SECRETS OF THE TEENAGE MIND
BY AMITY MILLER
Why do teenagers act so differently from their childhood selves ? Unlike what was previously thought , our brains do not stop changing at the end of childhood . In fact , brain growth goes on throughout your teenage years and is an essential neurodevelopment for reaching adulthood . Scientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore has been doing research on this topic and recently shared her findings with an audience at New Scientist Live .
A Leap of Faith
Sarah began work in 2003 with a degree in psychology and an interest in the brain . While she was in the process of doing her degree , she stumbled upon the information that mental health issues like schizophrenia seemed mostly to appear in late adolescence . “ Why is that ?” she wondered . “ What could be making the brain so vulnerable at this particular time if it stops changing at the end of childhood as the textbooks say ?” New to the world of science and discouraged by others , she began to delve deeper into the works of the teenage brain , where few had gone before .