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    1. HowStuffWorks

     Science

     Life Science

     Inside the Mind

     The Human Brain

Are teenage brains really different from adult brains?

   by Molly Edmonds
     __________________________________________________________________

   NEXT PAGE
   Electric Youth: These people understood what it was like to be a
   teenager in the 1980s. From left to right, the Fresh Prince Will Smith,
   Debbie Gibson and DJ Jazzy Jeff. See brain pictures.
   Electric Youth: These people understood what it was like to be a
   teenager in the 1980s. From left to right, the Fresh Prince Will Smith,
   Debbie Gibson and DJ Jazzy Jeff. See brain pictures.
   Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images

   In 1988, hip-hop artists DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince sent out a
   message of solidarity and support to all teenagers who felt
   misunderstood. Over a hypnotic and funky beat, Will Smith reminded us
   that sometimes, parents just don't understand. The message, according
   to the duo, was universal to teens all over the land, and indeed, it
   might be hard for teenagers not to glimpse a little bit of themselves
   in the tragic tales the Fresh Prince told. Who, for example, hasn't
   felt the frustration of asking a parent for an awesome pair of shoes,
   only to end up with a low-class knockoff? And most kids have at least
   toyed with the idea of "borrowing" the family Porsche to impress the
   opposite sex.

   As the Fresh Prince spins his heartbreaking tales of not being able to
   do what he wants, even if he knows that it might be a mistake, some
   adults in the crowd may be rolling their eyes. It's just not practical
   for teenagers to drop so much dough on a back-to-school wardrobe, and
   it's certainly not a good idea for unlicensed drivers to borrow a
   sports car, pick up a 12-year-old runaway and get stopped by the
   police, as the Fresh Prince did. No one wants to be the parent of a
   thug or a rebel without a cause. It's hard enough accepting that your
   child is an outcast member of the breakfast club.
   [INS: :INS]

   Until recently, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince could have also
   opined that scientists just don't understand either. Scientists have
   traditionally thought that a person's brain growth was complete and the
   structure was more or less fixed by the age of 3. Sure, connections
   between neurons were rewired as children went off to school and
   acquired information, but scientists believed the blueprint for the
   brain was set.

   However, with the use of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scientists
   have been able to look inside the brain, and it seems that changing
   voices, body hair and awkwardness around the opposite sex are not the
   only big changes occurring in the teenage years. The brain appears to
   undergo a growth spurt of its own, and this changing brain may in part
   explain why teenagers turn into a walking army of emotional loose
   cannons. On the next page, we'll take a look at just what's going on in
   the mysterious brain of a teenager.
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More to Explore
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Next Up

   Why are people's brains different sizes? Why are people's brains
   different sizes? " Why are people's brains different sizes? "

   Why are people's brains different sizes?
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