tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/teen-brain-45474/articlesTeen brain – The Conversation2019-03-05T03:55:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1120002019-03-05T03:55:11Z2019-03-05T03:55:11ZCurious Kids: how much does a brain weigh?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261609/original/file-20190301-22871-1f7y7uo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=54%2C0%2C5098%2C3445&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Your brain is about 70% water.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/imagine-this/">Imagine This</a>, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.</em> </p>
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<p><strong>How much does a brain weigh? – Question from the students of Ms Young’s Grade 5/6 class, Baden Powell College, Victoria.</strong> </p>
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<p>A newborn baby’s brain weighs about 400 grams – a bit lighter than half a litre of milk, or about the same as four medium-sized <a href="https://www.australiananimallearningzone.com/rainbow-lorikeet.htm">rainbow lorikeets</a>. By the time that baby reaches her teens, her brain now <a href="https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/ffacts.html">weighs</a> about 1.4 - 1.5 kilograms: one whole extra litre of milk or a whopping nine or 10 extra lorikeets! </p>
<p>And while a teenager’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Variability-of-brain-size-and-external-topography-Photographs-and-weights-of-the_fig20_51197321">brain</a> is still learning and developing, it won’t get much bigger in size – an adult brain is about 1.4 - 1.5kg too. </p>
<p>That 1.5 kilograms takes up about 1300 millilitres, and is about 70% water. The remaining 30% is made up of fat and protein with a little bit of sugar and a little bit of salt. </p>
<p>This makes the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3098448/">brain</a> sound quite similar to pancakes but the brain is much more useful for thinking and (as you might imagine) far less delicious than pancakes. </p>
<p>I don’t have to imagine how delicious brains are because I once tried eating some at a Teppanyaki restaurant in Japan. At least, I <em>think</em> that it was brain: it was listed on the menu as “meat of the head” and I <em>think</em> that it was chicken brain. At least, I <em>hope</em> that it was chicken brain. At the time, I <em>wished</em> that it was pancakes.</p>
<p>Delicious or not, these ingredients make up the 86 billion thinking cells (called “neurons”) and 80 billion or so supporting cells that, together, make up your brain.</p>
<p>This is a whole lot of cells; it is <a href="https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/blueshift/index.php/2015/07/22/how-many-stars-in-the-milky-way/">similar</a> to the estimated number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy!</p>
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<span class="caption">Your brain has lots of different parts that all take care of different things, like memory, movement, feelings, imagination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-our-brains-freak-us-out-with-scary-dreams-81329">Curious Kids: Why do our brains freak us out with scary dreams?</a>
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<h2>Big brains, little brains</h2>
<p>One of the smallest “brains” belongs to a microscopic worm, <em>Caenorhabditis elegans</em>. It only has 302 brain cells, each one with its own name. </p>
<p>The sperm whale, on the other hand, has a whopping big brain. The biggest brain on Earth, in fact. It is 8 litres: about the size of a small school backpack, or considerably more lorikeet parrots than you could fit into a small school backpack. But please, do not try this at home. Or anywhere else, for that matter. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261610/original/file-20190301-22874-139clf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261610/original/file-20190301-22874-139clf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261610/original/file-20190301-22874-139clf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261610/original/file-20190301-22874-139clf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261610/original/file-20190301-22874-139clf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261610/original/file-20190301-22874-139clf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261610/original/file-20190301-22874-139clf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261610/original/file-20190301-22874-139clf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The biggest brain on Earth belongs to the sperm whale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>“But wait!” I hear you cry. “The blue whale is the biggest whale on Earth. Why doesn’t it have the biggest brain?!”. </p>
<p>Blue whales might be the biggest whales, but they don’t have the biggest brains. Unlike blue whales, sperm whales need to do complicated things like herding and hunting in order to survive. </p>
<p>These tricky tasks require more brain power than simple filter-feeding (which is what blue whales do), and that may be why sperm whales have bigger brains.</p>
<p>As for your brain, you can keep it healthy by eating healthy food (so, not pancakes… OK <em>some</em> pancakes), drinking lots of water, getting some exercise, thinking and using your imagination. </p>
<p>You can use your imagination to wonder what brains taste like or imagine how big your school bag would have to be to comfortably accommodate 64 lorikeets. </p>
<p>Above all, keep thinking up excellent questions about the world around you.</p>
<p><em>David Farmer is the brains (pun absolutely intended) behind the Melbourne Comedy Festival show “Why You’re Not Dead Yet” which is all about brain function.</em></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-if-australia-is-at-the-bottom-of-the-world-why-are-we-the-right-way-up-92416">Curious Kids: If Australia is at the bottom of the world, why are we the right way up?</a>
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<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p>
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<p><em>Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112000/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Farmer is employed on a grant awarded by the NHMRC and is a Senior Research Officer at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. He also has a show at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival called ‘Why You’re Not Dead Yet’ which is all about brain and brainstem function.</span></em></p>An adult brain weighs about 1.5kg. It’s mostly water with some fat, protein, sugar and a dash of salt. Sounds like pancakes, I know, but I once tried chicken brains and, well, pancakes are tastier.David Farmer, Senior Research Officer, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1104242019-02-15T11:48:48Z2019-02-15T11:48:48ZAdolescents have a fundamental need to contribute<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258333/original/file-20190211-174867-1iu4pe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C163%2C5415%2C3535&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Harnessing adolescents’ readiness to help can be good for them and their communities.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/diligent-volunteers-company-working-hard-while-1201495798">YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>No longer children but not yet adults, adolescents need opportunities to learn and prepare for their entrance into the broader society. But, as schooling increasingly extends the adolescent period and teenagers get dismissed as supposedly selfish and irresponsible, has society forgotten an important developmental need of our youth?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MQScMDkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">As a developmental scientist</a> who <a href="http://adolescence.semel.ucla.edu">focuses on adolescence</a>, I <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1745691618805437">reviewed dozens of studies</a> and found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(18)30022-1">this age group</a> has a fundamental need to contribute to others – to provide support, resources or help toward a shared goal. Contributing helps them achieve autonomy, identity and intimacy – important milestones on the way to adulthood.</p>
<p>As teenagers grow up, their brains are developing in ways that appear to support the increasingly complex ways of thinking and behaving that underlie giving to others. And being able to make meaningful contributions predicts better psychological and physical health among youth as well as adults. I believe it’s time to move away from outdated stereotypes of adolescents as only selfish and dangerous risk-takers and to consider how they are ripe for learning about contributing to others and their communities.</p>
<h2>It’s human nature to give, even for adolescents</h2>
<p>For decades, economists and other scientists have asked thousands of people to play experimental games that ask people to give and share money and other resources with one another. These studies have consistently shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-011-9283-7">adults generally will provide some resources to others</a> – some estimates put the average at around 30 percent of their allotments – even if they don’t know the recipients and expect nothing in return.</p>
<p>Adolescents are generous, too. Several labs around the world have reported on the tendency for youth to share at least some of their money or rewards with others in these games, even at a cost to themselves. Studies in the Netherlands suggested that adolescents aged 9 to 18 will make a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00291">costly donation to friends</a> between 50 and 75 percent of the time. They’ll donate even to strangers at a cost to themselves between 30 and 50 percent of the time. In research our team has conducted, American adolescents agreed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17470911003687913">give money to family at a loss to themselves</a> about two-thirds of the time.</p>
<p>Add in the fact that teenagers consistently report their friends as their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005147708827">most frequent source of emotional and social support</a>, and a picture emerges of adolescents as a group primed to contribute to others.</p>
<h2>Brain developments for good</h2>
<p>The adolescent brain gets blamed for a lot of bad behavior, such as delinquency and substance use. But this reputation is <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-time-to-lay-the-stereotype-of-the-teen-brain-to-rest-85888">undergoing a rehabilitation</a>.</p>
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<span class="caption">Overview of reward structures in the human brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Recolored_Overview_of_reward_structures_in_the_human_brain2.png">Oscar Arias-Carrión1, Maria Stamelou, Eric Murillo-Rodríguez, Manuel Menéndez-González and Ernst Pöppel.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Neuroscience research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413480859">brain regions related to reward</a> – such as the ventral and dorsal striatum – become more sensitive during the teen years. At the same time, they’re strengthening connections to brain areas relevant for cognitive control, like the prefrontal cortex. Together these <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3313">developments in the growing brain</a> may be instrumental in the exploratory learning, creativity and cognitive flexibility essential to becoming an adult. </p>
<p>These regions and networks, as well as those relevant for thinking about other people, have been implicated in prosocial and giving behaviors. Our team’s studies have shown that several regions – such as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17470911003687913">ventral and dorsal striatum</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.06.013">dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex</a> – are active when adolescents make costly donations to their family. Among youth who place great importance on helping family, we saw even more activation in additional regions related to social cognition and in the connections between them. Other researchers have obtained <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nst077">similar</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw136">results</a>. </p>
<p>These are the very same neural networks that undergo the most change during the adolescent years. The networks seem to be active during the complex decision-making – to whom, when, how much, do they really need it? – that can be involved in sharing resources, support and effort with others. It’s tricky to work through these kinds of difficult questions. The developing brain may enable youth to learn how to make the computations necessary to answer them.</p>
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<span class="caption">Volunteering has benefits for the volunteers, too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/staff-serving-food-homeless-shelter-kitchen-184909757">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Giving benefits the giver, too</h2>
<p>Contribution helps givers and receivers. More and more evidence links giving and doing things for others with improved psychological and physical health. Volunteering and providing assistance has been correlated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.14461">lower mortality</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31829de2e7">fewer health problems</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/002214650504600106">less depression</a>.</p>
<p>And of course adolescents experience such benefits, as well. In an intriguing study, researchers randomly assigned one group of youths to participate in a program providing support and companionship to the elderly. Compared to a control group of teens, these adolescents later had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.1100">lower circulating levels of inflammation</a> – a marker known to be associated with a variety of chronic health problems.</p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000494">Another study</a> observed that helping others on a daily basis <a href="https://theconversation.com/teens-who-feel-down-may-benefit-from-picking-others-up-101882">improved the mood of youth</a>, particularly for those who suffered from higher levels of depressive symptoms. Our team even observed that adolescents were significantly <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0014728">happier on days in which they helped</a> their families, due in part to their sense of fulfilling an important role in the family.</p>
<h2>Helping meet the need to contribute</h2>
<p>Providing youth with the opportunity to make contributions to others would seem to be a win-win: Youth gain skills and maintain well-being while communities benefit from their efforts. But are adolescents currently offered such opportunities in their daily lives?</p>
<p>First think about the home setting. Do families give adolescents a chance to participate in decision-making that affects themselves and their relatives? Do youth make instrumental contributions to their families, whether through daily chores or in more substantial ways like helping siblings with schoolwork?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258331/original/file-20190211-174880-1gsfkqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258331/original/file-20190211-174880-1gsfkqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258331/original/file-20190211-174880-1gsfkqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258331/original/file-20190211-174880-1gsfkqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258331/original/file-20190211-174880-1gsfkqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258331/original/file-20190211-174880-1gsfkqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258331/original/file-20190211-174880-1gsfkqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258331/original/file-20190211-174880-1gsfkqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teens can help other students outside the classroom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/couple-classmates-working-together-on-laptop-200191874">antoniodiaz/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In the school environment, do students feel as if their opinions are valued and their suggestions are considered? Are there enough slots in student leadership and extracurricular activities to give all students the opportunity to participate?</p>
<p>In the broader community, people must be welcoming of adolescents’ unique contributions, even when they may differ from the adults’. Are quality programs – those that allow youth to have a say – equitably available to the ethnically and economically diverse youth of today? <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/10022">Several national organizations</a> such as Boys and Girls Clubs of America and 4-H aim to make it so, but limited resources can be a significant hurdle.</p>
<p>Figuring out ways to promote youth contribution can be challenging. Decisions need to be made about the appropriate type and amount, and responsible adults sometimes need to limit what adolescents can and should do. For example, participation in student governance would be positive, but taking on excessive job responsibilities that interfere with schooling and sleep would be detrimental. These decisions likely vary according to the norms and values of each community. And people must make a conscious effort to confront parochialism, by which adolescents and adults tend to give and do more for others like themselves.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, at a time in history when many economies no longer depend upon child and adolescent labor, perhaps the understandable desire to protect youth has led many people to forget an important ingredient in the period of life often called the “<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Apprenticeship-for-Adulthood/Stephen-F-Hamilton/9781451602364">apprenticeship for adulthood</a>.” Adolescents appear to be primed to give and contribute to others. They and our communities could benefit greatly if we collectively find more opportunities for them to do so in their daily lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew J. Fuligni receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. He is a board member of the Center for the Developing Adolescent.</span></em></p>Teens get a bad rap as selfish, dangerous risk-takers. But neuroscience and psychology research is revising that image: Adolescents are primed to help those around them, with positive benefits for all.Andrew J. Fuligni, Professor of Psychiatry & Psychology, University of California, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1066512018-11-13T11:47:40Z2018-11-13T11:47:40ZNeuroscientists identify a surprising low-tech fix to the problem of sleep-deprived teens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244657/original/file-20181108-74787-oze1id.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2622%2C3532%2C2742&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A good night's sleep comes down to a comfy place to rest your head.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/HOaxe7XXhG8">Marisa Harris/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/hay-una-solucion-sencilla-a-la-falta-de-sueno-de-los-jovenes-106900">Leer en español</a></em>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.008">Healthy sleep leads to healthy brains</a>. Neuroscientists have gotten that message out. But parents, doctors and educators alike have struggled to identify what to do to improve sleep. Some have called for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-1697">delaying school start times</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2017.08.013">limiting screentime before bed</a> to achieve <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12729">academic</a>, health and <a href="https://www.rand.org/news/press/2017/08/30.html">even economic gains</a>. </p>
<p>Still, recent estimates suggest that roughly <a href="http://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/2014-NSF-Sleep-in-America-poll-summary-of-findings---FINAL-Updated-3-26-14-.pdf">half of adolescents in the United States are sleep-deprived</a>. These numbers are alarming because sleep is particularly important during <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015156">adolescence, a time of significant brain changes</a> that affect learning, self-control and emotional systems. And sleep deficits are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2010.00151.x">even greater in economically disadvantaged youth</a> compared to more affluent counterparts.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=k29BQf8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Research from my</a> <a href="https://galvanlab.psych.ucla.edu">developmental neuroscience lab</a> shows one solution to the sleep deprivation problem that is deceptively simple: provide teens with a good pillow. Because getting comfortable bedding does not involve technology, expensive interventions or lots of time, it may be particularly beneficial for improving sleep among underresourced adolescents.</p>
<h2>Consistency over quantity</h2>
<p>Studies in my lab have shown that seemingly small differences in the quality and duration of sleep make a difference in how the brain processes information.</p>
<p>Sleep acts like a glue that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070307">helps the brain encode recently learned information</a> into long-term knowledge. It also improves focus in school because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2010.09.020">sleep helps dampen hyperactive behavior</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2011.03.007">strong emotional reactions</a> and squirminess. This means that students who are normally dismissed from the classroom for disruptive behavior are more likely to stay in class if they’re not sleep-deprived. More time in the class <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516686113">leads to more learning</a>.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I originally hypothesized that the number of hours asleep was most important for healthy brain development over time. But when we tested this idea with a study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2015.05.007">the findings surprised us</a>. Instead, adolescents whose sleep is inconsistent across the school week, varying by as much as 2.5 hours from one night to the next, exhibited less development of white matter connections in their brains a year later than those who slept a more consistent number of hours per night.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-396460-1.00014-7">White matter connections help process information</a> efficiently and quickly by connecting different brain regions, similar to how a highway connects two cities. Adolescence is an important time for paving all the brain’s highways, and this research suggests sleep may be vital for this construction.</p>
<h2>Better sleep comes with better bedding</h2>
<p>So what are the primary sleep ingredients that contribute to healthy brain development? My lab <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.07.006">designed a study to investigate</a>.</p>
<p>We equipped 55 14- to 18-year-old high school students across Los Angeles from different socioeconomic backgrounds with actigraphs, wristwatch-like monitors that track sleep quality. Higher sleep quality is defined by fewer awakenings per night. Those are times in the night when sleep rhythms are disrupted and the person is briefly awake or moves into a lighter stage of sleep, whether they’re consciously aware of it or not. In our study, adolescents had an average of five awakenings per night that ranged in duration between less than a minute and over an hour.</p>
<p>After two weeks, they came into the lab to have their brains scanned. We were interested in measuring the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015156">connections among pathways in the brain</a> involved in self-control, emotion and reward processing – the same ones that are important for reducing impulsivity and staying focused in class. Unsurprisingly, adolescents with better sleep quality had better “brain connectivity.” That is, connections among key brain regions were stronger.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244979/original/file-20181112-39548-1pzh6pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244979/original/file-20181112-39548-1pzh6pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244979/original/file-20181112-39548-1pzh6pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244979/original/file-20181112-39548-1pzh6pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244979/original/file-20181112-39548-1pzh6pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244979/original/file-20181112-39548-1pzh6pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244979/original/file-20181112-39548-1pzh6pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244979/original/file-20181112-39548-1pzh6pf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The subjective experience of a comfortable place to sleep was key.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/dEUYgSzEosc">jurien huggins/Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the more important, and surprising, discovery was what we found when we dug deeper into identifying the reasons some adolescents got better sleep than others. Was it less technology in the bedroom? Darker rooms? Less noise? Higher socioeconomic status? Not in our study. </p>
<p>Adolescents who reported greater satisfaction with their bedding and pillows were the ones who had greater sleep quality, and greater sleep quality was associated with greater brain connectivity, an effect that cut across socioeconomic lines. Conversely, adolescents in our study with low brain connectivity and poor sleep quality exhibited greater impulsivity than those with high connectivity and sleep quality, illustrating the real-world effects on behavior. </p>
<p>So is there a perfect pillow? We found that one size doesn’t fit all. For some people, a flat pancake pillow soothes them into a sound slumber. For others, only a super puffy cloud will do. And although our findings were strongest for pillow comfort, bedding more generally was important too.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245159/original/file-20181112-83596-1d46yla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245159/original/file-20181112-83596-1d46yla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245159/original/file-20181112-83596-1d46yla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245159/original/file-20181112-83596-1d46yla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245159/original/file-20181112-83596-1d46yla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245159/original/file-20181112-83596-1d46yla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245159/original/file-20181112-83596-1d46yla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245159/original/file-20181112-83596-1d46yla.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A good night’s sleep helps any kid, rich or poor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peigov/30072853261">Government of Prince Edward Island/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sleep interventions to close achievement gap</h2>
<p>In every measurable domain, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1602387">young people reared in poverty</a> experience poor outcomes. Compared to more affluent peers, they show poorer academic and cognitive performance, psychosocial well-being and physical health. These gaps have been the focus of intense debate and research but they remain wide and persistent.</p>
<p>The availability and quality of basic needs, including food, health, parental warmth and shelter, helps explain some of the discrepant outcomes between high and low-income adolescents. But researchers have sorely underemphasized sleep – an equally important basic need that may be an untapped solution to the achievement gap.</p>
<p><a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/studies/gaps/">Reducing the achievement gap</a> is the goal of many government-funded programs. One way to achieve it is to create accessible and realistic targets for intervention that improve day-to-day functioning. Sleep may be one such target. It is relatively easy to quantify and track, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.07.018">affected by daily habits that can be changed</a> such as parental monitoring and bedtime routines, and it is directly associated with learning, social and health outcomes.</p>
<p>In a time of borderline hysteria over the <a href="https://theconversation.com/teens-are-sleeping-less-but-theres-a-surprisingly-easy-fix-85157">effects of technology on sleep</a> and brain development, little attention goes to the fundamental elements of good sleep in adolescents. Ensuring they have comfortable bedding may help improve sleep in all adolescents, particularly among poorer families. And it’s a lot easier to convince parents and teens to invest in pillows than to bicker over phone privileges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106651/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adriana Galván receives funding from the William T. Grant Foundation, National Science Foundation and National Institute of Mental Health. </span></em></p>Researchers tracked adolescents’ sleep and scanned their brains. As expected, better sleep went with healthy brain development. Unexpected was the importance of one aspect of where teens slept.Adriana Galván, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/924902018-06-12T10:40:41Z2018-06-12T10:40:41ZLiving with neighborhood violence may shape teens’ brains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222837/original/file-20180612-112637-m1aocj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Violence in communities may have an additional unseen victim: young peoples' developing brains.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/torontojuly-17-police-line-do-not-107853224">Zoran Karapancev/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Flinching as a gunshot whizzes past your window. Covering your ears when a police car races down your street, sirens blaring. Walking past a drug deal on your block or a beating at your school.</p>
<p>For kids living in picket-fence suburbia, these experiences might be rare. But for their peers in urban poverty, they are all too commonplace. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CCFP.0000006292.61072.d2">More than half of children and adolescents living in cities</a> have experienced some form of community violence – acts of disturbance or crime, such as drug use, beatings, shootings, stabbings and break-ins, within their neighborhoods or schools. </p>
<p>Researchers know from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.445">decades of work</a> that exposure to community violence can lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12328">emotional</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00623">social</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146514567576">cognitive</a> problems. Kids might have difficulty <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.68.4.670">regulating emotions</a>, paying attention or <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2000-03323-005">concentrating at school</a>. Over time, kids living with the stress of community violence may become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034121">less engaged in school</a>, withdraw from friends or show symptoms of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2009.04.001">post-traumatic stress</a>, like irritability and intrusive thoughts. In short, living in an unsafe community can have a corrosive effect on child development.</p>
<p>Few studies, though, have specifically looked at the toll community violence may take on the growing brain. Recently, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=q676bXMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I studied this question </a> in collaboration with a team of researchers here at the University of Southern California. Our goal: to see whether individuals exposed to more community violence in their early teen years would show <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12686">differences in the structure and function of their brains</a> in late adolescence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216903/original/file-20180430-135848-1m3z0wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216903/original/file-20180430-135848-1m3z0wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216903/original/file-20180430-135848-1m3z0wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216903/original/file-20180430-135848-1m3z0wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216903/original/file-20180430-135848-1m3z0wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216903/original/file-20180430-135848-1m3z0wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216903/original/file-20180430-135848-1m3z0wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216903/original/file-20180430-135848-1m3z0wn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Witnessing crime has lots of downstream effects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/7552532@N07/5694981557">ATOMIC Hot Links</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Connecting community violence to the brain</h2>
<p>My colleague <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=e1wD7z0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Gayla Margolin</a>, an expert on youth exposure to violence, has been following a sample of Los Angeles-area youth for over a decade. When these teens were about 13 years old, she asked them to fill out a checklist of community violence experiences: hearing gun shots, witnessing a beating, seeing someone do drugs, watching someone get arrested or chased by the police, seeing someone get chased by a gang, or seeing someone get threatened with a beating or stabbing. For our current study, we added these items together to get an overall sense of how much violence each teen had witnessed in his or her neighborhood.</p>
<p>About four years after they took the community violence survey, when the youth were around 17 years old, we asked 22 of them to lie down in a <a href="https://www.nibib.nih.gov/science-education/science-topics/magnetic-resonance-imaging-mri">magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine</a> while we scanned their brains. When we examined the images we’d collected, we zeroed in on two small but critically important structures near the base of the brain: the <a href="http://psycheducation.org/brain-tours/memory-learning-and-emotion-the-hippocampus/">hippocampus</a> and the <a href="http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_04/d_04_cr/d_04_cr_peu/d_04_cr_peu.html">amygdala</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222495/original/file-20180610-191974-by0tjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222495/original/file-20180610-191974-by0tjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222495/original/file-20180610-191974-by0tjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222495/original/file-20180610-191974-by0tjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222495/original/file-20180610-191974-by0tjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222495/original/file-20180610-191974-by0tjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222495/original/file-20180610-191974-by0tjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222495/original/file-20180610-191974-by0tjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The hippocampus and amygdala are beneath the cortex of the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/brain-cross-section-showing-basal-ganglia-329843930">Blamb/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The hippocampus, a curved structure shaped like the seahorse it is named after, plays a role in learning and memory. Stress hormones seem to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.57.10.925">shrink this structure</a>, and adverse childhood experiences like abuse and neglect have been linked with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1364.024">smaller hippocampal volumes later in life</a>. One recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.12070957">review of research on child maltreatment</a> found that early abuse and neglect predicted smaller hippocampal size in 30 out of 37 studies that looked at the connection.</p>
<p>In our current study, we also measured the size of the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure located close to the hippocampus that is known for its involvement in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/372669a0">emotion and threat-related processing</a>. Childhood adversity has also been tied to the size of the amygdala, although this research has been mixed: Some studies have found that people exposed to early stress show smaller amygdala volumes, some show larger amygdalae and some show no relationship at all.</p>
<p>In addition to looking at the size of the hippocampus and amygdala, we also looked at patterns of interconnection between these structures and other regions of the brain. Which parts of the brain “talked” more to each other, as reflected by more tightly correlated levels of activation?</p>
<h2>A neural signature of community violence?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12686">In our data</a>, we found that witnessing violence in early adolescence predicted smaller volumes of both the hippocampus and amygdala in this group of teens.</p>
<p>We didn’t measure the absolute size of these structures – instead we tested the relationship between community violence and brain volume. In other words, if our participants told us at around age 13 that their neighborhoods were higher in crime and violence, the size of these critical brain structures looked smaller about four years later, compared to teens who reported less community violence. Interestingly, this link held up even after we controlled for the youth’s socioeconomic status (family income and education) and their present-day exposure to community violence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216910/original/file-20180430-135817-knsc6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216910/original/file-20180430-135817-knsc6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216910/original/file-20180430-135817-knsc6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216910/original/file-20180430-135817-knsc6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216910/original/file-20180430-135817-knsc6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216910/original/file-20180430-135817-knsc6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216910/original/file-20180430-135817-knsc6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216910/original/file-20180430-135817-knsc6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=244&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These brain regions showed stronger connectivity with the hippocampus among youth exposed to greater community violence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darby Saxbe</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also found that, among youth exposed to more community violence, the right hippocampus showed stronger connections with other brain regions linked to emotion processing and stress, perhaps suggesting that these youth were more vigilant to potential threat. If you’re used to encountering dangerous situations, maybe you and your brain learn to stay alert to avoid the next potential threat that lurks around the corner. </p>
<p>Our study dovetails with other research on early stress and the brain but is the first to specifically look at the link between community violence and the size and connectivity of the hippocampus and amygdala. Our sample was quite small and limited by the fact that we scanned the youth only once, in late adolescence. Therefore, although our measure of community violence was collected about four years before the scan, we have no way of knowing for sure whether community violence actually led to changes in the hippocampus and amygdala. It’s possible these brain differences preceded the youths’ exposure to community violence. For these reasons, this study should be considered preliminary and needs to be corroborated by much more research.</p>
<p>Despite its limitations, this work takes a first step in showing that community violence is linked with detectable differences in the teen brain in ways that are consistent with other forms of early adversity like abuse and neglect. These effects might be due to stress hormones that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2639">flood the developing brain and affect the growth</a> of neural structures like the hippocampus and amygdala.</p>
<p>Youth with <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/foc.2005.0006">smaller hippocampal volumes may show learning and cognitive difficulties</a>, whereas smaller amygdala volumes have been linked with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-010-2009-2">depression risk and behavior problems</a>. In other words, if, as we suspect, community violence has a toxic effect on the brain, downstream effects may emerge both at school and at home. And those effects converge with the deficits in attention, cognition and emotion regulation that other researchers have already noted in youth exposed to community violence. They may even endure into adulthood and contribute to a cascade of risk for further problems in employment and education. </p>
<p>Although community violence may be widespread, that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. Developing kids and teens deserve to feel safe at home, in their schools and in their neighborhoods. As our results and those of many other studies show, growing up in a violent or chaotic environment seems to leave traces on the brain, and may put youth at risk for other problems down the line. Although we don’t usually think of street lights, after-school programs and revitalized park spaces as brain-building improvements, public investment in urban neighborhood safety and quality may have wide-ranging benefits for teens at risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darby Saxbe receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Experiencing and witnessing violence in their communities can lead to emotional, social and cognitive problems for kids. A new study shows it affects how their developing brains grow, as well.Darby Saxbe, Assistant Professor of Psychology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958502018-05-22T10:46:55Z2018-05-22T10:46:55ZDebunking the 6 biggest myths about ‘technology addiction’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218641/original/file-20180511-135462-1ymtnef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Using this many devices at once doesn't mean a person is addicted to technology.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-man-cellphone-touchpad-laptop-252968998">Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How concerned should people be about the psychological effects of screen time? Balancing technology use with other aspects of daily life seems reasonable, but there is a lot of conflicting advice about where that balance should be. Much of the discussion – including the World Health Organization’s recent decision to <a href="http://www.who.int/health-topics/international-classification-of-diseases">declare “gaming disorder” an “addictive behavior disorder”</a> –is framed around fighting “<a href="https://qz.com/1202888/are-kids-actually-addicted-to-technology/">addiction</a>” to technology. But to me, that resembles a <a href="https://theconversation.com/banning-smartphones-for-kids-is-just-another-technology-fearing-moral-panic-74485">moral panic</a>, giving voice to scary claims based on weak data. </p>
<p>For example, in April 2018, television journalist Katie Couric’s “America Inside Out” program focused on the <a href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/u/kc3hgrel4c2G8VPCbKhImL04Cu8f5yqmc5TtWV1vnlssJ7Ecws08B89g4SaU5Fz5EUkUhcmmrmiL74AxyNETpRcpbSM73iyb/">effects of technology on people’s brains</a>. The episode featured the co-founder of a business treating technology addiction. That person compared addiction to technology with addictions to cocaine and other drugs. The show also implied that technology use could lead to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK6p8VyyvCs">Alzheimer’s disease-like memory loss</a>. Others, such as psychologist Jean Twenge, have <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-teen-mental-health-deteriorating-over-five-years-theres-a-likely-culprit-86996">linked smartphones</a> with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/">teen suicide</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1YnfDyOhHsc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A National Geographic Channel show raises alarms about technology use.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I am a <a href="http://www.christopherjferguson.com/academic-page.html">psychologist</a> who has worked with teens and families and <a href="http://christopherjferguson.com/pubs">conducted research</a> on technology use, video games and addiction. I believe most of these fear-mongering claims about technology are rubbish. There are several common myths of technology addiction that deserve to be debunked by actual research.</p>
<h2>Technology is not a drug</h2>
<p>Some people have claimed that technology use activates the same pleasure centers of the brain as <a href="http://techland.time.com/2011/03/10/two-hours-of-gaming-like-doing-a-line-of-cocaine/">cocaine</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/">heroin</a> or methamphetamine. That’s vaguely true, but brain responses to pleasurable experiences are not reserved only for unhealthy things. </p>
<p>Anything fun results in an increased dopamine release in the “pleasure circuits” of the brain – whether it’s going for a swim, reading a good book, having a good conversation, eating or having sex. Technology use causes dopamine release <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13676049_Evidence_for_striatal_dopamine_release_during_a_video_game">similar to other normal, fun activities</a>: about 50 to 100 percent above normal levels. </p>
<p>Cocaine, by contrast, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.85.14.5274">increases dopamine</a> 350 percent, and methamphetamine a whopping 1,200 percent. In addition, recent evidence has found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-015-1408-2">significant differences</a> in how dopamine receptors work among people whose computer use has caused problems in their daily lives, compared to substance abusers. But I believe people who claim brain responses to video games and drugs are similar are trying to liken the drip of a faucet to a waterfall. </p>
<p><iframe id="jFA1W" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/jFA1W/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Comparisons between technology addictions and substance abuse are also often based on brain imaging studies, which themselves <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobel-prize-in-neuroscience-the-dead-salmon-study/">have at times</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01125.x">proven unreliable</a> at documenting what their authors claim. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000487217">Other recent imaging</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00174">studies have</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910903315989">also disproved</a> past claims that violent games desensitized young brains, leading children to show less emotional connection with others’ suffering.</p>
<h2>Technology addiction is not common</h2>
<p>People who talk about tech addictions often express frustration with their smartphone use, or they can’t understand why kids game so much. But these aren’t real addictions, involving significant interference with other life activities such as school, work or social relationships. </p>
<p>My own research has suggested that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.09.005">3 percent of gamers</a> – or less – develop problem behaviors, such as neglecting schoolwork to the point that grades suffer. Most of those difficulties <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12662">are mild</a> and go away on their own over time. </p>
<h2>Technology addiction is not a mental illness</h2>
<p>In June 2018, the World Health Organization added
“<a href="http://www.who.int/features/qa/gaming-disorder/en/">gaming disorder</a>” to its <a href="http://www.who.int/health-topics/international-classification-of-diseases">International Compendium of Diseases</a>.</p>
<p>But it’s a very controversial decision. I am among <a href="https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.5.2016.088">28 scholars who wrote to the WHO protesting</a> that the decision was poorly informed by science. The WHO seemed to ignore research that suggested “gaming disorder” is more a symptom of other, underlying mental health issues such as depression, rather than its own disorder.</p>
<p>This year, the Media Psychology and Technology division of the American Psychological Association, of which I am a <a href="http://www.apadivisions.org/division-46/about/leadership/committees.aspx">fellow</a>, likewise released a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/374879861/APA-Media-Psychology-and-Technology-Division-Div-46-Policy-Statement-Expressing-Concern-Regarding-the-Plan-to-Include-Gaming-Disorder-in-the-ICD-1">statement</a> critical of the WHO’s decision. The WHO’s sister organization, UNICEF, also <a href="https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/SOWC_2017_ENG_WEB.pdf">argued against</a> using “addiction” language to describe children’s screen use. </p>
<p>Controversies aside, I have found that current data doesn’t support technology addictions as stand-alone diagnoses. For example, there’s the Oxford study that found people who rate higher in what is called “game addiction” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16020224">don’t show more psychological or health problems</a> than others. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12662">Additional research</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000177">has suggested</a> that any problems technology overusers may experience tend to be milder than would happen with a mental illness, and usually go away on their own without treatment.</p>
<h2>‘Tech addiction’ is not caused by technology</h2>
<p>Most of the discussion of technology addictions suggest that technology itself is <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/">mesmerizing</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/">harming normal brains</a>. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-013-9276-0">my research</a> suggests that technology addictions generally are symptoms of other, underlying disorders like depression, anxiety and attention problems. People don’t think that depressed people who <a href="http://sleepingresources.com/depression-and-hypersomnia/">sleep all day</a> have a “bed addiction.” </p>
<p>This is of particular concern when considering who needs treatment, and for what conditions. Efforts to treat “technology addiction” may do little more than treat a symptom, leaving the real problem intact.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Technology is not uniquely addictive</h2>
<p>There’s little question that some people overdo a wide range of activities. Those activities do include technology use, but also exercise, eating, sex, work, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014074130084">religion</a> and shopping. There are even research papers on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125988">dance addiction</a>. But few of these have official diagnoses. There’s little evidence that technology is more likely to be overused than a wide range of other enjoyable activities. </p>
<h2>Technology use does not lead to suicide</h2>
<p>Some pundits have pointed to a recent rise in suicide rates among teen girls as evidence for tech problems. But suicide rates increased for almost all age groups, particularly <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db241.htm">middle-aged adults</a>, for the 17-year period from <a href="https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/">1999 to 2016</a>. This rise apparently began around 2008, during the financial collapse, and has become more pronounced since then. That undercuts the claim that screens are causing suicides in teens, as does the fact that suicide rates are far higher among middle-aged adults than youth. There appears to be a larger issue going on in society. Technopanics could be distracting regular people and health officials from identifying and treating it. </p>
<p>One recent paper claimed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376">link screen use</a> to teen depression and suicide. But <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/its-time-for-a-serious-talk-about-the-science-of-tech-addiction/">another scholar</a> with access to the same data revealed the effect was no larger than the link between eating potatoes and suicide. This is a problem: Scholars sometimes make scary claims based on tiny data that are often statistical blips, not real effects.</p>
<p>To be sure, there are real problems related to technology, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/fragmented-us-privacy-rules-leave-large-data-loopholes-for-facebook-and-others-94606">privacy issues</a>. And people should balance technology use with other aspects of their lives. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for the very small percentage of individuals who do overuse. There’s a tiny kernel of truth to our concerns about technology addictions, but the available evidence suggests that claims of a crisis, or comparisons to substance abuse, are entirely unwarranted.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article originally published May 22, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher J. Ferguson is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He was one of 28 scholars who wrote an open letter to the World Health Organization criticizing their decision to create a "gaming disorder" diagnosis, due to concerns that research data could not support such a diagnosis. </span></em></p>Though the World Health Organization has declared “gaming disorder” an addiction, its – and others’ – concerns about technology use and alleged addiction don’t hold up to scholarly scrutiny.Christopher J. Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/923282018-03-05T11:42:37Z2018-03-05T11:42:37ZWhen can you buy a gun, vote or be sentenced to death? Science suggests US should revise legal age limits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207698/original/file-20180223-108110-1ocl6op.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vietnam War protests led to a lower voting age. The Parkland shooting could push similar reevaluations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-School-Shooting-Florida/7bc83c9e428e469b97d4efd6acea6ac1/1/0">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Societies have long grappled with where to draw the chronological age boundary between adolescence and adulthood. The United States stands apart from most of the world in that it uses different ages for different rights and responsibilities. We permit people to <a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/pubs/hf/pl11028/chapter4.cfm">drive when they are 16</a> (even younger in a few states), but prohibit them from <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/minimum-legal-drinking-age.htm">purchasing alcohol until they are 21</a>. The ages at which adolescents can <a href="https://filmratings.com/Tips">see a risqué movie</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/child-marriage-is-still-legal-in-the-us-88846">choose to marry</a>, enter into contracts, or buy cigarettes generally fall between these two extremes.</p>
<p>Nearly all <a href="http://chartsbin.com/view/545">other countries use one age</a> — <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority">almost always, 18</a> — to distinguish between minors and adults for most legal purposes. This one-age-fits-all regime has the advantages of consistency, clarity and fairness. Once you’re an adult, you’re an adult.</p>
<p>Taking an issue-specific approach permits society to align legal responsibilities and privileges with people’s abilities and needs. It also allows citizens to change our collective mind about particular boundaries when events dictate rethinking them, as was the case when demonstrations over the Vietnam War draft prompted Congress to <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxvi">lower the voting age from 21 to 18</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/us/stoneman-douglas-shooting.html">Parkland school shooting</a>, in which 17 high school students and staff were killed by a 19-year-old with a semiautomatic assault rifle, may be another one of these transformative events. The massacre has understandably prompted a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/23/politics/congress-obstacles-gun-law-control/index.html">national discussion about gun control</a>, but this is not the only policy debate that this tragedy should stimulate.</p>
<p>Three age-related revisions to the law, in particular, deserve careful consideration in the wake of the shooting: increasing the minimum age for purchasing firearms, lowering the voting age and raising the age of eligibility for capital punishment.</p>
<p>As I outline in my book “<a href="http://www.laurencesteinberg.com/books/age-of-opportunity">Age of Opportunity: Lessons From the New Science of Adolescence</a>,” research on <a href="https://www.nature.com/collections/vbmfnrsssw">adolescent psychological and brain development</a> provides a compelling basis for changing our laws.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207696/original/file-20180223-108139-s1xmi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207696/original/file-20180223-108139-s1xmi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207696/original/file-20180223-108139-s1xmi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207696/original/file-20180223-108139-s1xmi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207696/original/file-20180223-108139-s1xmi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207696/original/file-20180223-108139-s1xmi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207696/original/file-20180223-108139-s1xmi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207696/original/file-20180223-108139-s1xmi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers know adolescent brains are still developing, as can be seen during cognitive tasks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihgov/40268599281">Dr. Richard Watts and ABCD/Univ. of VT P.I. Dr. Hugh Garavan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Predictable developmental timetables</h2>
<p>In order to understand how the new science of adolescence can inform this discussion, we need to differentiate between “cold” and “hot” cognition. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_967-1">Cold cognition</a> is invoked in quiet situations, when you’re alone and unhurried. Here the most important skills are those measured by standardized tests of basic intellectual abilities, including attention, memory and logical reasoning.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awu177">Hot cognition</a> is what kicks in when you are excited, agitated, in groups, or rushed. Under these circumstances, the most important skill is <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/201110/self-regulation">self-control</a>, which enables us to regulate our emotions, resist coercion and think before we act. </p>
<p>For the past 20 years, my colleagues and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fpFXX8EAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I have been studying</a> the developmental timetables of cold and hot cognition. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014763">Our initial research</a> was conducted in the United States, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12532">our most recent study</a> included more than 5,000 people between ages 10 and 30 in 11 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North and South America. The age trajectories we discovered were the same in our international sample as they were in the United States study.</p>
<p>Our studies show that the abilities necessary to make reasoned decisions are mature by age 16. By this age, adolescents can gather and process information, think logically and draw evidence-based inferences.</p>
<p>Self-regulation does not mature until around age 22, however. Not until this age are people capable of restraining themselves when their emotions are intense, when they are pressured by their peers, or when they feel hurried.</p>
<p>These findings on the development of cold and hot cognition parallel patterns of adolescent brain development. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3509">Neuroimaging studies show</a> that brain systems necessary for cold cognition are mature by mid-adolescence, whereas those that govern self-control are not fully developed until the early 20s.</p>
<h2>Growing into privileges</h2>
<p>Most people would agree that individuals who have trouble controlling their emotions or thinking through the consequences of their acts should not possess deadly weapons. This, after all, is the rationale behind prohibiting those with serious mental illness from purchasing assault rifles and other firearms. (Even the staunchest defenders of Second Amendment rights, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-bipartisan-members-congress-meeting-school-community-safety/">including President Trump</a>, favor placing restrictions on the sale of guns to the mentally ill.)</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"966662241977360384"}"></div></p>
<p>Adolescence is not a mental illness, but it is a time during which many mentally healthy people have difficulty controlling their impulses and regulating their behavior. Based on the science, I <a href="https://www.flgov.com/2018/02/23/gov-scott-announces-major-action-plan-to-keep-florida-students-safe-following-tragic-parkland-shooting/">agree with Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott</a> that people should not be permitted to purchase firearms until they are at least 21, if not older.</p>
<p>Voting, in contrast, is an act for which cold cognitive abilities are sufficient for competence. An election unfolds over months, which diminishes time pressure and permits people to gather facts and weigh them. Although you might discuss your preferences with others, the act of voting is done alone, and you have as much time as you want to deliberate inside a voting booth.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Emma Gonzalez calls out President Trump and the NRA at an anti-gun rally.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It is quite clear from post-Parkland events, during which we have witnessed many examples of <a href="https://qz.com/1212712/florida-shooting-stoneman-douglas-student-quotes-after-the-high-school-attack/">wise, articulate and informed young people</a> discussing gun control, that high school students are able to understand and speak knowledgeably about political issues that affect them. There is no reason why people who have the intellectual skills necessary to vote should be prohibited from doing so.</p>
<p>Teenagers may make bad choices, but they won’t make them any more often than adults do. As I noted in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/opinion/sunday/voting-age-school-shootings.html">recent op-ed in The New York Times</a>, I believe the U.S. ought to lower the voting age to 16, as several countries <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8963-2_4">in Europe</a> and <a href="http://chartsbin.com/view/re6">South America</a> have done.</p>
<h2>A question of juvenile responsibility</h2>
<p>Deciding how to sentence the 19-year-old Parkland attacker, Nikolas Cruz, is certain to be controversial. In its 2005 decision in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-633.ZS.html">Roper v. Simmons</a>, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the juvenile death penalty on the grounds that adolescents are inherently less mature than adults and therefore not deserving of punishments reserved for those who are fully responsible for their crimes.</p>
<p>In 2010 and 2012, in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2009/08-7412">several cases</a> on the constitutionality of <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2011/10-9646">life without parole for juveniles</a> that followed Roper, amicus briefs submitted by scientific organizations <a href="http://www.apa.org/about/offices/ogc/amicus/graham-v-florida-sullivan.pdf">including the American Psychological Association</a> helped persuade the court that its decision in Roper was consistent with research on adolescent brain development.</p>
<p>In the last five years, <a href="http://www.lawneuro.org/files/adol_dev_brief.pdf">neuroscientific evidence has accumulated</a> showing that many of the deficiencies characteristic of the juvenile brain continue to be evident after age 18. It makes sense for courts to consider people to be less than fully responsible for their criminal acts up to the age of 21.</p>
<p>In 2017, I presented this science in <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/files/pdf/KentuckyAge21DecisionEfrainDiaz.pdf">Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Diaz</a>, a case involving a 20-year-old accused of murder. That court agreed that the logic of Roper should apply to people up to age 21, and that the death penalty could not be considered as a possible sentence for Mr. Diaz. The case is now under appeal.</p>
<p>Nikolas Cruz’s public defenders have <a href="https://www.local10.com/news/parkland-school-shooting/prosecutors-push-back-on-talk-of-plea-deal-for-parkland-gunman">offered prosecutors a guilty plea</a> and their willingness to <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-school-shooting-nikolas-cruz-grand-jury-20180228-story.html">accept a life sentence</a> in return for the state’s agreement to not pursue the death penalty. To date, the prosecutors have not announced their intentions. Although given the enormity of Cruz’s crime, there will surely be a public outcry pushing for the death penalty, the science is on the defense’s side.</p>
<p>Research on adolescent brain and psychological development can inform debates about where to draw legal lines between minors and adults. Science is not the only consideration when society contemplates changes in the law. But to the extent that people care to align social policies with current understanding of human development, the science of adolescence can help guide the discussion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurence Steinberg receives funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Klaus J. Jacobs Foundation.</span></em></p>Teens’ brains develop different skills along a predictable timeline. These milestones should influence the legal age boundaries for voting, buying guns and being put to death.Laurence Steinberg, Professor of Psychology, Temple UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/894392018-02-06T11:36:31Z2018-02-06T11:36:31ZTeens aren’t just risk machines – there’s a method to their madness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204906/original/file-20180205-14083-1bn3d07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C22%2C1111%2C718&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just because everyone else is doing it...</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shanepope/2661228337">Shane Pope</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You know the conventional wisdom: Adolescents are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/well/family/teenagers-do-dumb-things-but-there-are-ways-to-limit-recklessness.html">impulsive by nature</a>, like bombs <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/opinion/sunday/the-dangers-of-friends.html">ready to go off</a> at the most minor trigger. Parents feel they must cross their fingers and hope no one lights the fuse that will lead to an explosion. Adults often try restricting and monitoring teens’ behavior, in an effort to protect these seemingly unthinking riskseekers. That’s the tale told in the media, anyway.</p>
<p>Neuroscience evidence has seemed to bolster the case that adolescents are just wired to make bad decisions. Studies suggest that brain regions associated with self-control and long-term planning, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00712.x">such as the prefrontal cortex</a>, are still developing. At the same time, adolescence is a time of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.083">increased activity in a brain region associated with reward</a>, the ventral striatum. The story goes that these out-of-control teens are both extra sensitive to rewards and unable to rein in impulses – and thus naturally risky. They just can’t control themselves because their brains are unevenly developed.</p>
<p>As psychologists who focus on adolescents and their developing brains, we believe that teens have gotten an unfair rap. There are important developmental reasons adolescents act the way they do. They’re driven to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3313">explore their environments and learn</a> everything they can about their surroundings. A teenager’s job, developmentally speaking, is to try out new behaviors and roles. Doing that sometimes involves risk – but not necessarily risk for its own sake.</p>
<h2>Teens have their own priorities</h2>
<p>Adolescents are just as capable as adults of controlling their behaviors to achieve their goals.</p>
<p>In fact, adolescents are actually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.07.007">more accurate than adults</a> at laboratory tasks that measure cognitive control; they do just fine at things like updating knowledge of rules when they change or maintaining numbers in working memory. Person-to-person differences in these types of abilities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2345-13.2013">within age groups are larger</a> than the effect of being an adolescent or an adult.</p>
<p>Adolescents even do just as well, if not better, than adults at tasks that come with potential rewards. For example, adolescents are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhp225">faster and more accurate</a> than adults at refraining from pressing a button when they know strong performance on the task comes with a reward. Teens <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02121.x">perform better even in emotional contexts</a> if they are rewarded for success. </p>
<p>In both of these scenarios, being focused on getting a reward is helpful. In fact, if the stakes are high, teens <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12092">are more deliberative</a> and show more activity in control regions of the brain than adults.</p>
<p>However, if researchers use incentives as a distraction, teens <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2010.01.006">do worse than adults</a> at tasks that involve cognitive control. For example, one study found adolescents were slower and less accurate at ignoring previously rewarding stimuli when they need to direct their decision-making attention elsewhere.</p>
<p>So teens don’t make decisions like adults. The real difference lies in what adolescents value: Gaining peer acceptance or a reward may outweigh the value adults place on delaying reward for a long-term nonsocial goal, such as financial stability.</p>
<h2>A time of exploration and learning</h2>
<p>Way back in human evolutionary history, when lifespans were shorter, adolescents needed to explore their world to find food and mates. While stakes are different for modern teens, exploration is still important, as they learn skills essential for adulthood. Adolescence is the time when teens master how to navigate social relationships, develop more of a sense of who they are, and figure out how to do things independently.</p>
<p>Learning and exploring, by definition, require teens to have experiences where the outcome is unknown in advance. A big part of that means taking some risks to explore and figure out new information.</p>
<p>Imagine never leaving your neighborhood because you know it’s safe. Walking to a new area might be more dangerous, but it could offer better restaurants or more part-time jobs. It might also provide more diverse social opportunities, such as team sports or exposure to additional romantic prospects.</p>
<p>The essence of exploration is venturing into the unknown for the chance at something better.</p>
<p>This plays in to the way adolescents have a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40962">greater tolerance for ambiguity</a> than adults. Given the chance at winning a greater reward, teens are more willing to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1207144109">choose an option with more “risk,”</a> or uncertainty of winning or losing, than the “safe” option where the odds of winning and losing are spelled out.</p>
<p>In the end, learning about the world necessarily involves risk. You don’t know for sure what you might learn until you try it. This fact is reflected in the brain’s architecture, as the same regions recruited during reward processing and risk taking are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02174-z">also involved in learning</a>. In fact, the people who activated those reward regions the most during a risk-taking task in the lab also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01061">learned the fastest on the task</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teens are negotiating their internal and external worlds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/9365503766">Ed Yourdon</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Exploring the self</h2>
<p>There is one other aspect of adolescent exploration that doesn’t fit with the standard story: It looks different from teen to teen. Most teenagers aren’t the stereotypical whirlwinds of risk taking. If adolescence is focused on learning about the world more than taking risks for their own sake, then many teens will learn without putting themselves in harm’s way. What determines the nature of teenage exploration?</p>
<p>Part of the task of adolescence is trying out different “selves” and discovering who you are. Adolescent exploration helps teens form their identity. This period is a time of increased autonomy, socialization and self-consciousness.</p>
<p>The ways teens choose to explore their world depend on <a href="https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WH7NT">how they think about themselves and their social world</a>. For example, consider a high schooler deciding to ditch soccer practice to talk to a crush or sneak to the mall. Does the teen identify as an athlete? Is soccer an important part of her self? Do her friends compare who scored more goals?</p>
<p>Across adolescence, teens begin to actively question and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9401-4">think about their identity</a>. Regions of the brain that help process self and social information also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss113">continue to mature during these years</a>. When teens think about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2014.01.003">themselves and what other people think about them</a>, these same brain regions light up.</p>
<p>An intriguing finding is that the same brain region that plays a role in learning and reward processing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4074-12.2013">is also active</a> when teens think about themselves. Such an overlap hints that for teens, evaluating themselves is intertwined with learning about themselves, too - and they may be intrinsically motivated to do both. </p>
<h2>Consider what teens are trying to do</h2>
<p>Much of the public discussion about teens surrounds why they take seemingly needless risks. A better way of thinking about adolescence might be as a sensitive period for learning about oneself and exploring the social world.</p>
<p>Sometimes exploration can lead to more risk taking. But those risks are taken in service of preparing for adulthood, by acquiring skills and knowledge; and not all learning involves risk.</p>
<p>What does this mean for parents and teachers? Some teen behavior appears irrational or distasteful to adults. Adult and teen brains face different challenges and so they value different things. Teens are still exploring the world that adults have already come to know. When judging teens, adults should consider the elevated value to adolescents of learning about themselves and their social world. Their behavior might start to seem less irrational.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Flannery receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elliot Berkman manages Berkman Consultants, LLC. He receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Pfeifer receives funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She is part of the leadership for the Center on the Developing Adolescent. </span></em></p>Adolescents have important developmental work to do. Despite what worried grownups think, taking needless risks isn’t the goal for teens. Being risky is part of exploring and learning about the world.Jessica Flannery, Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology, University of OregonElliot Berkman, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of OregonJennifer Pfeifer, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/858882017-10-30T01:50:37Z2017-10-30T01:50:37ZWhy it’s time to lay the stereotype of the ‘teen brain’ to rest<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192104/original/file-20171026-13315-oqts17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A group of teenagers hanging out. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-teenage-boys-girls-using-gadgets-439280443?src=HhnVaeu72Xyvnz8oqKjeEQ-1-50">George Rudy/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A deficit in the development of the teenage brain has been blamed for teens’ behavior in recent years, but it may be time to lay the stereotype of the wild teenage brain to rest. Brain deficits don’t make teens do risky things; lack of experience and a drive to explore the world are the real factors.</p>
<p>As director of research at a public policy center that studies adolescent risk-taking, I study teenage brains and teenage behavior. Recently, my colleagues and I reviewed <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929317301020?via%3Dihub">years of scientific literature</a> about adolescent brain development and risky behavior. </p>
<p>We found that much of the risk behavior attributed to adolescents is not the result of an out-of-control brain. As it turns out, the evidence supports an alternative interpretation: Risky behavior is a normal part of development and reflects a biologically driven need for exploration – a process aimed at acquiring experience and preparing teens for the complex decisions they will need to make as adults. </p>
<h2>Stereotypes of adolescence</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192106/original/file-20171026-13349-1p43rdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192106/original/file-20171026-13349-1p43rdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192106/original/file-20171026-13349-1p43rdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192106/original/file-20171026-13349-1p43rdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192106/original/file-20171026-13349-1p43rdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192106/original/file-20171026-13349-1p43rdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192106/original/file-20171026-13349-1p43rdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A teenager texts on her cellphone as she drives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teenage-girl-texting-on-cell-phone-106967771?src=6vikHAIWyViMMZkt1dSUuA-1-13">Elena Elisseeva/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We often characterize adolescents as impulsive, reckless and emotionally unstable. We used to attribute this behavior to “raging hormones.” More recently, it’s been popular in some scientific <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015156">circles</a> to explain adolescent behavior as the result of an imbalance in the development of the brain. </p>
<p>According to this theory, the prefrontal cortex, the center of the brain’s cognitive-control system, matures more slowly than the limbic system, which governs desires and appetites including drives for food and sex. This creates an imbalance in the adolescent brain that leads to even more impulsive and risky behavior than seen in children – or so the theory goes.</p>
<p>This idea has gained currency to the point where it’s become common to refer to the <a href="http://www.aacap.org/aacap/families_and_youth/facts_for_families/FFF-Guide/The-Teen-Brain-Behavior-Problem-Solving-and-Decision-Making-095.aspx">“teenage brain”</a> as the source of the injuries and other maladies that arise during adolescence.</p>
<p>In my view, the most striking failure of the teen brain hypothesis is its conflating of important differences between different kinds of risky behavior, only a fraction of which support the notion of the impulsive, unbridled adolescent.</p>
<h2>Adolescents as explorers</h2>
<p>What clearly <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11121-007-0064-7">peaks in adolescence</a> is an interest in exploration and novelty seeking. Adolescents are by necessity engaged in exploring essential questions about themselves – who they are, what skills they have and who among their peers is worth socializing with.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192292/original/file-20171027-13309-181xwwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192292/original/file-20171027-13309-181xwwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192292/original/file-20171027-13309-181xwwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192292/original/file-20171027-13309-181xwwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192292/original/file-20171027-13309-181xwwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192292/original/file-20171027-13309-181xwwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192292/original/file-20171027-13309-181xwwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teenagers like to explore. Most do it without injury.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/four-asian-teenage-looking-map-while-501671605?src=A_AIjtvDE7YipWyYolMGgA-1-29">Panumas Yanuthai/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But these explorations are not necessarily conducted impulsively. Rising levels of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2475802/">dopamine in the brain during adolescence</a> appear to drive an increased attraction to novel and exciting experiences. Yet this “sensation seeking” behavior is also accompanied by increasing levels of cognitive control that peak at the same age as adolescents’ drive for exploration. This ability to exert cognitive control peaks well before structural brain maturation, which peaks at about age 25.</p>
<p>Researchers who attribute this exploratory behavior to recklessness are more likely falling prey to stereotypes about adolescents than assessing what actually motivates their behavior.</p>
<p>If adolescents were truly reckless, they should show a tendency toward risk-taking even when the risks of bad outcomes are known. But they don’t. In experiments where the probabilities of their risks are known, adolescents take fewer risks than <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-45086-001">children</a>. </p>
<p>In experiments that mimic the well-known <a href="https://jamesclear.com/delayed-gratification">marshmallow test</a>, in which waiting for a bigger reward is a sign of self-control, adolescents are less impulsive than children and only slightly more so than adults. While these forms of decision-making may place adolescents at a somewhat greater risk of adverse outcomes than adults, the change in this form of self control from mid-adolescence to adulthood is rather small and individual differences are great.</p>
<p>There is a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929314000504?via%3Dihub">specific kind of risk-taking</a> that resembles the imbalance that the brain-development theory points to. It is a form of impulsivity that is insensitive to risk due to acting without thinking. In this form of impulsivity, the excitement of impulsive urges overshadows the potential to learn from bad experience. For example, persons with this form of impulsivity have trouble controlling their use of drugs, something that others learn to do when they have unpleasant experiences after using a drug. Youth with this characteristic often display this tendency early in childhood, and it can become heightened during adolescence. These teens do in fact run a much greater risk of injury and other adverse outcomes. </p>
<p>But it is important to realize that this is characteristic of only a subset of youth with weak ability to control their behavior. Although the rise in injurious and other risky behavior among teens is cause for concern, this represents much more of a rise in the incidence of this behavior than of its prevalence. In other words, while this risky behavior occurs more frequently among teens than children, it is by no means common. The majority of adolescents do not die in car crashes, become victims of homicide or suicide, experience major depression, become addicted to drugs or contract sexually transmitted infections. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the risks of these outcomes among a small segment of adolescents are often evident much earlier, as children, when impulse control problems start to appear.</p>
<h2>The importance of wisdom</h2>
<p>Considerable research suggests that adolescence and young adulthood is a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4543091/">heightened period of learning</a> that enables a young person to gain the experience needed to cope with life’s challenges. This learning, colloquially known as wisdom, continues to grow well into adulthood. The irony is that most late adolescents and young adults are more able to control their behavior than many older adults, resulting in what some have called the wisdom paradox. Older adults must rely on the store of wisdom they have built to cope with life challenges because their cognitive skills begin to decline as early as the third decade of life.</p>
<p>A dispassionate review of existing research suggests that what adolescents lack is not so much the ability to control their behavior, but the wisdom that adults gain through experience. This takes time and, without it, adolescents and young adults who are still exploring will make mistakes. But these are honest mistakes, so to speak, because for most teens, they do not result from a lack of control.</p>
<p>This realization is not so new, but it serves to place the recent neuroscience of brain development in perspective. It is because adolescents are immature in regard to experience that makes them vulnerable to mishaps. And for those with weak cognitive control, the risks are even greater. But we should not let stereotypes of this immaturity color our interpretation of what they are doing. Teenagers are just learning to be adults, and this inevitably involves a certain degree of risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85888/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Romer receives funding from the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Cancer Institute</span></em></p>In recent years, the notion of a structurally imbalanced teenage brain has been faulted for bad choices. A review of studies suggests that a deficit in brain development is not to blame.Dan Romer, Research Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.