“My brain made me do it!”

Adolescence = Storm and Stress Adolescence can be a dangerous time. Some of the most life-threatening risks that

people take — drunk driving, binge drinking, smoking, having unprotected sex — are especially common during the teenage years, as illustrated by the following statistics: Both males and females between the ages of 16 and 20 are at least twice as likely

to be in car accidents than drivers between the ages of 20 and 50 are. Auto accidents are the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year-olds, and 31 percent of young drivers killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2003 had been drinking.

Three million adolescents contract sexually transmitted diseases every year. More than half of all new cases of HIV infection occur in people younger than 25,

making AIDS the seventh leading cause of death among 13- to 24-year-olds. Two young people in the U.S. are infected with HIV every hour.

Forty percent of adult alcoholics report having their first drinking problems between the ages of 15 and 19.

Evidence of pathological or problem gambling is found in 10 to 14 percent of adolescents, and gambling typically begins by age 12 (Reyna, 2006, para 1) .

Major mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, typically begin in adolescence and contribute to the high rate of teen suicide (Wallis, 2004, para 4).

Reported Drug and Alcohol Use by High School Seniors, 2006 (US Dept of Justice)

Drugs Use within the last 12 months

Use within the last 30 days

Alcohol 66.5% 45.3%

Marijuana 31.5 18.3

Other Opiates 9.0 3.8

Stimulants 8.1 3.7

Sedatives 6.6 3.0

Tranquilizers 6.6 2.7

Cocaine 5.7 2.5

Hallucinogens 4.9 1.5

Inhalants 4.5 1.5

Steroids 1.8 1.1

Heroin 0.8 0.4

Adolescence = Storm and Stress

59 Lives Lost: Teen drivers were involved in at least 49 fatal crashes in 2006 in the Chicago-land area (Chicago Tribune, 2007)

Research Methods/Tools A critical tool in studying the

adolescent brain is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While ordinary MRI reveals brain structure, fMRI actually shows brain activity while subjects are doing assigned tasks (Wallis, 2004, para18)

Linda Spear, PhD, distinguished professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton, explains, “As helpful as imaging technologies are for allowing a noninvasive glimpse into healthy, living tissues, the old standby - animal research -continues to provide important insights. There is a lot you can do with fMRI and MRI, but with animal studies, you can start trying to dissect down and ask about causal changes” (Packard, 2007, p 22).

Biological Differences: Pruning and Proliferation

We are born equipped with most of the neurons our brain will ever have.

The brain grows very little over the course of childhood. By the time a child is 6, it is 90% to 95% of its adult size (Wallis, 2004, para 10).

There is a second wave of proliferation and pruning that occurs later in childhood and the final, critical part of this second wave, affecting some of our highest mental functions, occurs in the late teens.

Pruning: At about 11 for girls and 12 ½ for boys, gray matter (neurons and their branchlike dendrites) is thinned out at a rate of about 0.7% a year, tapering off in the early 20s.

Proliferation: At the same time, the brain's white matter (fatty myelin sheaths that encase axons) thickens, making nerve-signal transmissions faster and more efficient. With each passing year (maybe even up to age 40) myelin sheaths thicken (Wallis, 2004, para 11).

Brain Maturation in Adolescence

Synaptic Pruning Myelination

Improved Brain Function In Teens Increased efficiency of local computations Increased speed of neuronal transmission

Application to Teen Behavior: Pruning and Proliferation Many researches have

speculated that schizophrenia may be due to an abnormality in the pruning process.

MRI studies have shown that while the average teenager loses about 15% of his cortical gray matter, those who develop schizophrenia lose as much as 25% (Wallis, 2004, para 25)

Biological Difference: Prefrontal Cortex

Often referred to as the “CEO” of the brain , because it is the in charge of executive functions, such planning, strategizing, setting priorities, organizing thoughts, suppressing impulses, weighing the consequences of one’s actions, and judgment.

The development of the brain proceeds in stages, generally from back to front. The very last part of the brain to reach maturity – through proliferation and pruning -- is the prefrontal cortex (Wallis, 2004, para 13).

Research: Prefrontal Cortex In an experiment by Beatriz Luna, director of the Laboratory of

Neurocognitive Development at the University of Pittsburgh, subjects faced a computer that flashed lights randomly. They were told either to rapidly focus on the lights or to try to avoid looking at them.

Teens used more of their prefrontal cortex resources than adults did. In fact, the amount of prefrontal cortex employed was similar to what adult brains use when performing a much more complex task (Sabbagh, 2006, para 5).

In this visual-motor test, subjects must use the prefrontal cortex to tell the rest of the brain how to behave. Adolescents are using up prefrontal cortex like crazy, while adults call on other parts of the brain "to collaborate and better distribute the workload” (Sabbagh, 2006, para 7).

When teenagers perform certain tasks, their prefrontal cortex, which handles decision making, is working much harder than the same region in adults facing the same circumstances and it makes less use of other regions that could help out. (Sabbagh, 2006, para 2).

Research: Prefrontal Cortex

In a study at Dartmouth, psychologists gave adolescents and adults a set of scenarios, in which they have to decide if they are good ideas or bad ideas while their brains are scanned.

Doing the laundry. Good idea, bad idea? Riding your bike down a staircase. Good idea, bad idea? Swallowing a cockroach. Good idea, bad idea? Swimming with sharks. Good idea, bad idea?

Research found that adults and teens both knew, for example, that swimming with sharks wasn't such a good idea. However, teens and adults come up with different lines of reasoning to reach their conclusions.

On their brain scans, adults used the part of the brain that processes visual imagery to form answers. In these scenarios adults have a system, an automatic system, for processing these types of dilemmas where we instantly get a visual and we instantly, if it is dangerous or gross or aversive, we get that pang.

Teens actually use their frontal cortex, the cognitive part of their brains to think about the problems and reach their conclusion. They are actually trying to think about this. They are trying to reason about this and it is not automatic and as a result it is very labored for them (Bowser, 2004)

Application to Teen Behavior: Prefrontal Cortex The frontal lobe is the final part capable of deciding. An

immature frontal lobe makes it difficult to make a decision if given conflicting information such as the following decision: “I'll finish my homework and take out the garbage, and then I'll IM my friends about seeing a movie” (Wallis, 2004, para 13).

The frontal lobe is the part of the brain for exercising judgment. Since it is still maturing in adolescence, there is no part to stop risky, impulsive behavior (Wallis, 2004, para 17)

Since the teen brain relies more the prefrontal cortex, adolescents may assess and react less efficiently than adults under challenging conditions (i.e, talking o the phone and avoiding an accident at the same time). This excessive reliance on the prefrontal cortex can lead to error, especially when difficulty increases (Sabbagh, 2006, para 2).

Biological Difference: Sex Hormones At puberty,

testosterone-like hormones released by the adrenal glands, begin to circulate and are extremely active in brain areas that regulate mood and excitability, such as the limbic system (Wallis, 2004, 16).

Application to Teen Behavior: Sex Hormones Feelings reach a flash point more easily Adolescents tend to seek out situations

that create intense feelings and satisfy their desire for thrills. The problem is that in a world made up of fast cars, illicit drugs, gangs and numerous other dangerous situations, it puts teenager at great risk (Wallis, 2004, 16).

Biological Difference: Nucleus Accumbens

A region in the frontal cortex that directs motivation to seek rewards.

The nucleus accumbens is activated by anticipated or received awards (i.e., monetary, chocolate).

A team at the National Institutes of Mental Health in 2005 saw that the nucleus accumbens responded more in adolescents than in adults when they received a reward (Monastersky, 2007, para 27).

Biological Difference: Dopamine

One reason the nucleus accumbens acts up more in adolescence is due to the different ways the younger brains deal with the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Dopamine, the brain chemical involved in motivation and in reinforcing behavior, is particularly abundant and active in the teen years (Wallis, 2004, para 21)

In addition to pleasure, novel situations will cause dopamine to squirt into the nucleus accumbens.

Application to Teen Behavior: Nucleus Accumbens + Dopamine

When new, exciting activities cause neurons to release neuotransmitters, such as dopamine, that make you feel good, risky behavior may produce emotional rewards, too (Kowalski, 2000, 9). As a result, the reward system in the adolescent brain may have tuned teens to seek out new experiences that create intense feelings and satisfy their desire for thrills.

The rapid changes in dopamine-rich areas of the brain also may be an additional factor in making teens vulnerable to the stimulating and addictive effects of drugs and alcohol (Wallis, 2004, 16).

Biological Difference: Amygdala

This area is associated with emotion, specifically fear, and gut responses.

New imaging studies suggest that teenagers, when asked to interpret emotional information, use this reactive part of the brain rather than the more “thinking” region, the frontal cortex, while adults rely more heavily on the frontal cortex.

Research: Amygdala At the McLean Hospital in Belmont,

Mass., Deborah Yurgelun-Todd and a group of researchers have studied how adolescents perceive emotion as compared to adults. The scientists looked at the brains

of 18 children between the ages of 10 and 18 and compared them to 16 adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Both groups were shown pictures of adult faces, such as the face to the right, and asked to identify the emotion on the faces. (What emotion do you think is shown?)

Using fMRI, the researchers could trace what part of the brain responded as subjects were asked to identify the expression depicted in the picture (Spinks, 2002, para 2)

Research: Amygdala Many teen subjects failed to

interpret the emotion in faces like this one as fear, while the adults correctly identified the expression as fear.

The teens answered "shocked, surprised, angry."

Furthermore, the teens and adults used different parts of their brains to process what they were feeling (Spinks, 2002, para 3).

Research: Amygdala

When reading emotion, teens (left) rely more on the amygdala, a small almond shaped region that guides instinctual or “gut” reactions, while adults (right) rely more on the frontal cortex, which governs reason and planning (Spinks, 2002, para 3).

Application to Teen Behavior: Amygdala Ramifications of Study:

The frontal cortex helped the adults distinguish fear from shock or surprise. For the teens, this area wasn't fully operating and thus teens have a harder time distinguishing a subtlety of expression (Spinks, 2002, para 5).

May explain why adolescents so frequently misread emotional signals, seeing anger and hostility where none exists. For example, teenage ranting ("That teacher hates me!") can be better understood in this light (Wallis, 2004, para 19)

Reactions, rather than rational thought, come more from the amygdala, deep in the brain, than the frontal cortex, which led Yurgelun-Todd and other neuroscientists to suggest that an immature brain leads to impulsivity, or what researchers dub "risk-taking behavior“ (Spinks, 2002, para 6).

Scientists also speculate that this may be why teens have trouble modulating their emotional responses.

Ramifications Use-it-or-lose it principle

The best estimate for when the brain is truly mature is 25 (How adolescents spend their time may be critical.

Research shows, for instance, that practicing piano quickly thickens neurons in the brain regions that control the fingers (Wallis, 2004, para 12).

Strategies that help to postpone sexual activity, binge drinking and other risky behaviors also have the virtue of giving the forebrain and other neurological structures time to mature. (Reyna, 2006, Para 4)

Ramifications Parents and educators need to emphasize more immediate

payoffs to be effective. For example, to persuade a teen to quit drinking, parents

and educators need to stress something immediate and tangible (i.e., the danger of getting kicked off the football team, say--rather than a future on skid row) (Wallis, 2004, para 22).

It might also be useful to help adolescents make up for what their brain still lacks by providing structure (rules and limits), organizing their time, guiding them through tough decisions (even when they resist) and applying patience and love (Wallis, 2004, para 28)

If anything, it is useful for parents and educators to remind themselves that teenage behavior is not just a matter of willful pigheadedness or determination to drive people crazy!

Ramifications Change the way we treat teenagers:

adolescents need more scaffolding and monitoring, such as supervised after-school programs or restricted driving licenses, to help them learn how to make good decisions.

school schedules that force teenagers to rise earlier than their bodies are naturally prepared to do and distractions like the Internet are causing teenagers to run up significant sleep deficits, which can affect their ability to moderate their behavior.

Some legal scholars and child advocates argue that minors should never be tried as adults and should be spared the death penalty since they biologically have increased difficulty making mature decisions and understanding the consequences of their actions (Wallis, 2004, para 27)

Ramifications Change Intervention Programs

fuzzy-trace theory: train teenagers to think less logically or rely less on their prefrontal cortex and think more intuitively or automatically, the way mature adults do (Reyna, 2006, para 20).

‘social norms’ approach: rather than scare students out of misbehaving, social-norms educators use survey data on students' actual behavior to underscore that, when it comes to avoiding risky habits, many students are already doing the right thing (Viadero, 2006, para 3).

if teenagers know the truth, they will feel less pressured to engage in dangerous practices themselves.

Researchers studying the adolescent brain also are looking into ways to identify teenagers at risk for substance abuse, depression, schizophrenia, and other psychological conditions.

Is Your Teen Heading for Turmoil?Parents can complete the following questionnaire on-line to help assess their feelings

and their teen’s behavior. A report with expert guidance and advice will be generated to address the concerns of the parents.

I have a feeling that somehow I just don't know my teen any longer. I find fault with all my teen's friends, but I excuse my teen. I realize that I have begun to accept language, standards, attitudes, and behaviors I

don't like just because it's become too hard to try to maintain what I believe. Most times, I decide it's just easier to do the chore myself than to ask, remind, or nag

my teen. Sometimes I feel as though I have become the resident drill sergeant or nag. I often have a sort of scared, angry, or even just stressed or depressed feeling when I

need to ask my teen what ought to be a simple question. I'm always second-guessing and questioning myself - other parents don't seem to

have the same problems as I do! I feel angry, hurt, embarrassed, hopeless, and sometimes even helpless in relation to my teen.

I'm worried that my teen may use drugs or alcohol. And the hardest questions of all: Do you trust your teen? Do you trust your teen

to keep herself or himself safe? (Maxym, 2001)

Works CitedAnatomy of the Teen Brain. (2002). Retrieved May 30th, 2007, from Inside the Teenage Brain: a Frontline Web site:

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/art/brain.jpg

Bowser, B. (2004). The Teen Brain. Retrieved May 30th, 2007, from Online NewsHour Web site: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/july-dec04/brain_10-13.html

Kowalski, K. (2000). What’s Inside the Teenage Brain. Current Health, 27(3), 4-5. Retrieved May 20th, 2007, from Ebsco database.

Maxym, C. (2001). Is Your Teen Heading for Turmoil? Retrieved May 30, 2007, from Inside the Teenage Brain: a Frontline Web site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/etc/quiz.html

Reyna, V. & Farley, F. (2006). Is the Teen Brain too (Rational?). Scientific American Mind, 17(6). Retrieved May 25th, 2007, from Ebsco database.

Sabbagh, L. (2006). Hard at Work, No, Really. Scientific American Mind, 17(4). Retrieved May 25th, 2007, from Ebsco database.

Spinks, S. (2002). One reason teens respond differently to the world: Immature brain circuitry. Retrieved May 30th, 2007, from Inside the Teenage Brain: a Frontline Web site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/work/onereason.html

Teens at the Wheel. (2007). Retrieved May 30th, 2007, from the Chicago Tribune Web site: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/chi-teens-specialreport,1,197168.htmlstory?ctrack=4&cset=true

Wallis, C. & Park, A. (2004). What Makes Teens Tick. Time, 163(19). Retrieved May 20th, 2007, from Ebsco database.

Viadero, D. (2006). ‘Social Norms’ Seen to Keep Students on Right Track. Education Week, 26(2), 16-17. Retrieved May 20th, 2007, from Ebsco database.