Mar. 3--This may not come as a surprise to anyone except teenagers, but it turns out their brains are not as rational as adult brains.
A pediatric neurologist and mom decided to find out why her sons "morphed into another being" when they reached their mid teens and learned it's the way they're wired.
National Public Radio interviewed Boston neurologist/mom Frances Jensen Monday morning and offered a fascinating look into the adolescent brain.
It turns out, children's frontal lobes are not fully connected until they're in their 20s. As we rational thinkers know, the frontal lobes regulate decision making, problem solving, consciousness and emotion.
Teenagers don't have much myelin, a fatty coating, on the nerve cells that connect the frontal lobe to the rest of the brain. The lack of myelin slows access to the problem solving, decision making region, causing even the most common sense kid to act odd at times.
Jensen points out, in the NPR story, that the loose connection may also explain why teenagers can be self-centered, surly and rude.
"They aren't yet at that place where they're thinking about -- or capable, necessarily, of thinking about the effects of their behavior on other people. That requires insight," she said.
So, the next time junior smarts off or does something stupendously bizarre, remember, it's not his fault.
--Wendy Owen
-----
To see more of The Oregonian, or to subscribe the newspaper, go to http://www.oregonian.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.