BBC Focus - 09.2019

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DEANBURNETT

Deanis a neuroscientistandfull-timeauthor.His

latestbook,WhyYourParentsAreDrivingYou

UpTheWallAndWhatToDoAboutIt, is outnow.

InterviewedbyBBCScienceFocuseditorial

assistantAmyBarrett.

INVENTING

OURSELVES

SARAH-JAYNE BLAKEMORE

(£8.99, BLACK SWAN)

An engaging and

informative overview of

the processes happening

in the brain during

teenage development,

wrien by one of the

leaders in the field.

Author’s

bookshelf

W H AT I S D I F F E R E N T A B O U T T H E T E E N A G E

BRAIN, COMPARED TO THE ADULT BRAIN?

Loads of things. The adolescent phase of

brain development is a distinct phase all by

itself, though exactly when you start being

an adult is a very fluctuating point, which

no one seems to really agree on. When you’re

a child, you’re absorbing everything. Some

estimates say that in the first few years of

your life, your brain is forming a million

new connections every second, which is

an incredible amount of data gathering and

absorption. That carries on until we hit

adolescence, though not at that phenomenal

rate. Then, the brain sort of stops, takes stock,

and says, right, we’ve got all this information.

How much of this do we actually need?

It’s like getting a brand-new smartphone.

You’re so excited, you fill it up with every

single app, meme and download you can

get your hands on. It’s fun for a while, but

eventually, that phone’s going to become

pretty useless. You’ll try to find something

basic like the calculator, and have to scroll

through 50 pages of apps. With so much

information in the brain, it’s all about

efficiency. Adolescence is when the brain

starts becoming more efficient. It clears away

the junk you don’t need. There’s a process

called pruning, where lots of synapses that

have never been used more than once are sort

of just flushed away, and the resources for

them are taken elsewhere.

WHY ARE TEENS SO EMOTIONAL?

There are some estimates that the front part

of your brain, where all that higher thinking

happens, doesn’t finish developing until your

mid-20s. The more central parts of the brain

are older and more fundamental – which

control things like emotions and impulses

and risk-taking – they take less time to

mature, so they’re as efficient as possible in

your early teens.

So, adolescents have this period where

they can control their emotions, but it’s a lot

harder for them to do so, and the emotional

experiences are far more intense as a result.

Their emotions are harder to suppress,

control or just keep under wraps. But they’re

constantly told to do just that. “Stop acting

out. Stop being dramatic. Behave yourself;

you’re being stupid. You’re being ridiculous.”

This is the time when they’re supposed to

learn how to do all that stuff. If you suppress

their emotions, if you make them keep quiet

and sit still and never do anything, the brain

never develops that ability, and it does cause

serious problems down the line.

HOW MUCH OF OUR PERSONALITY IS SET

DURING OUR TEENAGE YEARS?

The things you learn in your teens will

stick with you for a long time, that’s when

you’re undergoing substantial development.

A lot of your baselines are established there

too, like what your sexual preferences are,

because you’re flooded with these hormones

giving you strange new feelings you’ve

never had before, and strange longings that

you can’t quite get your head around.

There are some studies that show

that because your teens are when your

emotions are most powerful, the things

that affect you as a teen will stay with you

for the longest time, the rest of your life.

Particularly music, apparently. That’s why

so many people think “music is rubbish;

it was much better when I was young”,

that’s because when you’re a teen, things

like music hit you at an emotional level far

more profoundly than they do as an adult.

Because the adult brain is more mature

and more set, nothing else will really hit

that same level of intoxication or emotional

stimulation as it does when you’re a teen.

I’d say in 50 years’ time there will be music

journalists saying, “Oh, the 2010s, that was

the year for music – we had Mambo No. 5,

you don’t have that.”

[Actually, Mambo No. 5 was released in

1999. And we’re pretty optimistic no one
      was emotionally stimulated by it.]

COOKIE AND THE

MOST ANNOYING BOY

IN THE WORLD

KONNIE HUQ

(£10.99, PICCADILLY PRESS)

Konnie’s new book for

8- to 12-year-olds is all

about a determined girl

with a passion for

science and her dealings

with the many problems

life’s thrown at her.

MR SHAHA’S RECIPES

FOR WONDER

ALOM SHAHA AND

EMILY ROBERTSON

(£8.99, SCRIBE)

A brilliant and beautifully

illustrated book that allows

parents and children to

explore the fun side of

science in their own home.

DISCOVERMORE

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You can listen to our full interview with Dean in an

upcoming episode of the Science Focus podcast

sciencefocus.com/science-focus-podcast