorders in late adolescence

Computational models indicate that adolescent synaptic pruning and myelination create strong attractor landscapes where encoded memories dominate activity, linking to OCD, depression, schizophrenia, and SUDs.

• Why it matters: Psychiatric disorders rise in late adolescence, but mechanisms connecting normal brain remodeling to disorder emergence remain unclear.
• What they did: The study develops computational models showing that pruning and myelination during adolescence yield large dynamical attractors shaped by synaptic connectivity patterns.
• The result: When these attractors relate to aversive emotions, they can produce intrusive thoughts and compulsions in OCD or rumination in depression, and when tied to drug exposure, they can support compulsive drug seeking in SUDs.

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