What is different about the teenage brain? Brain development happens over time and generally occurs back to front. This means that the frontal lobe, and pre-frontal cortex, which control executive functions, and are critical to decision making, are some of the last areas of the brain to fully develop. Other parts of the brain, including those involved with thrill-seeking behavior, reward mechanisms, and intense emotion, come online earlier in the process. Just as a toddler is able to walk before he or she has the judgment to stay away from dangerous situations (such as the top of a flight of stairs), teenagers can also find themselves in precarious situations for which they are not adequately prepared, from a brain development point of view. This partly explains some of the risk-taking behavior and poor decision making that is often associated with teens.

1. The Teenage Brain
Presented by Daniel Ascher, M.Ed.
President, A+ Test Prep and Tutoring
March 19, 2011
www.aplustutoring.com

3. “The teenage brain is not just an
adult brain with fewer miles on
it.”
Frances E. Jensen, Professor of
Neurology, Children’s Hospital
Boston and Harvard Medical
School

4. The Teenage Brain
1.Brain Development
2.Social Factors
3.Hormonal Changes
4.Sleep Needs
5.Developmental Hallmarks
6.Risk of Stressors
7.Implications for Teaching and Learning
8.Parenting and Communicating with Teens

5. 1. Brain Development
What's up with those teenagers?
•Brain development begins prior to birth and lasts into the
mid-twenties.
•Development happens gradually.
•Just prior to puberty, brain growth spurt creates many new
connections.

6. 1. Brain Development
What's up with those teenagers?
•Some new connections are useful, others are not. Useful
connections are myelinated. Others wither slowly but in the
meantime can create inefficiencies.
•Teen brains are "immature" in a number of ways.
•This immaturity causes teens to feel and behave very
differently from adults.

8. Keys Areas of the Brain Affecting Teen
Behavior
•Pre-frontal cortex: home of executive function
•Amygdala: Seat of raw emotion
•Nucleus Accumbens: Reward Seeker

9. Pre-frontal Cortex
•CEO; Home of Executive Function -- control and
coordination of thoughts and behaviors
•Slowest region of brain to develop; usually develops by age
20 (but not in all cases)

10. Pre-frontal Cortex
•In adults it essentially delegates to other regions of brain
•In teens it is:
oNot as well connected to the rest of the brain
oOverly taxed and not up to the task
oProne to error/ bad decisions

11. Amydala
•Seat of raw emotion
•In adults frontal lobe gathers
info from amydala and other
parts of the brain in order to
make decisions.
•In adolescents the amydala is
accessed directly (instead of
by pre-frontal cortex) when
making decisions. Therefore
many decisions are based
upon “gut” feelings.

12. Amygdala
•In adolescents the amygdala
is accessed directly (instead of
by pre-frontal cortex) when
making decisions. Therefore
many decisions are based
upon “gut” feelings.

14. Nucleus Accumbens
•While the control centers linked to the prefrontal cortex
take their time to mature, the pleasure-seeking systems of
other regions get a kick start in puberty and go into
overdrive4.

15. Nucleus Accumbens
•The combination of the underdeveloped frontal lobe,
weaker connections between the pre-frontal cortex and the
rest of the brain, and the early development of the "reward
centers" of the brain makes teens more likely to engage in
risky behaviors.

16. Nucleus Accumbens
•Teens are much more prone to risk-taking/thrill seeking
behavior.
•Teens are more sensitive to dopamine, although this
process but it isn't completely understood yet.
•One theory is that, from an evolutionary standpoint, teens
need to be willing to take some risks in order to "leave the
nest."

17. 2. Social Factors
•Gender Differences -- The portion of the brain that
processes information matures about two years earlier in
girls than boys.
•Interaction -- Teens are more likely to say hurtful things due
to lack of inhibition (amydala active instead of pre-frontal
cortex). i.e. lack of 'censor.'

18. 2. Social Factors
Teens are focused on friends more than parents/family for
relationships.
•Positive aspect -- builds relationship skills
•Negative aspect -- at risk for peer pressure/bad decisions

19. 3. Hormonal
Changes
In both genders an increase in sex hormones affects behavior
•Estrogen affects mood and can be explosive
•Testosterone – in boys there is a 20-fold increase from age 8
to age 15. Boys can’t control sexual thoughts (every six
seconds), and are unable to shut this off (mostly in mid-
adolescence).

20. 4. Sleep
Teens have the 2nd highest need for sleep (after infancy)
oNeed 9.25 hours of sleep a day but typically only get 6 or 7
hours.
oTry to make it up on weekends, but....
 Keep cellphones and laptops out of bedrooms so they
won’t be tempted to respond.
oCircadian rhythms change so that students want to be
awake later in the day.

21. 5. Developmental Hallmarks
•Individuation: The very task of adolescence. Therefore they
need non-familial role-models (tutors can help with this!).
•Inclusion: Teens feel the need to be in the “in” crowd.
Peers are central to their lives.
•Abstract Thinking: Very newly developed at this time.

22. 5. Developmental Hallmarks
•Personal Fable: Teens feel they are special and unique.
They have thoughts like: “All experiences are unique,
nothing happens to anyone else like does to me.” And “My
experiences are special, no one can understand what I go
through.”
•Imaginary Audience: Teens often feel that everyone else is
constantly watching them (they are the center of the
universe).

23. 6. Risk of Stressors
•Some studies have found that adolescents who experience
high levels of stress, and consequently high levels of the
stress hormone cortisol, are more susceptible to problems in
adulthood such as depression and anxiety. (This may be the
same mechanism causing PTSD).
•Binge drinking (not drinking in moderation) may put teens at
risk for future addiction. Note that drinking with parents (and
learning to do so responsibly) may prevent addiction.

24. 7. Implications for Teaching and
Learning

25. 7. Implications for Teaching and
Learning
•Due to brain plasticity and the rapid growth of new brain
connections--teens are more easily able to learn languages
and musical instruments due to expansion of neural
networks (compared to adults).
•Emotion can help students remember (or inhibit memory)
•Make it Social (Think/Pair/Share)7

26. 8. Parenting and Communicating with
Teens
•Want to be respected
•Want to be heard/validated
•Hungry for a real connection, but much more difficult to do
with parents than with friends at this stage.
•Often works better if you ask teens to think up their own
consequences rather than providing them from the top.

27. Sources
1. Vitone, E. (2007, Fall). What Possessed You? PITTMED University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Magazine, 19-23.
2. Firth, Ryan (2006) "What is Going on Inside Their Heads.", Adolescent Shorts, Childrens Mercy Hospital, K.C., MO. Volume 9,
Number 2, March/April 2007.
3. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/teenage-brain-a-work-in-progress-fact-sheet/index.shtml
4. Monastersky, Richard. Who's Minding the Teenage Brain? The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 12, 2007.
5. Coalition for Juvenile Justice. http://www.juvjustice.org/ ADOLESCENT BRAIN DEVELOPMENT & JUVENILE JUSTICE FACT
SHEET
6. The Kids Can’t Help It. What new research reveals about the adolescent brain—from why kids bully to how the teen years
shape the rest of your life. NEWSWEEK Magazine, 12/16/10
7. The Adolescent Brain –Learning Strategies & Teaching Tips.
http://spots.wustl.edu/zSPOTS%20Manual%204%20Learning%20Strategies.pdf
8. Think-Pair-Share
http://www.readingquest.org/strat/tps.html