According to a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, brain development does not take place consistently throughout the entire brain but follows a developmental progression. Young people are vulnerable to socioeconomic settings until adolescence because brain regions that support cognitive, social, and emotional functions appear to keep their potential to modify, adapt, and remodel longer than other brain regions.

The ability of neural circuits (connections and pathways in the brain for thought, emotion, and movement) to change or reorganize in response to internal biological signals or the external environment is referred to as "brain plasticity." While it is widely assumed that children have greater brain plasticity than adults, this study sheds fresh light on where and when plasticity declines in the brain during childhood and adolescence.

In the study, the researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study how the human brain develops from the age of 8 to 23 years old. The findings of the study showed a reduction in brain plasticity occurs in "sensory-motor" regions, which include visual and auditory regions first. This is followed by a reduction in "associative" regions, such as those involved in higher-order thinking (problem-solving and social learning).

As a result, brain regions that support executive, social, and emotional functions appear to be particularly malleable and responsive to the environment during early adolescence. The researchers determined that the functional marker of brain plasticity decreased in early childhood in sensory-motor regions but did not decline until mid-adolescence in associative regions after analyzing MRI images from over 1,000 people. 

(Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/health/brain-developing-sequence-through-adolescence-study-reveals-101681701858225.html )