One Reason Teens Respond Differently To The World

According to scientists, the human brain is not fully mature until the age of 20. If this is true why should 18 year olds make life altering decisions? By making quick decisions, teenagers impact the road of their future and many times they regret the path they chose to follow. According to “One Reason Teens Respond Differently to the World: Immature Brain Circuitry”, “The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction”, and Growing a Grown Up Brain infographic, the teenage brain is still developing. Teens should not be accountable for making life changing decisions because the brain is not fully mature, they perceive emotion differently, and lack self control.

During adolescence the brain is not yet fully developed. Therefore many consequences follow.

According to the McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., Deborah Yurgelun-Todd and a group of researchers, in the article, One Reason Teens Respond Differently to the World; Immature Brain Circuitry, “Teens and adults used different parts of their brains to process what they were feeling. The teens mostly used the amygdala, a small almond shaped region that guides instinctual or “gut” reactions, while the adults relied on the frontal cortex.” Teens use the amygdala while adults use the the frontal cortex to interpret emotions. Using the portion of the brain that guides instinctual feeling, causes teens to act chaotically and out of instinct rather than logic. This also explains why teens’ senses are heightened compared to adults. If teens are being forced to choose the path they want to take in life, at such an early age, it will only end in atrocious consequences. Furthermore, “The brain changes underlying these patterns involve brain centers and signaling molecules that are a part of the reward system with which the brain motivates behavior.” as stated in The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction, which means the responses of teens to emotional images and situations are heightened compared to adults. Teens tend to perceive situations melodramatically and act on them without reasoning. If an 18 year

Important factors are not learned, such as planning and problem solving since the brain is not completely perfect. By not being able to fully plan or solve problem, teenagers do not understand future consequences. Teenagers nowadays, smoke, drink, have sexual intrcourse, and do many other things that put their health at risk. At first, people believed it was just adolescents growing up, later on scientist proved it was since the brain was not absolutely cultivated many adolescents took many riskful decisions. “The capacity for learning at this age, an expanding social life, and a taste for exploration and limit testing may all, to some extent, be reflections of age-related biology”, as said by the National Institute of Mental Health. This states that since teenagers love to explore and test many limits that why the do many risk taking things. On other hands, since the brain is not fully mature enough many adults try to help adolescents understand the good things from the bad things. Adults try showing them this environment so they can explore and experiment, without getting into bad situations. Since the brain is at a hazardous stage, the physical, mental and strength health is at its