OREM — Anthony, Brandon, Corey and Skyler Mann have more in common than being brothers. Each is a twin — Anthony and Brandon, a dark-haired 18-year-old pair; Corey and Skyler, two blond 16-year-olds.
But Mary-Kate and Ashley they are not.
All four have such distinct interests, talents and aspirations that each is a study in contrast — and they have the pictures to prove it.
"Get your brain scan," Brandon yells before grabbing a yellow envelope that contains MRI imaging of his brain.
On the ground nearby are three other envelopes — each containing a similar image of Anthony, Corey and Skyler.
The twins hold up the MRI snapshots with pride — a souvenir of their recent visit to the National Institutes of Health Center in Bethesda, Md.
Time magazine chronicled the Manns' visit to the center as part an article titled "What Makes Teens Tick," this past week's cover story.
The article summarizes the studies of Dr. Jay Giedd, who is using twins as test subjects to determine what effect "nature and nurture" have on the development of teen brains.
By taking hundreds of MRI images every two years of the twins' brains — along with older brother, Christopher, 22 — Giedd can compare the "snapshots" to determine if the differences in the four personalities are reflected in their brain matter. He then hopes to pinpoint what environmental factors can do to teenage brains.
If Giedd's theory proves right, the twins won't be surprised.
"We're totally individuals," Anthony said. "We don't wear matching clothes and try to be identical."
All four are taking their new celebrity in stride, though it has caught them off-guard. As typical teens, they didn't think their peers would be avid Time readers, but they were wrong.
Not a day goes by that the twins aren't approached about the article, Skyler said.
"People we don't even know come up and say, 'I saw you in that article,' " he said.
Then again, it's hard to go unnoticed when your mirror image walks beside you — a literal occurrence for Anthony and Brandon, who are "mirror twins," which means that even their cowlicks are reversed like a mirror image.
In both sets, the older twin is left-handed and the younger one is right-handed.
"(Giedd) said that could be a study in itself," said their mother, Nancy.
But even before the article, the Mann family was unique.
For one thing, Nancy looks far too young and far too thin to be the mother of eight children — five boys and three girls. She credits that to cutting back on childbirth by having twins.
But after losing her husband six years ago to a sudden bout with stomach cancer, she's been manning the helm at a house that has guitars lying around and an Xbox video console hidden somewhere as punishment for leaving the control paddles out.
Nancy shrugs off any compliments and says that her family is like any other.
And maybe she's right.
Brandon's friend Chloe, who is over to visit, mentions that she is a twin — one of two sets in her family.
Another family with two sets of twins tipped the Manns off to Giedd's study.
After filling out "intense amounts" of paperwork, the center paid for the twins and Christopher to fly out for testing. But like most things in the Mann family, all eight kids packed up and went along for the ride.
It will be another two years before the family makes another trek East. In the meantime, the twins are keeping busy, staying out of trouble and doing their own thing.
"I think that people just think because we're twins that they can't tell us apart," Corey said. "But we're totally different."
E-mail: lwarner@desnews.com