The Teenage Brain

The frontal lobes are the seat of our ability to generate insight, judgment, abstraction, and planning. They are the source of self-awareness and our ability to assess dangers and risk, so we use this area of the brain to choose a course of action wisely.

Young people became teenagers because we had nothing better for them to do.”

obes house movement and feeling in the motor and sensory cortices, respectively.

The brain matures from the back to the front. B. The cortex of the brain can be divided into several main areas based on functio

The brain is divided into specialized regions for each of the senses. The area for hearing, or the auditory cortex, is in the temporal lobes; the visual cortex is in the occipital lobes; and the parietal

alcohol are so dangerous for them; and why they make poor decisions about drinking, driving, sex—you name it—we have to look at their brain circuits for answers. The elevated secretion of sex hormones is the biological marker of puberty, the physiological transformation of a child into a sexually mature human being, though not yet a true “adult.”

In order to truly understand why teenagers are moody, impulsive, and bored; why they act out, talk back, and don’t pay attention; why drugs and al

In other words, it takes longer for adolescents to figure out when not to do something.