Review - The Adolescent Brain
Link To Article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2475802/pdf/nihms56148.pdf
This was an incredibly detailed article on the neurology of adolescence as compared to the neurology of childhood and adulthood. This study suggests that there are certain changes that take place during adolescence that are nonlinear with childhood development. The author also attempts to clarify the importance of factoring in individuality and context into the decision making processes of adolescents, in that while most adolescents engage in impulsive and risky behavior, that there will be differing levels of each depending on the individual's neurological constitution, as well as the context of the decision.
A further clarification that is made is that while the terms "risky" and "impulsive" are generally lumped into the same category when describing potentially harmful adolescent behavior, that they actually require distinct neurological processes that can be studied independent from one another. Neurological circuitry are laid out in great detail to explain the differences in these processes.
The researcher attempts to disprove another oft repeated axiom in adolescent neurology circles, that most harmful decision making processes are the result of an undeveloped pre-frontal cortex. The article argues that if an undeveloped prefrontal cortex is indeed the reason for bad or harmful decision making in adolescents, then pre-adolescents would be just as risk oriented, impulsive, and potentially harmful. This is not the case. The article expands on the reasons for why, citing that other compartments of the brain, most notably centers such as the amygdala, the accumbens, and the basil ganglia, each related to emotional response and reward response, are further developed, and present an imbalance in an adolescent's ability to override bad-decision making temptations.
I found the article interesting in that it made a clear distinction in the reasoning for bad decision making. The pre-frontal cortex is in fact undeveloped in adolescents, but it is in development more than it is in childhood. The imbalance of the pre-frontal context development and the amygdala development, for example, shows us that adolescents are indeed capable of rational thought, which is to say that they are capable of knowing what the best decision to make is, but their ability to stick to that rationale is too easily overridden by the heat of the moment, and all of the powerful feelings that a risky behavior may entail.
References:
Casey, B.J., Jones, R.M., Hare, T.A., (March, 2008). The Adolescent Brain. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2475802/pdf/nihms56148.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2475802/pdf/nihms56148.pdf
This was an incredibly detailed article on the neurology of adolescence as compared to the neurology of childhood and adulthood. This study suggests that there are certain changes that take place during adolescence that are nonlinear with childhood development. The author also attempts to clarify the importance of factoring in individuality and context into the decision making processes of adolescents, in that while most adolescents engage in impulsive and risky behavior, that there will be differing levels of each depending on the individual's neurological constitution, as well as the context of the decision.
A further clarification that is made is that while the terms "risky" and "impulsive" are generally lumped into the same category when describing potentially harmful adolescent behavior, that they actually require distinct neurological processes that can be studied independent from one another. Neurological circuitry are laid out in great detail to explain the differences in these processes.
The researcher attempts to disprove another oft repeated axiom in adolescent neurology circles, that most harmful decision making processes are the result of an undeveloped pre-frontal cortex. The article argues that if an undeveloped prefrontal cortex is indeed the reason for bad or harmful decision making in adolescents, then pre-adolescents would be just as risk oriented, impulsive, and potentially harmful. This is not the case. The article expands on the reasons for why, citing that other compartments of the brain, most notably centers such as the amygdala, the accumbens, and the basil ganglia, each related to emotional response and reward response, are further developed, and present an imbalance in an adolescent's ability to override bad-decision making temptations.
I found the article interesting in that it made a clear distinction in the reasoning for bad decision making. The pre-frontal cortex is in fact undeveloped in adolescents, but it is in development more than it is in childhood. The imbalance of the pre-frontal context development and the amygdala development, for example, shows us that adolescents are indeed capable of rational thought, which is to say that they are capable of knowing what the best decision to make is, but their ability to stick to that rationale is too easily overridden by the heat of the moment, and all of the powerful feelings that a risky behavior may entail.
References:
Casey, B.J., Jones, R.M., Hare, T.A., (March, 2008). The Adolescent Brain. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2475802/pdf/nihms56148.pdf
Comments
Post a Comment