Contents page 1 — So krass’s going to work, never again page 2 — Higher brain functions still “flighty” On a page
Teens to read are always online, and physically precocious, and, more recently, politically active? We ask what it means for young people to seek today, a place in the world, and looking in an emphasis on probably the most emotional time of life: puberty.
The human brain is a building site, and never it is more chaotic than during puberty, when the euphoria of the world of pain and heartache alternate. Brain researchers know why: parts of the brain work with young people as efficiently as in adults, such as those that are responsible for MOV. Other regions of the brain work is still in so imperfect a manner as in the case of a child, especially those that keep emotions and impulses in check.
in Addition, is set in the teenage brain suddenly a lot more dopamine free to find a messenger substance, which can trigger feelings of happiness and move people to positive experiences. Therefore, Adolescents react so emotionally, so they are looking for risks and chase after the intense experience. Some are trying it with drugs, extreme sports, dares, or petty crime – others by gambling the nights at the computer, or test your emotional boundaries in continuous employment with the own feelings.
The brain is basically
It is not long since scientists thought the inside of the brain is life after the first couple of years in his development is almost finished. Prior to the birth (and shortly thereafter), so much is clear, the result is tens of billions of nerve cells, and Hiking, so to speak, in single file, in the different parts of the brain to learn, what their function is. In the first months and years of life, the nerves die then the cells and Connections that are not being used and used often, half of the cells (for example, Cerebral Cortex: Abitz et al., 2007). At the time of birth is extremely variable, the brain adapts radically to the environment of the child. Everything that happens after that, long for fine-tuning.
“in the Meantime, however, we know that in adolescence, a fundamental reorganization takes place,” says Kerstin Konrad, Professor of Clinical neuro-psychology at the RWTH Aachen University. Large parts of the brain to swell before or during puberty, and then smaller again (Nature Neuroscience: Giedd et al., 1999). The death of neurons and the removal of synapses from Childhood continue to be felt, the thickness of the cortex decreases (Journal of Adolescent Health: Giedd et al., 2008), and the neurotransmitter systems of the tire. At the same time the white matter: it consists of a cable of the same Fiber tracts made up of Thousands of nerve cell, surrounded by a thick sheath of fat and Protein, which make it possible that different parts of the brain communicate with each other (the Journal of Neuroscience: Perrin et al., 2008). This white substance is the function of the brain is at least as important as the gray matter, the cell bodies of the nerve cells themselves. The adolescence is a Phase in which “the circuits that have developed in the age of the child, to be stabilized,” as Beatriz Luna, Professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh explains. It is responsible for one of the few neuro-scientific long-term studies have been done with adolescents. These circuits work the better, the more experience the person.
puberty Pubertierend or teen or growing up?
In the present article uses the terms Adolescent and youth are largely synonymous, because it is very similar constructs.
Nevertheless, there are differences. Puberty refers to the Hormonal changes: the stress hormone axis is activated, the growth hormones let the children grow up, and sex hormones lead to sexual maturity. Usually this happens between the tenth and twentieth years of age.
The concepts of adolescence and youth, however, are marked more sociological than biological. It is growing (adolescent), who is not a child, but also not adults yet. The United Nations situate this Phase between the tenth and the nineteenth year of life. As young people between 15 and 24 shall apply.
