The adolescent brain: Changes and challenges of development

Abstract

Adolescence is a period between childhood and adulthood, characterized by specific physical and psychological development. It is a transitional developmental period, rather than a single snapshot in time. Traditional neurobiological and cognitive explanations of adolescent development of behavior have failed to account for the changes in behavior observed during adolescence. Magnetic resonance imaging studies have discovered that myelinogenesis continues from childhood to adulthood in the brain's region-specific neurocircuitry, which remains structurally and functionally vulnerable to impulsive habits. The maturation of the adolescent brain is influenced by heredity, environment, and sex, and they play a crucial role in myelination. Furthermore, one of the measures extracted out of MRI studies is also the thickness of cerebral cortex, a part that harbors synapses. It is the complexity of these synapses that allows humans to generate and understand complex thoughts and feelings in the real world, including the ability to solve analogies. And it is the complexity of those connections, remaining under construction during adolescence, that may be responsible for immature and impulsive behavior and neurobehavioral excitement during the adolescent life.

Keywords

• Diagnosis
• Classification
• Mental Health
• Psychiatry