The Teenager Brain - Essay Example

THE TEENAGE BRAIN The teenage period, which ranges between eleven and nineteen and in some literature twenty-one, is a critical development time in both outward appearance and the brain (Phillips, 2012). The human brain develops and changes through the entire life span. However, during the teenage years, there are huge advancements in brain development as it approaches adult brain status. Just as teenagers may undergo growth spurts that seem awkward, so do new competencies and cognitive skills come in stutters and leaps as the brain transitions from a child’s to an adults (Phillips, 2012).

However, the teenage brain is still uniquely different to that of adults. For this reason, parents need to understand that, despite the physical growth into an adult, the teenage brain is still under development, and they will have very different behavior to that of adults. Unlike adult brains, teenage brains have abundant neuronal connections that peak at around 12 years of age for boys and eleven for girls (Phillips, 2012). During this period, the teenager’s experiences shape their gray matter with structural reorganization in this region increasing up to that age of twenty-one.

This increased gray matter leads to more interconnections inside the brain with gains in processing power. While decision-making skills begin to move towards those of an adult, these skills are influenced by emotions since the brain is reliant on the limbic system, compared to the prefrontal cortex in adults, which is more rational (Phillips, 2012). Parents may find this duality of competence confusing since the teenager will do things that they should have known better. The teenage years also mark the start of fundamental alterations to the limbic system, which is the part of the brains that are critical in the formation of emotions, memories, and regulation of blood sugar levels and heart rate (Clavier, 2009).

The Amygdala, which is a portion of the limbic system, apparently connects emotional responses to information from sensory organs. Unlike in adults where this system is fully developed, the amygdala’s development, coupled with changes in hormonal levels, causes new and intense experiences of sexual attraction, excitement, aggression to oneself and others, fear, and rage. As teenagers grow older, the limbic system is controlled more by the area under the forehead or the prefrontal cortex that is highly associated with higher thought order, control of impulses, and planning.

This increases their ability to process emotions, enabling them to interpret their feelings (Clavier, 2009). However, since they are not fully under the control fort the prefrontal cortex, interpretation of emotions is still not fully developed. Teenagers also begin to have the ability to think abstractly, which increases their social anxiety. Reasoning in abstract terms allows people to think of themselves as other people think of them, which may be used by teenagers to ruminate on what their peers think of them (Clavier, 2009).

Peer approval at this stage, unlike in adults where the ability of abstract thought is fully developed, is highly rewarding for teenagers, which explains their increased taking of risks in the company of peers. Their peers also give them the opportunities to learn group planning, compromise, and negotiating skills. At this stage, they practice adult skills in a setting