Ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging is allowing researchers to understand subtle differences in the brains of people with Down syndrome. The insights may help better measure patients’ cognitive skills.

That’s according to pediatric and imaging experts from Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic and many other organizations who shared their findings in Brain Communications.

With this advanced technology, researchers created highly detailed maps of the hippocampus, revealing structural and functional keys within this brain region that are instrumental to memory and learning.

“The gains in sensitivity and image resolution achievable with ultra-high field MRI provide levels of detail and accuracy that have not previously been attainable in studies of live, non-sedated individuals with Down syndrome,” first author Katherine Koenig, PhD, an assistant professor of radiology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western, explained Thursday.

The extra chromosome in those born with Down syndrome changes brain and body development, which can lead to mental and physical challenges, the authors explained. And while these abilities can vary widely among people, intellectual and developmental afflictions are often generalized.

“In other words, although abilities can range widely among people with DS, different types of cognitive skills are usually affected in a similar way in the same person,” the authors added.