1 of 28

Slide Notes

DownloadGo Live

Inside the Teenage Brain

Published on Nov 02, 2018

No Description

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Inside the Teenage Brain

What's Happening to Teens, and Why?
Photo by illuminaut

1: Teenagers' Inexplicable Behavior

Parents are often confused and frustrated by their kids when they become teenagers, but it's important to remember that being a teenager is just as frustrating.

Photo by Michael Olsen

Puberty and the teenage years are the most massive period of rapid brain development after infancy-- it's no wonder this is so frustrating for them!

Photo by Nick Fedele

New science has begin studying the teenage brain using the latest MRI imaging. Let's look at what they've found...

Photo by Muffet

2: The Wiring of the Brain

In puberty, children go through a "thickening" of the brain's grey matter, as the cells begin building pathways to better connect with other cells.

Photo by jetheriot

What a teenager does during these years helps prune these neural pathways and shapes who they will be as an adult.
"Use It or Lose it!"

Because the frontal cortex (part of the brain involved in reason and planning) is still immature, teens are more prone to taking risks and feeling invincible.

Photo by Ricky Aponte

3: Mood Swings

Dramatic, rapid changes in mood are partly caused by hormones, but the ultimate mood regulator lies in the brain.

The frontal cortex is the part of the brain that ultimately regulates moods, and it is still developing in teenagers.

Photo by Andrea Kirkby

All this leads teenagers to have volatile emotions and wild swings in confidence, as their prefrontal cortex continues to develop into adulthood.

Photo by classic_film

4: You just don't understand!"

Photo by Evil Erin

Teenagers use a different region of the brain (cerebellum) than adults (prefrontal cortex) when they process emotions on people's faces.

Photo by Leonrw

MRI scans of teen and adult brains have shown that the teenage mind is not developed to an adult level at discerning emotions from facial expressions.

Photo by dylan nolte

This leads to behavior problems and miscommunication as the teen misjudges the emotions of others and responds accordingly.

Photo by Anton Danilov

Teens literally process information about the world around them differently than adults do-- a recipe for conflict!

Photo by Anh Nguyen

5: From Zzzz's to A's

Teens seem to act and sleep as though they have a major sleep disorder...
but WHY?

Photo by sampsyo

Teens on average need 9.25 hours of sleep every night, but they normally get 7.5 or less.

Teens have so many more diversions and activities that sleep occupies a much smaller portion of their schedule, building up a massive "sleep debt" and leaving them tired during the day.

Lack of sleep affects their mood and ability to learn, harming their performance in all different areas of life.

6: Are there Lessons for Parents?

There are concerns among some that the recent use of brain science to examine the teenage brain will become another childcare fad that will come and go.

Photo by Gustavo Alves

Scientists say that all their data still shows that the best parenting advice is still to make sure parents give their children love and quality time, same as their grandparents would have known.

The kinds of relations the teen has with others in their life impact them just as much as it ever has.

Photo by Dave_B_

Thanks for Watching!