Adolescent Brain Development

Child Psychology – The Growing Brain

In this course, Dr Ashok Jansari (Goldsmiths, University of London) explores brain development from childhood to adulthood. In the first lecture, we think about adolescent brain development and the reasons for different behaviours in adolescents when compared to adults. In the second lecture, we think about the methods psychologists can use to study young children, when speech and certain active responses aren’t possible. In the third lecture, we think about how our senses and perception of our environment develop as we age. Next, we think about the acquisition and development of language. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about cognitive development, with a focus on Piaget and Vygotsky’s developmental stages.

Adolescent Brain Development

In this lecture, we think about adolescent brain development, focusing in particular on: (i) the three ‘layers’ of the brain, comprised of the reptilian and mammalian parts, as well as the neocortex in higher primates and humans; (ii) the fact that the mammalian part of the brain develops earlier than the neocortex, resulting in feeling emotions which cannot be properly responded to; (iii) the result of this imbalance in the developmental timeline being that the adolescent brain is more prone to risk taking behaviour; (iv) Steinberg’s research into training adolescents to avoid potentially harmful risk taking by teaching them to evaluate their emotions more rationally; (v) research using gambling tasks to demonstrate differences between adult and adolescent behaviours.