Monday, February 25, 2019

Teen's Decision Making has a Brain Science Explanation

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Summary: Researchers are finding that beyond their studies, teens' decisions are influenced by social and emotional factors. Adolescents have a gap between childhood and adulthood when their reward system is more developed than their pre-frontal cortex which is responsible for decision making. During adolescence, teens spend a majority of their time with peers whether they are school mates or friends, these peers are all in the middle of having a developing pre- frontal cortex. Their decisions can be swayed but after maturing, adults are more aware of their decision making and can resist options that are enticing. These decision making are displayed over time of watching a teen make decisions versus when they are older and make a different decision. 
Connection: This connects to health class because we had a unit on decision making and a unit on the brain, learning how the brain reward system is more developed since it is in the back of the brain compared to the pre-frontal cortex which is at the front of the brain and develops until the mid twenties and how the science of the brain can effect decision making in teens. 
Question: If some people are more mature than others, then do they have a more developed pre-frontal cortex to brain reward system ratio compared to someone who has a more developed brain reward system to pre-frontal cortex ratio?

Link to Article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721412471347

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