So let's review: the teenage brain undergoes an enormous amount of change around the onset of puberty. The limbic, or emotional-memory-rewards-impulse, system is effecting every aspect of mental life. The frontal lobe, which is growing thicker and denser, is not quite able to moderate all the force of the limbic. Meanwhile, the cerebellum is also undergoing something of a revolution, as it is coordinating a kind of circuit between the frontal and the limbic.
It seems any description of the brain is overly simplistic, but for our purposes, this three part system is enough. This is where a consensus on the teenager's brain is forming, for now.
Whatever we do during this period may well form enduring patterns: this is one of the real dangers and ironies of adolescent drug use. The brain, with its limbic sensitivity to rewards and pleasure, establishes patterns fairly firmly. Meanwhile, self-perception and forward thinking are patchy at best.
Interestingly, I have not come across any significant right brain-left brain studies on teenagers other than ones regarding certain abilities, like mathematics and music. What I have read, however, is that where the left brain is oriented towards analysis, the right brain is the hemisphere of autobiography, maps of the self, self-awareness, empathy, holistic thought, the recognition of emotion, and stress. Some speculation is in order, but not now.
Another interesting frontal factoid is that this frontal-limbic-cerebellar "circuit" develops later in girls due to the presence of estrogen. Perhaps this is not really the case- but I've read it several times without chasing down the actual studies. What intrigues me is that, generally, in girls, the frontal lobe is more developed, that impulse is more readily suppressed than in boys. Yet this "circuit" develops later.
Lastly, but of some significance, is the construct of "hot and cold cognition". The limbic lends itself to emotional, "hot" thinking. The frontal may be more detached and abstract. In a sense, your average teenager is wending his or her way through a novel, ever-changing, and complex social world with little ability to step back and analyze. The thinking "just happens" and the solutions "just pop up".
One final note: the effects of chronic stress on children and teenagers. I wonder: young people need to have good academic and emotional practices, as the brain is setting down some deep patterns. But what if the added stress undermines those very processes? Perhaps modern schooling for many children negates its own efforts.
It seems any description of the brain is overly simplistic, but for our purposes, this three part system is enough. This is where a consensus on the teenager's brain is forming, for now.
Whatever we do during this period may well form enduring patterns: this is one of the real dangers and ironies of adolescent drug use. The brain, with its limbic sensitivity to rewards and pleasure, establishes patterns fairly firmly. Meanwhile, self-perception and forward thinking are patchy at best.
Interestingly, I have not come across any significant right brain-left brain studies on teenagers other than ones regarding certain abilities, like mathematics and music. What I have read, however, is that where the left brain is oriented towards analysis, the right brain is the hemisphere of autobiography, maps of the self, self-awareness, empathy, holistic thought, the recognition of emotion, and stress. Some speculation is in order, but not now.
Another interesting frontal factoid is that this frontal-limbic-cerebellar "circuit" develops later in girls due to the presence of estrogen. Perhaps this is not really the case- but I've read it several times without chasing down the actual studies. What intrigues me is that, generally, in girls, the frontal lobe is more developed, that impulse is more readily suppressed than in boys. Yet this "circuit" develops later.
Lastly, but of some significance, is the construct of "hot and cold cognition". The limbic lends itself to emotional, "hot" thinking. The frontal may be more detached and abstract. In a sense, your average teenager is wending his or her way through a novel, ever-changing, and complex social world with little ability to step back and analyze. The thinking "just happens" and the solutions "just pop up".
One final note: the effects of chronic stress on children and teenagers. I wonder: young people need to have good academic and emotional practices, as the brain is setting down some deep patterns. But what if the added stress undermines those very processes? Perhaps modern schooling for many children negates its own efforts.
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