We are pleased to share our new research article, published in Nature Mental Health. Using cognitive and mental health data from 33,622 Chinese adolescents, this study establishes large-scale normative developmental benchmarks for executive function (EF) across adolescence. Specifically, inhibitory control continues to mature into late adolescence, whereas working memory plateaus earlier, accompanied by declining inter-individual variability. Importantly, greater deviations below age-normed EF performance are associated with more mental health difficulties, with these associations being strongest during early adolescence (11-13 years). This work provides population-based benchmarks of EF development and inform age-sensitive identification and prevention strategies for adolescent mental health.

This study was conducted in collaboration with Associate Professor Runsen Chen from Tsinghua University and Professor Tengfei Wang from Zhejiang University. Congratulations to Yang Li, Lirou Tan, and Xiaoyu Xu, and many thanks to all collaborators who contributed to this work, especially Haoshu Xu and Zhilin Li.

Check here for more information: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-026-00711-8