Are Adolescents Brains Fully Developed Example

Are Adolescents' Brains Fully Developed Example Are Adolescents' Brains Fully Developed â€" Essay Example > March 19, 2010Are adolescents' brains fully developed? AbstractAdolescence is usually a stressful period for the teenagers making a transition between youth and adulthood. Certain behaviors including social behaviours which are age-related, risk taking, planning and decision making that teenagers make leaves a lot to be desired. In this context, questions have been asked whether their brains are mature. This was the objective of this study which entailed compiling already available information of neurological studies employing MRI imaging and evidences from the teenagers’ behaviour. Neurological studies have revealed that some parts of the brain are not mature in adolescence, like the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for complex cognitive processes such as impulse control, decision making and planning. This is supported by behavioural studies which reveal that teenagers are limited in making sound decisions, planning and controlling their impulses. All these show that the adolescent brain is not fully developed and so they need the attention of adults and institutions that will help then develop the skills that will help them in their adulthood. Keywords: Adolescence, neurological studies, behavioural studies, brain maturity, teenagersIntroductionMany researchers working in the field of adolescent neurological development have a preference to studies of teen pregnancy. This is a period when the teenagers experience puberty changes which include physiological factors that affect their behaviors and they often don’t remember to use pregnancy prevention interventions (Steinberg, 2005). Several studies done in the recent past has have shown that there are important neurological developmental changes that take place throughout their teenage that continues into their mid-twenties. While all these changes are taking place on the brains of the adolescents, it is important to understand that these teenager are not adults and that they are on their path to maturity and attainment of full brain development. Their brains are still “under construction. ” Therefore, efforts to understand how far the adolescent’s brains are developed should be doubled to ensure that people better understand them and guide them as well as appreciate the neurobiology of the adolescents (Weinberger, Elvevag, Giedd, 2005). Revolutionary studies have revealed that the connections between neurons affecting the mental abilities of the teenagers are not complete during adolescence. The main objective of the current study is to find out whether the brain of the adolescents is fully developed or not. Problem StatementTeenagers are, as one research scientist puts it, a “work in progress. ” Recent research asserts that the brain of the adolescent has not been developed fully. The discussions surround the extent to which adolescents have conscious control over their actions since the brain optimally grows by making mistakes (Giedd, et al, 1999). This make s it hard to know what opportunities are there to help them develop the skills of planning, judgment and impulse control. To be able to solve this problem, it is important to know whether the brain of teenagers is usually fully developed at adolescence or not. Adolescent Brain DevelopmentIt is evident that almost all adolescents are able to make out the difference between what is right and wrong but they have reduced abilities to understand information, process information, to abstract from mistakes, to communicate, learn from experience, to make logical reasoning and to understand other’s reactions. The psychological verifications suggest that the adolescents are immature in their judgments which are not under voluntary control. New magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images done in recent studies reveal that patterns of brain development extend into and beyond the adolescence stage of life. Neurologists have been able to discover the reflective workings of the brain through MRI i maging and their results have implications on the maturity of the brain of adolescents (Spear, 2000).