A woman and the sea - The Taft School

A R O U N D T H E P O N D
The Teen Brain
New York Times Medical Editor Barbara
Strauch explains to the faculty the latest
research on changes in the adolescent
brain. Peter Frew ’75
“I would there were no age between sixteen
and three-and-twenty, or that youth would
sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the
between but getting wenches with child,
wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.”
—Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale
Barbara Strauch, the medical science and
health editor for The New York Times, explained
the latest research on the teenage
brain to the faculty at their opening meeting
in September. Her book The Primal
Teen is a groundbreaking look at how new
discoveries in neuroscience “may help us
to understand our children.” She says that
as the mother of two teenagers, she was
“motivated to try to figure this out.”
Scientists previously thought brain was
set by age 13 and all that could be added
was more content, more experiences, but
through advances in magnetic resonance
imaging, they are now able to see what’s
happening in a living teenage brain, and
the results, she says, have been amazing.
“Starting around age 11 for girls and
12 for boys,” she explains, “there is a big
jump in the growth of the gray matter
of the brain, that outer layer that makes
us much of what we are. Then, there’s a
massive pruning and disposal of millions
of brain branches, cutting away as much
as 50 percent in some smaller regions.”
The changes the brain goes through during
adolescence are, experts now say, as
dramatic and crucial as those that take
place in the first two years of life.
Legacy List Alumni and their children and grandchildren at Taft
Much of this activity occurs in the
prefrontal cortex—the section of the
brain that “allows us to plan ahead, to resist
impulses, to NOT do something totally
insane. This is the rational area that
helps us resist impulses, or at least count
to ten first,” she said. As a result, teens are
more likely to use a more emotional part
of the brain and are less able to anticipate
the consequences of their actions.
There is also increased chemical activity
going on in the brain at that age—
dopamine, melatonin—explaining at least
in part why teens love to sleep late or seek
new thrills. We can help them understand
what’s going on and sometimes make adjustments,
she adds, whether it’s changing
the length of a driver’s permit or letting
them sleep later.
The good news, she says, is that their
ability to think abstractly is growing, as is
their awareness of emotion in other people.
“Their brains are open to new experiences.
We have to nudge them, be their prefrontal
cortex at times—not necessarily telling them
what to do, but helping them realize the
consequences. Given their newfound awareness
of others, keeping them too sheltered at
this age could mean a lost opportunity for
developing in them a sense of altruism.”
Great-Grandparents
Henry Wick Chambers 1895*............. Timothy R. Chambers ’07
Thomas W. Chrystie ’21*............................ Henry T. Wyman ’07
Roth F. Herrlinger ’22*............................. Daniel M. Hillman ’06 ,
Elizabeth L. Lanahan ’08, Scott H. Hillman ’09
Charles P. Luckey ’18*.............................Charlotte D. Luckey ’08
Samuel F. Pryor Jr. ’17*.................................Antonia R. Pryor ’07
Grandparents
Eldredge L. Bermingham ’43*........Alexander N. Bermingham ’08
Edward Madden Bigler ’40*...........................Marika K. Bigler ’06 ,
Griffith B. Bigler ’08
Dexter Barnes Blake ’33*.......................Charlotte G. Bromley ’08
G. Renfrew Brighton Jr. ’43................... Whitney Z. Brighton ’06
John B. S. Campbell ’34*....................... Susannah M. Walden ’06
Robert A. Campbell ’34*......................Robert A. Campbell II ’07
Livingston Carroll ’37*....................... David J. Carroll-Kenny ’07
H. Wick Chambers Jr. ’27*.................. Timothy R. Chambers ’07
Ronald H. Chase ’54................................Hillary N. Simpson ’06
Thomas L. Chrystie ’51............................... Henry T. Wyman ’07
Barnaby Conrad Sr. ’40.................................... Helen P. Gazin ’07
Roy E. Demmon ’45 Katharine L. Demmon ’09 ,
A. Bailey Fowlkes ’09
Arthur T. Garfunkel ’44*.......................... Amy L. Brownstein ’09
John C. Geupel ’45*......................................Noah D. Geupel ’08
Edward F. Herrlinger II ’46 Daniel M. Hillman ’06 ,
Elizabeth L. Lanahan ’08, Scott H. Hillman ’09
Herbert S. Ide ’21*...........................................William A. Ide ’09
Lee Paul Klingenstein ’44...................................Lee S. Ziesing ’07
Charles A. Lamb ’42...............................Charles A. L. Bartlett ’08
George R. Lindemer ’42....................................Eric L. Becker ’08
Charles P. Luckey Jr. ’43*.........................Charlotte D. Luckey ’08
Taft Bulletin Fall 2005