Hannah Black’s Reviews > The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults > Status Update

Noteworthy points from today:
• The teenage brain receives more stimulation which can lead to a greater chance of addiction (p. 114). This is due to a greater release of dopamine which makes it more difficult to resist the “reward” (p.110).
• Ages 25 and under are the fastest-growing age group at in-patient rehab centers (p. 109).
• Teens are actually just as adept as adults in logically assess situations.

Ugh what a great book so far — directly relates to Health Ed and Safety Ed!!! Last line is cool: “Teenagers may look like adults, they may even think like them (ability to learn is staggering), but knowing what teens are unable to do (cognitive, emotional, behavioral limitations) are critically important.

What cool information!! Young children’s brains have more “excitatory neurotransmitters than inhibitory” which means that this is why young children feel emotions much stronger and why it is more difficult for them to “calm down” in high-emotion situations.

Babies brains are severely underdeveloped — when information comes in, it is being “absorbed by the neurons and does not know where to go next” (p. 48). This means that there is no map in place and we can shape babies’ brains in anyway that we want!

The amygdala is susceptible to stress thus one that is underdeveloped creates rage-like behaviors! Very interesting point as I teach about stress and the brain.

Very interesting read this far.. very important for educators and parents! The brain develops from the back to the front thus the reasoning that “teens can’t make logical decisions” and that the frontal lobe does not develop until age 25. In fact, “the teen brain is only 80% to maturity” and this is why they are often “irritable, have mood swings, and explode” (p. 37). So interesting to know!!