The Struggle of the Teen Brain: Rational vs. Emotional

Image of Teenage Brain showing the areas of study

Though we can't know exactly what goes on in a teenager's brain, (however much we would love to) through scans of teen brains while their owners are thinking, learning and making critical decisions, neuroscientists have observed the brains and watch activity. A psychologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands named Eveline Crone studies how the brain advances and grows. Crone utilizes a large, high-tech instrument called a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. The scanner depends on a powerful but painless and safe magnet and radio waves to generate comprehensive images of the brains of Crone’s young volunteers. The subjects are only required to lie back and play some games. While the volunteers lay down, they look up and they see a mirror reflecting a computer screen on which they can play casino-like computer games. The students enjoy the rewards and fun of the games. Teens also can play games requiring them to make choices, such as whether to pull a trigger, smile at an attractive face or accept a tempting offer. Some choices earn them rewards, such as coins or food. (Teen Brain) 

While her subjects play the games, Crone is observing and gauging which portions of the teens’ brains are the most active. The researchers can identify activity by seeing how much oxygen the different brain areas are using because the energetic and dynamic sections of the brain are utilizing more oxygen. Crone says that while participating in the risk-taking and rewards-based tests, one section deep inside of the brain displays much more activity in adolescents than it does in children or adults. This section is known as the ventral striatum, (see image, right) and  is often represented as the “reward center” of the brain. The region can urge humans to repeat actions that offer a reward, for example, cash and pleasures.

According to scientists, adolescents are exceptionally susceptible and receptive to influence by friends, emotions, and desires. Teenagers frequently react to those influences with illogical decisions because of the existence of a chemical in the brain known as dopamine. Dopamine is released in the brain when we feel good. Generally, these dopamine levels in hit their highest point during adolescence. This is why teenagers tend give in to these influences. Scientists have seen amplified activity in the ventral striatum whenever someone at any age is challenged by a precarious choice, or at the proposal of a prize. Dopamine drives teens to chase rewards even when they have to take risks to get them, and this usually increases during puberty. Nevertheless, this section of the brain appears to be much more active amid the ages of 13 and 17 than during any other period of human growth. (The Teenage Brain) Significantly, the ventral striatum also connects with another aforementioned crucial brain region, which is located just behind the forehead and is known as the prefrontal cortex. Research indicates the adolescent brain struggles between the rational appeal of the prefrontal cortex and the impulsive draw of the ventral striatum. While teens can make good decisions, sometimes the promise of a reward can outweigh the logical choice.  This is what causes teens to sometimes make bad choices. This reaction to dopamine causes the parts of a teenage brain that are connected to emotions to want fast rewards, and due to the prefrontal cortex not being fully developed, teenagers sometimes have difficulty controlling themselves. Some researchers think the adolescent brain purposely evolved to react to rewards so adolescents would shake off the security offered by parents and begin discovering their surroundings and circumstances on their own, which is what they will eventually have to do as adults.