"What Were You Thinking?!"

You climb into your car, turn the key in the ignition and are assaulted by rap music so loud the windows are vibrating. You just know your hearing will never be the same. Blame it on the amygdala!

It's a record-breaking frigid day. You're worrying about the pipes bursting and your teen is going to school without her jacket. You ask her where it is and you get a blank look, then, "Oh, it's in the car" or "It's in my locker at school". Blame it on the amygdala!

While you're muttering to yourself, ''What is she thinking?!'' your teens amygdala is having a field-day. Now, confess: You think the amygdala is a new kind of club drug, don't you?

No, the amygdala is an almond-shaped part of the brain, nestled deep in the back, that pretty much controls the way teens act for their middle-school and high-school years.

So the next time you're ready to bellow, "WHAT in the world were you thinking when you did that?", remember this intriguing fact: Teens are NOT thinking the way adults think because they absolutely, positively can't do that yet. Adolescent brains just aren't ''hard wired'' like adult brains.

Researchers recently discovered that adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the rational part of the brain; teens process information with the amygdala, the instinctual, emotional part of the brain. Teens don't think, ''Binge drinking is very dangerous and stupid.'' Rather, it's ''Oh, boy, a chugging contest! Wouldn't it be cool if I won?''

What the Experts Say

As recently as 1997, conventional thinking, heralded during the White House Conference on Early Learning and Childhood Development, held that the greatest time of brain growth occurred before the age of 18 months and was set forever by the age of 3.

But scientists spent the last several years scanning teens' brains in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine and discovered that the prefrontal cortex, which makes people ''act like an adult,'' isn't fully developed in a teenager until after the age of 18.

So parents watch their teens whiz through life manipulated by the wild whims of the amygdala, home to primal feelings such as fear, rage, and impulse.

And to complicate things even more, the amygdala gangs up with all kinds of hormones and pumps them through puberty-ravaged bodies, making them moody, unpredictable and seemingly irrational. It's a constant struggle to see if the still-developing prefrontal cortex can head off the amygdala and shout: ''Stop! Use good judgment on this one! Think about what can happen!''

And that's why teens parade through adolescence doing all those things that keep parents up at night. Sneaking out late at night. Moving from hysterics to hugs in warp-speed. Flaunting purple hair. Binge drinking, sampling drugs and smoking cigarettes. Waiting until the last minute to do the term paper.....  and the list goes on and on.

But just because they may not naturally think before they act isn't an excuse for bedlam during the teen years.

So, what's a parent to do?!

Tips for Parents

''Adolescence is a time when everything is out of kilter and nothing is stable in the body or mind. It's the second time that kids act like they're 2 years old,'' laughs Ruth Kraus, Ph.D, assistant professor of clinical psychology at the Univ. of Chicago's Child Psychiatry Clinic.

''The difference is that when they're young you say, 'They're only kids. Give them a break.' But when they're teens you expect them to act like adults...and they're not.''

Her advice? Parents have to step in as the "designated" prefrontal cortex and dispense common sense, guidance and advice. In other words, don't just walk away from your teen and think that he or she is ready to make all the decisions without your input.

• Empathize and let your teen understand that impulses are hard to fight, but the end results could be disastrous. Teens must take the time to ponder important decisions and weigh the options. They should look at both sides of an issue and consider the consequences.

• Help them get organized with calendars and planners. Teach them to write down deadlines, meetings and dates and then post them in visible places. Help them understand that waiting until the very last minute to complete an important assignment is a sure bet for stress and disappointment.

• Be there for them. Remind your teens that while you're not running their lives anymore, you're ALWAYS available for advice and help, no matter what comes up.

• Develop a sense of humor! Enjoy your teens as they develop into adults. After all, you can always blame it on the amygdala, right?

The Teenage Brain is a Work in Progress

While 95% of the human brain has developed by the age of 6, scientists tell FRONTLINE that the greatest spurts of growth after infancy occur just around adolescence.

Interview: Jay Giedd - Giedd is a neuroscientist at the National Institute of Mental Health. Recently, he spearheaded research showing for the first time that there's a wave of growth & change in the adolescent brain. He believes that what teens do during their adolescent years -- whether it's playing sports or playing video games -- can affect how their brains develop.

But the gray matter, or thinking part of the brain, continues to thicken throughout childhood as the brain cells get extra connections, much like a tree growing extra branches, twigs and roots.

In the frontal part of the brain, the part of the brain involved in judgment, organization, planning, strategizing - those very skills that teens get better and better at - this process of thickening of the gray matter peaks at about age 11 in girls and age 12 in boys, roughly about the same time as puberty.

After that peak, the gray matter thins as the excess connections are eliminated or pruned. So much of our research is focusing on trying to understand what influences or guides the building-up stage when the gray matter is growing extra branches and connections and what guides the thinning or pruning phase when the excess connections are eliminated.

And what do you think this might mean, this exuberant growth of those early adolescent years?

I think the exuberant growth during the pre-puberty years gives the brain enormous potential. The capacity to be skilled in many different areas is building up during those times.

What the influences are of parenting or teachers, society, nutrition, bacterial and viral infections - all these factors - on this building-up phase, we're just beginning to try to understand.

But the pruning-down phase is perhaps even more interesting, because our leading hypothesis for that is the "Use it or lose it" principle. Those cells and connections that are used will survive and flourish.

Those cells and connections that aren't used will wither and die.

Right around the time of puberty and on into the adult years is a particularly critical time for the brain sculpting to take place. Much like Michelangelo's David, you start out with a huge block of granite at the peak at the puberty years.

Then the art is created by removing pieces of the granite and that's the way the brain also sculpts itself. Bigger isn't necessarily better, or else the peak in brain function would occur at age 11 or 12. ... The advances come from actually taking away and pruning down of certain connections themselves.

The frontal lobe is often called the CEO, or the executive of the brain. It's involved in things like planning and strategizing and organizing, initiating attention and stopping and starting and shifting attention.

It's a part of the brain that most separates man from beast, if you will. That's the part of the brain that has changed most in our human evolution and a part of the brain that allows us to conduct philosophy and to think about thinking and to think about our place in the universe. ...

I think that [in the teen years, this] part of the brain that is helping organization, planning and strategizing isn't done being built yet ... [It's] not that the teens are stupid or incapable of [things]. It's sort of unfair to expect them to have adult levels of organizational skills or decision making before their brain is finished being built. ...

It's also a particularly cruel irony of nature, I think, that right at this time when the brain is most vulnerable is also the time when teens are most likely to experiment with drugs or alcohol.

Sometimes when I'm working with teens, I actually show them these brain development curves, how they peak at puberty and then prune down and try to reason with them that if they're doing drugs or alcohol that evening, it may not just be affecting their brains for that night or even for that weekend, but for the next 80 years of their life. ...

Tell me a little bit about how the brain develops.

How does the brain - arguably the most complicated 3 lb. mass of matter in the known universe - how does the brain become the brain? It does so through two simple but powerful processes.

The first one is over-production. The brain produces way more cells and connections than can possibly survive. There's only so many nutrients, there's only so many growth factors, there's only so much room in the skull. After this vast over-production, there's a fierce, competitive elimination, in which the brain cells and connections fight it out for survival. Only a small percentage of the cells and connections make it.

This is a process that we knew happened in the womb, maybe even the first 18 months of life. But it was only when we started following the same children by scanning their brains at 2 year intervals that we detected a second wave of over-production.

Do you have particular concerns about that period, too, though?

Yes. It's a time of enormous opportunity and of enormous risk. And how the teens spend their time seems to be particularly crucial. If the "Lose it or use it" principle holds true, then the activities of the teen may help guide the hard-wiring, actual physical connections in their brain. ...

Can you describe to me what people used to believe about the brain, actually, very recently?

One of the most exciting discoveries from recent neuroscience research is how incredibly plastic the human brain is. For a long time, we used to think that the brain, because it's already 95% of adult size by age 6, things were largely set in place early in life. ...

[There was the] saying. "Give me your child and by the age of 5, I can make him a priest or a thief or a scholar."

[There was] this notion that things were largely set at fairly early ages. And now we realize that isn't true; that even throughout childhood and even the teen years, there's enormous capacity for change. We think that this capacity for change is very empowering for teens. ...

This is an area of neuroscience that's receiving a great deal of attention ... the forces that can guide this plasticity.

• How do we optimize the brain's ability to learn?
• Are schools doing a good job?
• Are we as parents doing a good job?

And the challenge now is to ... bridging the gap between neuroscience & practical advice for parents, teachers & society. We're not there yet, but we're closer than ever & it's really an exciting time in neuroscience. ...

The next step will be, what can you do about it, what can we do to help people? What can we do to help the teen optimize the development of their own brain? ...

There has been a great deal of attention on the early years and particularly on stimulating the early brain. What do you think of that work and that popularization of that brain science?

There's been a great deal of emphasis in the 1990's on the critical importance of the first three years. I certainly applaud those efforts. But what happens sometimes when an area is emphasized so much, is other areas are forgotten.

And even though the first 3 years are important, so are the next 16. And the ages between 3 and 16, there's still enormous dynamic activity happening in brain biology. I think that that might have been somewhat overlooked w/the emphasis on the early years. ...

Not so long ago, people were emphasizing teaching little children through flashcards, through particular kinds of mobiles with black and white checks on them, playing Mozart.

In fact, some states have sent CD's back with new mothers. What do you think of that? Has that been a misinterpretation of brain science?

... We all want to do the best for our children. And what I fear is happening is that we're leaping too far from the neuroscience to such things. I don't think there is any established videotape or CD or computer program or type of music to play that we've shown with any scientific backing to actually help our children.

The more technical and more advanced the science becomes, often the more it leads us back to some very basic tenets of spending loving, quality time with our children. The brain is largely wired for social interaction and for bonding with caretakers.

And sometimes it's even disappointing to people that, with all the science and all the advances the best advice we can give is things that our grandmother could have told us generations ago:

to spend loving, quality time with our children. ...

I think [it] probably does more harm than good for parents to be confronted with so many of these conflicting reports in the media without any scientific basis. ...

What directions is the research taking to explore how we can optimize brain development?

Now that we've been able to detect the developmental path of different parts of the brain, the next phase of our research is to try to understand what influences these brain development paths.

Is it nutrient or parenting or video games or the activity of the [child]? Or is it genes? By studying twins, we can begin to address some of these very basic nature/nurture-type of questions.

i.e., when twins are in the 1st grade, their parents often dress them in the same clothes. They get the same haircut. It's sort of cute how alike they are. But that's not as cool in high school anymore. And so a lot of the twins as teens in high school start doing different things.

The one who was a little bit better in sports may become an athlete. The one who was a little bit better at academics may become a scholar. Or one may turn to music and one to art. But they often have different daily activities.

So we can scan the brains when the twins are young and doing everything very much alike; then we can scan them as teenagers, when they start having different daily activities. This gives us a sense of which parts of the brain are influenced by behavior and which parts by the genes themselves.

We've already got some interesting early data on this. One part of the brain is called the corpus callosum:

a thick cable of nerves that connects that two halves of the brain and is involved in creativity and higher type of thinking.

It's very popular for imaging studies because it leaps out of the picture. It's very easy to measure and quantify.

It's also interesting because it changes a lot throughout childhood & adolescence. It's been reported to be different in size & shape in many different illnesses that happen during childhood ... many higher cognitive thought [processes] like creativity & ability to solve problems.

So it's been of great interest, especially to child psychiatrists. And what we find is that the size & shape of the corpus callosum is remarkably similar amongst twins ... & [so] seems to be surprisingly under the control of the genes.

But another part of the brain -- the cerebellum, in the back of the brain -- isn't very genetically controlled. Identical twins' cerebellum are no more alike than non-identical twins. So we think this part of the brain is very susceptible to the environment.

And interestingly, it's a part of the brain that changes most during the teen years. This part of the brain hasn't finished growing well into the early 20's, even. The cerebellum used to be thought to be involved in the coordination of our muscles. So if your cerebellum is working well, you were graceful, a good dancer, a good athlete.

But we now know it's also involved in coordination of our cognitive processes, our thinking processes. Just like one can be physically clumsy, one can be kind of mentally clumsy.

And this ability to smooth out all the different intellectual processes to navigate the complicated social life of the teen & to get thru these things smoothly & gracefully instead of lurching ... seems to be a function of the cerebellum.

And so we think it's intriguing that we see all these dynamic changes in the cerebellum taking place during the teen years, along with the changes in the behaviors that the cerebellum sub-serves.

What would influence the development of the cerebellum?

Traditionally it was thought that physical activity would most influence the cerebellum & that's still one of the leading thoughts. It actually raises thoughts about, as a society, we're less active than we ever have been in the history of humanity.

We're good w/our thumbs & video games & such. But as far as actual physical activity, running, jumping, playing, children are doing less & less of that & we wonder, long term, whether that may have an effect on the development of the cerebellum.

The recess & play seems to be the first thing that is cut out of school curriculums in tight times. But those actually may be as important, or maybe even more important, than some of the academic subjects that the children are doing. ...

We think that the "Use it or lose it" principle holds for the cerebellum as well. If the cerebellum is exercised & used, both for physical activity but also for cognitive activities, that it'll enhance its development.

... One analogy that computer people use is that [the cerebellum is] like a math co-processor. It's not essential for any activity. People can get by quite well w/out large chunks of it. But it makes many activities better.

The more complicated the activity, the more we call upon the cerebellum to help us solve the problem. And so almost anything that one can think of as higher thought -- mathematics, music, philosophy, decision making, social skills -- seems to draw upon the cerebellum. ...

The relationship between the findings that we have in the cerebellum & sort of practical advice or the links between behavior aren't well worked out yet. That's going to be one of the great challenges of neuroscience -- to go from these neuroscience facts to useful information for parents, for teachers or for society.

But it's just so recently that we've been able to capture the cerebellum that no work has yet been done on the forces that will shape the cerebellum or the link between the cerebellum shape or size & function.

When you look at the recent work that you've done in terms of the frontal cortex, do you see a difference between girls & boys?

Yes. One of the things that we're particularly interested in as child psychiatrists is the difference between boys' brains & girls' brains, because nearly everything that we look at as child psychiatrists is different between boys & girls -- different ages of onset, different symptoms, different prevalences & outcomes.

Almost everything in childhood is more common in boys -- autism, dyslexia, learning disabilities, ADHD, Tourette's syndrome -- are all more common in boys. Only anorexia nervosa is more common in girls. So we wonder if the differences between boys' & girls' brains might help explain some of these clinical differences.

The male brain is about 10% larger than the female brain across all the stages of ... 3 to 20; not to imply that the increased size implies any sort of advantage, because it doesn't. The IQs are very similar. But there are differences between the boy & girl brains, both in the size of certain structures & in their developmental path.

The basal ganglia which are a part of the brain that help the frontal lobe do executive functioning are larger in females & this is a part of the brain that is often smaller in the childhood illnesses. I mentioned, such as ADD & Tourette's syndrome.

So girls, by virtue of having larger basal ganglia, may be afforded some protection against these illnesses. But in the general trend for brain maturation, it's that girls' brains mature earlier than boys' brains. ...

read an additional informative interview by clicking here!

The MEG tells us about brain activity in much the same way as the EEG, indicating the activity of neural networks in real time; but it gives more information than the EEG about deeper structures.

Coherence analysis of EEG or MEG tells which parts of the brain are connected to each other by analyzing similarities in brain activity patterns. Combining information from these & other sources provides a much more complete portrait of brain functioning than has ever been possible.

Greenough: The principal news based upon both newer techniques like fMRI & other technologies is that the brain is a very dynamic place & continues to be so throughout development & even into adulthood.

New synaptic connections continue to form between neurons throughout life. Patterns of myelination [the process by which brain cells are covered w/a fatty white substance called myelin, which aids in the transmission of information between cells], while perhaps most dynamic from early development thru adolescence, continue to change at least into the 4th decade of life.

And blood vessels, the brain capillary networks in particular, respond to long-term changes in demand throughout much of adult life. Perhaps most exciting is that at least some regions of the brain continue to generate new neurons in adulthood & those neurons appear to participate in the learning & memory process.

Scientists first made these observations in animals & subsequently confirmed them in humans.

Thompson: These new imaging techniques provide extremely detailed pictures of the living brain, revealing how it grows & how its function changes though the teenage years, often in ways no one suspected.

Before brain imaging was invented, autopsy studies showed that older children had more of a fatty substance, called myelin, on their brain cells.

This speeds up the electrical transmission of information between brain cells & is thought to make the brain more efficient as we go thru the teen years. Earlier studies also revealed an exuberant growth of connections in the first 2 years of life, w/a slow elimination of connections thereafter.

Now, imaging technologies let us visualize even more remarkable changes in the brains of children & teens. Using MRI scans, we can watch teenagers' brains change in miraculous patterns as they grow up.

We recently created the first maps of brain growth in individual children & teens. To our surprise, an extraordinary wave of tissue growth spread thru the brain, from front to back, between the ages of 3 & 15.

Frontal brain circuits, which control attention, grew fastest from ages 3 to 6. Language systems, which are further back in the brain, underwent a rapid growth spurt around the age of 11 to 15 & then drastically shut off in the early teen years.

This language system growth is interesting, as it corresponds to the end of a period when we're thought to be most efficient at learning foreign languages.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all was how much tissue the brain loses in the teen years.

Just before puberty, children lost up to 50% of their brain tissue in their deep motor nuclei -- these systems control motor skills such as writing, sports or piano. This loss moves like a wildfire into the frontal lobes in late teens. We think it's a sign of rapid remodeling of brain tissue well into the teens & beyond.

In short, MRI scans provide the detail necessary to chart brain growth in individual children & we're seeing new growth spurts & surprising losses of cells much later than originally thought.

It's as if a light has now lit up a huge landscape & researchers are only just beginning to see the landmarks & features for the first time.

Siegel: Imaging techniques have provided a revolutionary new view into how the activation of neural circuits in the brain give rise to mental processes, such as:

• memory
• emotion
• decision-making
• reasoning

The correlation of brain structure & function w/the more subjective, but equally real, mental processes that define the mind enables us to deepen our understanding of how systems of neurons within the brain may give rise to how systems of neurons between brains function.

This "interpersonal neurobiology" of understanding how the interaction of brain & human relationships shapes who we are is an exciting possibility in this new era of systems neuroscience.

Fischer: We know much more because we're only now able to examine many dimensions of brain functioning in thriving human beings. Still, we don't know very much!

Key to our understanding is how the brain functions as a system - i.e., how neural networks grow and function across brain regions. Most of the recent advances in brain science have involved knowledge of the biology of single neurons and synapses, not knowledge of patterns of connection and other aspects of the brain as a system.

In time the new imaging techniques will help scientists and educators to understand how brain and behavior work together, but we have a very long way to go.

Greenough: One thing that we know is that changes in the synaptic connections between neurons, whether involving newly-generated neurons in some brain regions or only pre-existing neurons in others, are a key part of the memory process.

Thompson: Interestingly, a surprising amount is already known. We know a lot about how the brain is organized anatomically & functionally. We know which parts are responsible for specific functions, such as spatial memory, emotion, vision & language.

We know a fair amount about how brain cells develop, how they speak to each other, what molecules are involved in learning & memory & how they may be altered by disease or medication.

In looking at human brain development, several new techniques are now greatly accelerating our understanding of brain & behavior. Functional MRI, i.e., is a new type of imaging technique that lets you see how & where, the brain activates in response to learning new information, recognizing a face rather than just seeing a face, or learning new languages.

These techniques allow you to find out exactly what changes in the brain when some types of information are learned, or when we perform different tasks such as speaking, or when we are ill.

Siegel: We're just beginning to identify how systems in the brain work together in an integrated fashion to create complex mental processes.

The mind, which can be defined as a process that regulates the flow of energy & information, emanates from the activation of neuronal circuits.

This flow, however, occurs not only within the skull, but also between two skulls (as in a "relationship") & among many skulls (as in a family, or as in the Internet).

For this reason, it's crucial in understanding the mind & its development that we embrace the exciting findings from brain science while exploring the reality that brain & mind are not the same.

Since energy and information can flow beyond the boundaries of the skin-defined self, mind is a process that is beyond merely brain anatomy & biology.

Behavior & the mental processes that motivate it, are a product of the interface of the neurophysiological processes of the body & the interpersonal processes, of relationships, family, community & the larger culture. These ideas are explored in my book The Developing Mind (Siegel, 1999). Recently, we've started an interdisciplinary research & education program at UCLA called the Center for Culture, Brain & Development.

What are the most exciting or promising areas of research into brain development & learning & memory -- particularly pertaining to adolescents?

Siegel: The tremendously exciting findings of significant brain reorganization during the adolescent years has enabled us to begin to address some very important questions in a new light:

• Why do psychiatric illnesses so often emerge for the first time in adolescence?

• How & why do changes in brain function & structure correlate w/adolescent cognitive & behavioral changes?

• Are there ways of examining our cultural approach to adolescence in a new light given the pruning & re-structuring of brain circuits during the teen years?

Regarding learning & memory, the relationships among factual & autobiographical memory suggest that we may be well served to have students integrate knowledge of the semantic (factual world) w/self-knowledge (autonoesis) for more lasting & better remembered knowledge structures.

The hippocampus has long been known as an important structure for explicit memory. Recent findings indicate that in some traumatized individuals, the hippocampus may become damaged -- possibly by way of excessive stress hormone, cortisol, secretion.

This finding suggests that the legacy of trauma may then create cognitive impairments making school even more stressful for children who have experienced various forms of abuse or neglect. Awareness of these findings can help clinicians, educators & policymakers to rethink how they approach individuals who have been victims of trauma.

The prefrontal cortex has an anatomic location that enables it to integrate a wide array of neural circuits into a functional whole. This process of integration enables the prefrontal area to play a central role in complex mental processes that emerge as the child grows. The dorsolateral prefrontal region is crucial for focal attention & working memory.

The ventromedial prefrontal regions, also known as the orbitofrontal cortex because it sits behind the orbit of the eyes, is a crucial area involved in a wide array of processes such as social cognition (understanding the minds of others), attuned communication, self-regulation, response flexibility (taking in data, pausing, reflecting & coming up w/an adaptive, flexible response) & autobiographical memory & self-awareness.

The development of the prefrontal region may be responsive to patterns of social communication during the early years of life & perhaps across the life span.

Findings from recent studies of the changes in the adolescent brain point to the "off-line" status of this important integrative region. These findings may help us to gain insights into why teenagers act the way they so often do.

As one of my patients said after doing an action w/little thought -- "Don't forget, I'm a teenager right now!" Action w/out reflection may often be a sign that the prefrontal cortex's response flexibility function is off-duty.

Fischer: Adolescents' brains show major developmental change, which new research is beginning to unravel.

Behavioral scientists have documented in the last 25 years that adolescents undergo massive changes in cognitive & emotional capacities & that these changes continue at least thru early adulthood, well beyond the teen years.

Brain scientists are now discovering similar changes in the brain. An essential question is how the major changes in brain connection & organization during adolescence & early adulthood relate to the established changes in cognitive capacities.

New cognitive capacities emerge at 10, 15, 20 & 25 years, in which young people become capable of using abstract concepts skillfully & relating them to each other in successively more complex ways. Younger children can't use abstractions flexibly but instead reduce them to concrete instances & memorized definitions.

At 9 to 10 years children become able to construct flexible abstract concepts, such as conformity, responsibility & the operation of multiplication; but when they try to relate two abstractions to each other, they muddle them together. At about age 15 they can build flexible relations between a pair of abstractions & thus stop muddling them so badly.

At age 19 or 20 they can build complex relations among multiple abstractions & at 25 they can connect systems of abstractions to understand principles underlying them. Each of these developments involves the capacity to build a new kind of understanding, but that capacity is evident only in areas where young people work to construct their understanding -- the new abilities don't appear in all skills but only in those where the individual demonstrates optimal performance. A major challenge for neuroscientists is to understand how these emerging capacities relate to brain changes.

Thompson: My own view is that we now have an exciting array of techniques that are beginning to tell us, in exquisite detail, how the brain grows & what changes to expect in healthy children & teens. We're also just beginning to compare these recently discovered brain changes w/changes in autistic children, children w/learning or communication disorders & teenagers w/emotional or psychiatric disorders.

The imaging techniques have tremendous promise for understanding how these enigmatic features of development emerge in healthy children & teens. Large-scale studies are now helping us exploit this technology & build a better picture of how the brain develops.

Sometimes they reveal unsuspected features, such as the wave of brain tissue loss in the teen years. By studying this remodeling process, we hope to shed light on how this process might go awry in diseases that can strike in adolescence, such as schizophrenia. (see the glossary)

But I think a second revolution in our understanding will come when we begin to bridge these brain imaging techniques w/the powerful tools of the "Human Genome Project."

In a recent study, we reported the first maps to visualize how genes affect brain structure -- in other words, which parts of the brain's hardware do we inherit from our parents & which parts can change most in response to learning experiences & stimulation? A key focus is studying families of genes that are implicated in building our brains & learning experiences that restructure them.

As you read this, your brain is remodeling itself, but we know extremely little about what precisely is causing the changes. By developing new techniques to bridge imaging & genetics, a second revolution in our understanding will come.

Only then we'll go from observing brain changes in detail to understanding their causes. This in turn is likely to shed light on how developmental disorders might respond to new therapies & what's happening in the healthy teenage brain.

Greenough: The results of neuroscience research cannot be translated into policy by itself. We have many sources of information regarding brain and behavioral development and learning. The best context for policy development is a team of individuals that collectively has expertise in child and adolescent development (especially developmental psychology), education, medicine (e.g., child psychiatry) and neuroscience. Working together to interpret the research and formulate policies that reflect the fullest possible knowledge of the development process, reasoned and valid policies can be proposed. A volume that comprises such an interdisciplinary report is "From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development" published by the National Academy of Sciences. The potential benefits of policies that benefit or optimize human development are enormous, ranging from the economic effects of having a vastly more effective workforce to the societal and medical effects of a population that is as a whole better adapted to the demands of the 21st century lifestyle.

The results surprised the researchers. The adults correctly identified the expression as fear. Yet the teens answered "shocked, surprised, angry." And the 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, which governs reason and planning.

As the teens got older, the center of activity shifted more toward the frontal cortex and away from the cruder response of the amygdala.

Yurgelun-Todd, director of neuropsychology and cognitive neuroimaging at McLean Hospital believes the study goes partway to understanding why the teenage years seem so emotionally turbulent.

The teens seemed not only to be misreading the feelings on the adult's face, but they reacted strongly from an area deep inside the brain. The frontal cortex helped the adults distinguish fear from shock or surprise.

Often called the executive or CEO of the brain, the frontal cortex gives adults the ability to distinguish a subtlety of expression:

"Was this really fear or was it surprise or shock?"

For the teens, this area wasn't fully operating.

Reactions, rather than rational thought, come more from the amygdala, deep in the brain, than the frontal cortex, which led Yurgelun-Todd and other neuroscientists to suggest that an immature brain leads to impulsivity, or what researchers dub "risk-taking behavior."

Although it was known from animal studies and brain-injured people that the frontal cortex matures more slowly than other brain structures, it's only been with the advent of functional MRI that researchers have been able to study brain activity in normal children.

The brain scans used in these studies are a valuable tool for researchers. Never before have scientists been able to develop data banks of normal, healthy children. Outlining the changes in normal function and development will help researchers determine the causes of psychiatric disorders that afflict children and adolescents.

as if we didn't know this already!

Teen Drivers Are Risky With Other Teens as Passengers: Study

Healthscout News

Ironically, teen boy drivers actually became somewhat safer when a female companion was in the passenger seat, The New York Times reported of the study published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.

Of 471 teenage drivers tracked, 14.9% of boys & 13.1% of girls practiced dangerous habits including speeding & tailgating, the scientists said.

Lead researcher Bruce Simons-Morton speculated that drivers felt they had to show off with boy passengers in the car, although he said the issue would have to be confirmed in future studies.

Mental health problems are real, painful & can be severe. They can lead to school failure, loss of friends or family conflict. Some of the signs that may point to a possible problem are listed below. If you are a Parent or other caregiver of a teenager, pay attention to the symptoms listed below:

Do you recognize any of these "Symptoms" of Mental Illness in your pre-teen or teenager?

• Strange thoughts & feelings & unusual behaviors.

If any of these problems persist over an extended period of time & especially if others who are associated w/your teen are concerned; a mental health evaluation after a complete physical examination is warranted.

Is your teen troubled by feeling:

• Very angry most of the time
• Like Crying a lot or overreacts to things
• worthless or guilty a lot
• Anxious or worried a lot more than other young people
• Grief for a long time after a loss or death
• Extremely fearful or has unexplained fears or more fears than most kids
• Constantly concerned about physical problems or appearance
• Frightened that his or her mind is controlled or is out of control

Experiences big changes, i.e.:

• does much worse in school
• loses interest in things usually enjoyed
• has unexplained changes in sleeping or eating habits
• avoids friends or family & wants to be alone all the time
• daydreams too much & can't get things done
• feels life is too hard to handle or talks about suicide
• hears voices that can't be explained

Is limited by:

• Poor concentration
• Can't make decisions
• Inability to sit still or focus attention
• Worry about being harmed, hurting others, or about doing something "bad"
• The need to wash, clean things, or perform certain routines dozens of times a day
• Thoughts that race almost too fast to follow; persistent nightmares.
• Behaves in ways that cause problems, for-example: uses alcohol or other drugs or eats large amounts

Possible Signs of Depression in teens:

Approximately 1 to 5% of all school-aged children have school refusal.³  The rate is similar between boys & girls.^4,5  Although school refusal occurs at all ages, it's more common in children 5, 6, 10 & 11 years of age.⁶  No socioeconomic differences have been noted.⁷

The onset of school refusal symptoms usually is gradual. Symptoms may begin after a holiday or illness. Some children have trouble going back to school after weekends or vacations. Stressful events at home or school or w/peers may cause school refusal.

Some children leave home in the morning & develop difficulties as they get closer to school, then are unable to proceed. Other children refuse to make any effort to go to school.

Presenting symptoms include fearfulness, panic symptoms, crying episodes, temper tantrums, threats of self-harm & somatic symptoms⁸ that present in the morning & improve if the child is allowed to stay home (Table 2) . The longer the child stays out of school, the more difficult it is to return.⁹

Treating children & adolescents w/mental illness is an important step in keeping them away from illicit drugs, alcohol & the possible negative outcomes that stem from co-occurring disorders.

i.e., a recent study found that treating ADHD children w/appropriate medication was associated w/an 85% reduction in risk for substance use disorders.

Unfortunately, most children w/mental illnesses don't receive help until it's too late.

Certain experiences, thoughts & feelings signal the presence of a variety of mental health problems or the need for help. The following signs are important to recognize:

• Finding little or no pleasure in life

It's not necessarily easy to spot these signs, or to figure out what they mean. Qualified mental health professionals are skilled in making an accurate diagnosis.

As a general rule: the longer the signs last, the more serious they are & the more they interfere w/daily life, the greater the chance that professional treatment is needed.

AD/HD (commonly known as ADD) is a behavioral disorder. Basically, kids who have it are unable to concentrate, extremely restless, or both. The American Psychiatric Association calls the distinct ypes "inattentive" & "hyperactive - impulsivity."

Some adolescents w/attention deficit disorder can't organize or complete tasks, get distracted easily & seem not to listen. Others may be rebellious & reckless -- they can't wait their turn, keep quiet or keep their friends. Still others have both kinds of problems.

Don't be alarmed if those behaviors seem familiar: As your child enters his teens, he probably talks back, argues w/his best buddy, loses his keys, or fails to finish his homework from time to time - almost every kid does.

A child with AD/HD will do these things more often (though, unless he has a severe case, you wouldn't be able to pick him out from a group of kids watching TV). This can give him a real disability in school, at home, or in social settings.

AD/HD is controversial for 2 reasons: Researchers aren't sure precisely what causes it & physicians, other medical experts & parents all tend to have strong opinions on using drugs to treat it.

As a result, the teen years are ripe for producing conflict in the family. Typical areas of parent-teen conflict may include:

Self-Destructive Behavior Seen In More Adolescents

(The Cox News Service) Self-abuse, self-mutilation and self-injury are sometimes referred to as the "new age anorexia."

These self-destructive and often mutilating behaviors occur frequently in adolescents. It was reported in one study that the incidence of self-mutilation occurred at an estimated 1,800 out of 100,000 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 35.

A common example of self-mutilating behavior is cutting the skin with a knife or razor until pain is felt and/or blood has been drawn. Other examples are burning the skin with metal or a lighted cigarette or picking the skin. These problematic behaviors are to be distinguished from tattooing or body piercing behaviors that aren't typical of self-mutilation.

Those individuals seeking body adornment differ, psychologically speaking, from individuals practicing self-abuse as an attempt to escape from intense emotion or to achieve some level of focus.

Many individuals practicing self-abusive behavior report doing so in an attempt to relieve stress, pain and escape from fear or anxiety. Self-abusers who cut themselves are sometimes referred to as "cutters." Cutting sometimes has a "contagious" component, with group cutting occurring in settings such as prisons or even in school settings.

Cutting seems to appear more often in females than in males. Cutting also often co-exists with other problems such as eating disorders. Self-injurers aren't usually planning suicide. However, tragedies, including serious medical complications or death, can and do occur.

Many reasons have been proposed to explain why people practice self-abusive behaviors.

Biological, psychological and social explanations have all been proposed as reasons to explain self-mutilation.

Like many problematic behaviors where the perceived need for control exists, self-mutilation and self-injurious behaviors serves to express, validate or regulate emotional problems such as depression, tension, pain or anger.

Many treatment strategies are available and successful in treating self-injurious behavior.

Medication can be helpful in treating symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, which often accompany self-injurious behavior.

Individual and group psychotherapy are often useful in helping individuals explore alternatives to self-mutilation.

Family therapy and support groups can be of assistance for both the self-injurer and their families.

Copyright 2003 The Cox News Service. All rights reserved.

Family Meal Times Affect Teens' Mental Health

i.e., the youth in the study group reported eating fewer than 5 meals per week with both parents out of a possible 14 meals, while their peers ate about 6 meals with their parents each week.

Sharing daily meals with the family constitutes a union ritual that promotes adolescent mental health.

Celebrating special events with the extended family is another union ritual, they note, which was also more common among those in the comparison group.

Over 1/2 of those in the study group perceived some level of dysfunction in their families and nearly 1 in 5 believed that the dysfunction was severe. In comparison, only about 1/4 of the comparison group believed that their family was dysfunctional and less than 10% thought it was severely dysfunctional.

Those who had sought mental health care were less likely to report participating in New Year's Day, Easter and other family celebrations than their peers. They also reported traveling, attending parties and participating in other family activities less frequently than youth in the comparison group.

The decrease in family activities that improve adolescent-family communication and emotional closeness, is related to a more frequent use of mental health services.

An editorial expands on the fact that the Americanization of European family life is undermining very important social mechanisms for producing resilience in the next generation.

Television dinners and fast food, in comparison to "historic cultural traditions of 'slow food' are a large part of the problem. If families don't regularly touch base, is it surprising that parents don't know when their children are getting into difficulties?

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health January 2002;56:89-94

special note to parents: I think you'd be as surprised as I was, but you'd also agree with the fact that teens don't connect to what we're saying to them sometimes. We say something to them and they hear an entirely different statement. If you click here you can jump over to the teenscene page about communication and read for yourself what I'm referring to!