Venturing inside the teenage brain
If you’ve ever tried to warn teenagers of the consequences of risky behavior — only to have them sigh and roll their eyes — don’t blame them.
Blame their brain anatomy.
Sociologists and psychologists have long known that teen brains are predisposed to downplay risk, act impulsively and be undaunted by the threat of punishment. But now scientists are beginning to understand why.
"I think teenage behavior is probably the most misunderstood of any age group — not only by parents but by teenagers themselves," says Pradeep Bhide, a Florida State University College of Medicine neuroscientist and director of the Center for Brain Repair.
"It’s a critical time in life, and a very stressful one, when they are going through so many changes at the same time that their brains are changing. The teen years are actually a very busy time for brain development."
During the past year, Bhide brought together some of the world’s foremost brain researchers in a quest to explain why teenagers — and male teens in particular — often behave erratically. He and two Cornell University colleagues examined 20 of the leading research projects from brain experts around the world and recently published their findings in a special volume of the scientific journal Developmental Neuroscience.
