(Press-News.org) Teenagers are risk-takers — they're more likely than children or adults to experiment with illicit substances, have unprotected sex, and drive recklessly. But research shows that teenagers have the knowledge and ability to make competent decisions about risk, just like adults. So what explains their risky behavior?
In a new report, psychological scientists Laurence Steinberg and Jason Chein of Temple University and Dustin Albert of Duke University argue that some teens' risky behavior reflects the unique effect of peer influence on the still-developing teenage brain.
Their report is published as part of a special issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The issue is focused on understanding the teenage brain.
Teens spend an increasing amount of time with their peers, and the feedback they get from their friends and classmates may tune the brain's reward system to be more sensitive to the reward value of risky behavior. This sensitivity leads teens to focus on the short-term benefits of risky choices over the long-term value of safe alternatives.
The brain's cognitive control system, which helps to "put the brakes" on risky behavior, matures more gradually.
"If adolescents made all of their decisions involving drinking, driving, dalliances, and delinquency in the cool isolation of an experimenter's testing room, those decisions would likely be as risk averse as those of adults," argue Steinberg and colleagues. "But therein lies the rub: Teenagers spend a remarkable amount of time in the company of other teenagers."
The authors point to a new wave of research at the intersection of neuroscience and behavior that suggests that the company of other teenagers fundamentally changes the calculus of adolescent risk taking.
In a study published in 2009, Steinberg and colleagues found that early adolescents, around 14 years old, took twice as many risks in a driving simulation game when they were tested with peers than when they were tested alone. Older adolescents' driving was about 50% riskier in the company of peers.
In a more recent study, Steinberg and colleagues found that adolescents, but not adults, took more risks when they were observed by their peers. They also showed greater activation of brain structures, such as the ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex, that are involved in evaluating rewards.
Taken together, findings from this line of research reveal that being around peers can heighten teens' risky decision making by changing the way their brains process rewards.
"The phrase 'What were you thinking?' is known to every parent of a teenager," observes Randall W. Engle, professor of psychology at Georgia Tech and editor of Current Directions. And yet, psychological research has historically neglected teenagers, focusing instead on children or adults.
Now, with the emergence of new techniques for studying the brain and its development, researchers are beginning to understand more about the way teens think and behave.
"The articles in this special issue on the teen brain provide the latest findings from human imaging and animal studies on topics that range from self-control to peer influence to policy," says B.J. Casey, guest editor of the special issue and Director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Casey emphasizes that, rather than portraying the teen brain as somehow 'defective,' "the contributors paint a picture of a brain that is sculpted by both biological and experiential factors to adapt to the unique social, physical, sexual and intellectual challenges of adolescence."
###
The articles in the April 2013 special issue of Current Directions will be available without a subscription for the first three months. A complete table of contents can be found at: http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/22/2.toc
Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, publishes concise reviews on the latest advances in theory and research spanning all of scientific psychology and its applications. For a copy of "The Teenage Brain: Peer Influences on Adolescent Neurocognition" and access to other Current Directions in Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
END
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Osteoarthritis, which affects at least 20 percent of adults in the United States, leads to deterioration of cartilage, the rubbery tissue that prevents bones from rubbing together. By studying the molecular properties of cartilage, MIT engineers have now discovered how the earliest stages of arthritis make the tissue more susceptible to damage from physical activities such as running or jumping.
The findings could help researchers develop tests to diagnose arthritis earlier in patients at high risk for the disease and also guide engineers in designing ...
This year, astronomers around the world have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of X-ray astronomy. Few objects better illustrate the progress of the field in the past half-century than the supernova remnant known as SN 1006.
When the object we now call SN 1006 first appeared on May 1, 1006 A.D., it was far brighter than Venus and visible during the daytime for weeks. Astronomers in China, Japan, Europe, and the Arab world all documented this spectacular sight. With the advent of the Space Age in the 1960s, scientists were able to launch instruments and detectors ...
Neuroscientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have taken a major step in their efforts to help people with memory loss tied to brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
Using sea snail nerve cells, the scientists reversed memory loss by determining when the cells were primed for learning. The scientists were able to help the cells compensate for memory loss by retraining them through the use of optimized training schedules. Findings of this proof-of-principle study appear in the April 17 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
"Although ...
Neuroscientists from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the University of Toronto have developed an efficient and reliable method of analyzing brain activity to detect autism in children. Their findings appear today in the online journal PLOS ONE.
The researchers recorded and analyzed dynamic patterns of brain activity with magnetoencephalography (MEG) to determine the brain's functional connectivity – that is, its communication from one region to another. MEG measures magnetic fields generated by electrical currents in neurons of the brain.
Roberto ...
No matter how you slice it, cutting fruit into bite-sized pieces prompts children to eat more apples during lunchtime, according to a recent study by Cornell University researchers.
Most people believe that children avoid fruit because of the taste and allure of alternative packaged snacks. A study by Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab researchers Brian Wansink, David Just, Andrew Hanks, and Laura Smith concluded that the size of the snack counts the most.
Kids love to eat fruit in ready-to-eat bite-sized pieces, yet in most school settings, the fruit is served ...
Athens, Ga. – Many dog owners have their pets spayed or neutered to help control the pet population, but new research from the University of Georgia suggests the procedure could add to the length of their lives and alter the risk of specific causes of death.
Looking at a sample of 40,139 death records from the Veterinary Medical Database from 1984-2004, researchers determined the average age at death for intact dogs—dogs that had not been spayed or neutered—was 7.9 years versus 9.4 years for sterilized dogs. The results of the study were published April 17 in PLOS ONE. ...
Ever since the appetite-regulation hormone called leptin was discovered in 1994, scientists have sought to understand the mechanisms that control its action. It was known that leptin was made by fat cells, reduced appetite and interacted with insulin , but the precise molecular details of its function —details that might enable the creation of a new treatment for obesity — remained elusive.
Now, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have revealed a significant part of one of those mechanisms, identifying a protein that can interfere with the brain's ...
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Kansas State University have demonstrated a spray-on mixture of carbon nanotubes and ceramic that has unprecedented ability to resist damage while absorbing laser light.*
Coatings that absorb as much of the energy of high-powered lasers as possible without breaking down are essential for optical power detectors that measure the output of such lasers, which are used, for example, in military equipment for defusing unexploded mines. The new material improves on NIST's earlier version of a spray-on ...
TORONTO, April 17, 2013 –Newspapers are paying more attention to the severity and long-term impact of concussions and other traumatic brain injuries in ice hockey than they did 25 years ago, a new study has found.
They're also writing more stories about the need to act against aggression, especially at youth levels, and reporting about concussions suffered by a wide range of players, not just stars.
However, newspapers are still reporting that head injuries "are just part of the game" and that hockey players should accept this occupational risk or not play, the study ...
Portable electric generators retrofitted with off-the-shelf hardware by the University of Alabama (UA) emitted significantly lower levels of carbon monoxide (CO) exhaust, according to the results* of tests conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Compared with standard portable generators, CO emissions from the prototype machines were reduced by 90 percent or more, depending on the specific hardware used and operating conditions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ...
