Doctors now believe that this mismatch in development of the impulse-control part of the brain and the hormone- and emotion-fueled part of the brain is what causes the risk-taking behaviors that are so common among teenagers. Myelination, the scientific name for this process, strengthens and accelerates the communication between brain regions and underlies a person’s basic learning abilities.Īlthough the development of the prefrontal cortex is the last step on the development checklist, teenagers undergo major changes in their limbic system-the area of the brain that controls emotions-at the onset of puberty, which is typically around the ages of 10 to 12. As the brain develops, myelin wraps itself around nerve cells’ axons-long, thin tendrils that extend from the cell and transmit information-like insulation on an electrical wire. This growth in connectivity presents itself as white matter in the brain, which comes from a fatty substance called myelin.

The brain does not grow by getting substantially larger during the teenage years but rather through increased connectivity between brain regions. It turns out the teenage brain is nowhere near fully baked and that the brain’s structure and its effects on development continue into a person’s 20s.Īdvanced brain imaging has revealed that the teenage brain has lots of plasticity, which means it can change, adapt and respond to its environment. But advances in brain imaging, which gathered force in the 2000s, told a much more complicated story. It was once believed that teens were impulsive due to raging hormones and that they were difficult because they hated authority. But thanks to the research of people like Jensen and many others, beginning in the 1990s, it’s become clear that the teenage brain is some- thing much more complex-and special.ĭoctors, parents and teachers have long held preconceived notions about why teenagers act so reckless and emotional, and many of these explanations have turned out to be incorrect. For generations, the overarching thinking was that the brain had reached its full growth by the time a child reached puberty. That was about 10 years ago, when society at large was only beginning to catch up to the idea that the teen brain was not a fully developed adult brain, just with less mileage.

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