Review - The Teenage Brain: Under Construction
Link to article:
http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/parenting-issues/the-teenage-brain-under-construction
The article starts by stating that the brain begins to undergo massive change and growth at the onset of adolescence between 11 and 13 years of age. This period of growth usually occurs all the way until the brain's full development at around 24-25 years old. During this period of change, many thousands of neural pathways are being formed and refined through a process called pruning. During the pruning process, neurons that do not get enough nutrition or are not being used simply die off. The pruning process slows the process of acquiring new skills. The article then goes on to get more specific with some of the chemicals that are at highly involved in changing the brain. First on the list are the main hormones testosterone and estrogen, followed by 4 neurotransmitters, oxytocin, serotonin, vasopressin, and dopamine. Dopamine in particular seems to be responsible for risky and addictive behavior tendencies in adolescents.
Within the reward center of the brain, more dopamine is required for an adolescent to experience the same level of pleasure as an adult who requires less dopamine. This is at least in part an indicator of why so many adolescents engage in risk-taking behavior, and activities that can lead to addiction. Dopamine is different than the neurotransmitters vasopressin and oxytocin in that vasopressin and oxytocin and vasopressin are related to social and sexual bonding. An override of dopamine activities can make it harder for teens to bond with and make lasting connections to their peers. This behavior can last long into adulthood.
One thing that immediately struck me as interesting in this article was the clear distinctions made between the functions of the 4 neurotransmitters: Dopamine, oxytocin, vasopressin and serotonin. All are pleasure related, yet they carry out different utilitarian functions. These and other emotional components of the adolescent brain come online long before the pre-frontal cortes has been formed, which regulates basic executive functioning skills such as planning, organization and decision making. Another component of the adolescent brain that is in full effect is the language center. This would explain why sometimes a conversation with an adolescent can feel like a conversation with an adult, but if any plans for the future are hashed out in the conversation, the adolescent is unlikely to follow through. It also helps to explain why repetition is so needed when giving an adolescent specific instructions on how to do a task. Repetition is necessary for two things: 1) Ensuring that the adolescent really understands the task at hand, and 2) repetition of the task is required for the behaviors associated with it to really sink in.
In conclusion, the author wraps things up by encouraging adults to spend more time with their adolescents in controlled environments to mitigate the propensity for risk taking, addiction creating behavior. Epigenetics is briefly mentioned as a mechanism by which environmental influences, such as alcohol and marijuana, can shut down aspects of the adolescent's genome, and shut down the expression of that genome in their offspring as well. If anything, the article does a good job of explaining some basic developmental processes being carried out in the developing adolescent brain that can inform our interactions with them as educators, mentors, and as parents. It also paints a pretty clear picture of what behaviors we should be on the look out for to mitigate for issues such as depression and addiction down the road.
References:
Anderson, J., (2011). The Teenage Brain: Under Construction. American College of Pediatricians. http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/parenting-issues/the-teenage-brain-under-construction
http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/parenting-issues/the-teenage-brain-under-construction
The article starts by stating that the brain begins to undergo massive change and growth at the onset of adolescence between 11 and 13 years of age. This period of growth usually occurs all the way until the brain's full development at around 24-25 years old. During this period of change, many thousands of neural pathways are being formed and refined through a process called pruning. During the pruning process, neurons that do not get enough nutrition or are not being used simply die off. The pruning process slows the process of acquiring new skills. The article then goes on to get more specific with some of the chemicals that are at highly involved in changing the brain. First on the list are the main hormones testosterone and estrogen, followed by 4 neurotransmitters, oxytocin, serotonin, vasopressin, and dopamine. Dopamine in particular seems to be responsible for risky and addictive behavior tendencies in adolescents.
Within the reward center of the brain, more dopamine is required for an adolescent to experience the same level of pleasure as an adult who requires less dopamine. This is at least in part an indicator of why so many adolescents engage in risk-taking behavior, and activities that can lead to addiction. Dopamine is different than the neurotransmitters vasopressin and oxytocin in that vasopressin and oxytocin and vasopressin are related to social and sexual bonding. An override of dopamine activities can make it harder for teens to bond with and make lasting connections to their peers. This behavior can last long into adulthood.
One thing that immediately struck me as interesting in this article was the clear distinctions made between the functions of the 4 neurotransmitters: Dopamine, oxytocin, vasopressin and serotonin. All are pleasure related, yet they carry out different utilitarian functions. These and other emotional components of the adolescent brain come online long before the pre-frontal cortes has been formed, which regulates basic executive functioning skills such as planning, organization and decision making. Another component of the adolescent brain that is in full effect is the language center. This would explain why sometimes a conversation with an adolescent can feel like a conversation with an adult, but if any plans for the future are hashed out in the conversation, the adolescent is unlikely to follow through. It also helps to explain why repetition is so needed when giving an adolescent specific instructions on how to do a task. Repetition is necessary for two things: 1) Ensuring that the adolescent really understands the task at hand, and 2) repetition of the task is required for the behaviors associated with it to really sink in.
In conclusion, the author wraps things up by encouraging adults to spend more time with their adolescents in controlled environments to mitigate the propensity for risk taking, addiction creating behavior. Epigenetics is briefly mentioned as a mechanism by which environmental influences, such as alcohol and marijuana, can shut down aspects of the adolescent's genome, and shut down the expression of that genome in their offspring as well. If anything, the article does a good job of explaining some basic developmental processes being carried out in the developing adolescent brain that can inform our interactions with them as educators, mentors, and as parents. It also paints a pretty clear picture of what behaviors we should be on the look out for to mitigate for issues such as depression and addiction down the road.
References:
Anderson, J., (2011). The Teenage Brain: Under Construction. American College of Pediatricians. http://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/parenting-issues/the-teenage-brain-under-construction
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