Does Teenage Brain Qualify Teenagers As Complete Aliens?
Posted: Monday, March 01, 2010
by Mogama
http://www.mogama.info
When I heard this story about teenagers on National Public Radio, it sucked me in like a whirlpool. That's because I currently have two teenage children a daughter (16) and a son (14).
Frances Jensen has survived the adolescent years of two sons. That gives hope to us as parents of teenagers. Jensen is a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. Sudden changes in her first son's behavior drove her to research what neuroscientists had on the teenage brain. What she found out helped keep her remain sane throughout her two sons' transit through adolescence.
She said the right question to ask of a teenager when s/he pulls one of those reckless stunts is not " What were you thinking?", but " How were you thinking?" Yep, that teenager does think differently from Mom or Dad.
Jensen's greatest finding is that, contrary to what scientists used to believe, the formation of the youngster's brain is not complete by age 10. In fact, brain formation continues well into the mid-20s. Thus the neurologist mom found that she and her teenagers were not processing information in exactly the same way.
The adult brain tends to consider the consequences of a decision or action. That's because the frontal lobes of the adult brain is connected. Because of connected frontal lobes, the adult brain can ask, "Is this a good idea?", a question that accounts for consequences. For the teenager, the frontal lobes remain disconnected, like two loose wires. One implication of those loose-ended frontal lobes is that the teenager is merely interested in the thrill of the moment. She cares little about 'What may happen if I do this? Who is it going to affect someone else?'
According to the NPR story, this explains "why teenagers often seem so maddeningly self-centered." Jensen says this is why teenagers may come across as "surly, rude, selfish people. Well, actually, that's the developmental stage they're at. They aren't yet at that place where they're thinking about or capable, necessarily, of thinking about the effects of their behavior on other people. That requires insight."
So when I see my daughter's room in an upheaval, or when I watch my son cook scrambled eggs and eat all of it without paying much attention to his little sister, I know what's going on. Or what's not going on. It's those frontal lobes that are not online yet. Good news is, this stage is temporary. I just can't wait for that 26 th birthday, when those frontal lobes will finally tie the knots with each other, reminding my offspring of the consequences of walking out the door with the stove set on high and burners red hot.
Oh, one more useful piece of information about the separated frontal lobes of my teenager's brain: It leaves him or her "more vulnerable to addiction". My gosh, can I just pay a brain surgeon to connect those frontal lobes right now?
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Frances Jensen has survived the adolescent years of two sons. That gives hope to us as parents of teenagers. Jensen is a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. Sudden changes in her first son's behavior drove her to research what neuroscientists had on the teenage brain. What she found out helped keep her remain sane throughout her two sons' transit through adolescence.
Jensen's greatest finding is that, contrary to what scientists used to believe, the formation of the youngster's brain is not complete by age 10. In fact, brain formation continues well into the mid-20s. Thus the neurologist mom found that she and her teenagers were not processing information in exactly the same way.
The adult brain tends to consider the consequences of a decision or action. That's because the frontal lobes of the adult brain is connected. Because of connected frontal lobes, the adult brain can ask, "Is this a good idea?", a question that accounts for consequences. For the teenager, the frontal lobes remain disconnected, like two loose wires. One implication of those loose-ended frontal lobes is that the teenager is merely interested in the thrill of the moment. She cares little about 'What may happen if I do this? Who is it going to affect someone else?'
According to the NPR story, this explains "why teenagers often seem so maddeningly self-centered." Jensen says this is why teenagers may come across as "surly, rude, selfish people. Well, actually, that's the developmental stage they're at. They aren't yet at that place where they're thinking about or capable, necessarily, of thinking about the effects of their behavior on other people. That requires insight."
So when I see my daughter's room in an upheaval, or when I watch my son cook scrambled eggs and eat all of it without paying much attention to his little sister, I know what's going on. Or what's not going on. It's those frontal lobes that are not online yet. Good news is, this stage is temporary. I just can't wait for that 26 th birthday, when those frontal lobes will finally tie the knots with each other, reminding my offspring of the consequences of walking out the door with the stove set on high and burners red hot.
Oh, one more useful piece of information about the separated frontal lobes of my teenager's brain: It leaves him or her "more vulnerable to addiction". My gosh, can I just pay a brain surgeon to connect those frontal lobes right now?
→ Click here to become a Searchwarp Writer. It's FREE.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Maybe some one can create an interesting computer game that will dropkick those frontal lobes into an adult position and whamo instant adult thought processes. Now I know why my 14 yr old granddaughter seems (is) so self absorbed. Interesting article Mogama. I tried to leave a comment on your debt article and it wouldn't let me. I just wanted to say congrats on you restraint. Someday you'll be debt free and you'll love it.Please log in to respond to this comment.Yeh, Linda, I'm waiting for that frontal-lobes-computer game....
It seems my debt freedom blog has some bugs that need to be worked out. Thanks for the encouragement; hopefully we'll reach debt-free land one day soon. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.
Mogama,Funny that you mention this, for I have been saying for years, and my wife concurs, that the human brains does not begin to solidify, come out of the primordial ooze, until one's late twenties. (This is interestingly the age when people begin to look to self-help, or those things that entail action / consequence.) This is not based on any research but personal observation, myself included, and the many hundreds of teenagers and twenty-somethings I've encountered as a college professor. Yes, for whatever reason, consequence is of little concern, but to teach them that it exists is my life's ambition. And to get through to them I often will use graphic horrors of the "unexamined life"--mine and others--and just general shock therapy. It appears my experiment is working. Wish me luck. (I generally don't like to swear but cussing along with bodily function humor seems to not only impress four-year-olds and eleven-year-olds but teenagers as well and most twenty-somethings. Go figure ;=)Please log in to respond to this comment.It seems, Jeff, that the elite of our day will only pay attention to an expert armed with the findings of research when ordinary folk have lived the findings for ages. Take, for example, research findings about male-female differences (that girls are actually different from boys), the healing power of faith, the health benefits of laughter, etc. The same goes for how teenagers think; parents have known for centuries, so it's kind of hilarious to hear the PhDs confirm common sense. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.Yes, this is not the first time I've heard experts confirm what most of us have know for ages. Sad that people will only listen to someone, as you've stated, if they have reams of data in their hand, a PhD and appear on Oprah. True that ;=)Please log in to respond to this comment.
Hi Mogama.I'd heard about this too. I don't have any kids (they'd be grown now anyway), but I've worked on and off over the years with teenagers. Once I was the night manager of a fast food restaurant and my crew was all teenagers. Boy was that an education!Great article, good info.DiannePlease log in to respond to this comment.But you did survive that conglomeration of disconnected frontal lobes one dark night! You should have won a prize, Dianne-:) ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.
This is a great article, of course, and yet I wonder what the parallels are between under-developed brains (as in teens) and strangely-developed brains (as in some adults). I am thinking of politicians and probably every driver here in the city of Austin.Well done, sir.Please log in to respond to this comment.Uhmmm..."strangely-developed brains". Michael, you specialize in seeing the missing angle. I wonder what the frontal lobes look like in such adults (politicians and drivers)... Hopefully we don't have too many of those. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.
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