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Inside the Teen’s Brain:

Inside the Teen’s Brain:. What Makes Teens Tick? Ann Tilton, MD. Based on Primal Teen Barbara Strauch. Crazy by Design. Why do they do what they do? Hormones Friends My fault…… Brain. What is going on?. Prior thoughts: Brain was finished/cooked 1 st 3 years are the most important

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Inside the Teen’s Brain:

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  1. Inside the Teen’s Brain: What Makes Teens Tick? Ann Tilton, MD Based on Primal Teen Barbara Strauch

  2. Crazy by Design • Why do they do what they do? • Hormones • Friends • My fault…… • Brain

  3. What is going on? • Prior thoughts: • Brain was finished/cooked • 1st 3 years are the most important • NOT SO • Now: • Dramatic transformation • Stumbling block • Relatively few die • In animals “over in a blink”

  4. NIH- Jay Giedd 500 kids MRI for normals Found the gray matter was thickening and then thinning (Nature and Neuroscience) Areas Parietal lobes Temporal lobes Frontal lobes Study

  5. What is Normal? • Frontal lobes synapses- • by age 2 exceed adult levels 2X and adult level by 16-17- Huttenlocker • Confirmed by Chigani based on PET • More is not necessarily better (fragile X) • Prefrontal cortex develops until adulthood • MORE vunerable if exposed

  6. Altered States • Enrichment • Rats in a more complex environment have thicker cortex – increased dendrites • Deprivation • Romanian Orphans • Chigani - Less active in limbic area (facial recognition and attachment)

  7. Age of Impulse • Beat the Truck • Internet • Irresistible urge……

  8. Age of Impulse • Pre frontal cortex • Limbic- gut and emotion • Separates humans • 29% growth • Chimps 17%, cats 7% • The great Inhibitor- teens are capable but do not have the breaks • Parents need to be the teen’s “frontal cortex” • In some cultures the child is an adult at 12 • ( in a very ordered society)

  9. Making Connections • Myelin jumps 100% in teen years • Good and bad • Growth especially in the cingulate gyrus and hippocampus • Gut reaction • Calm down- • Decreased Glutamate

  10. Making Connections • World is seen differently • fMRI – Yurgeleu-Todd • Teen sees a picture of fear in a face • SEES ANGER • Social cues • Do not get it right

  11. Adolescent Animal • Rhesus monkey • Monkeys are better if raised by nurturing mothers and terry cloth mothers • Peer-raised have loose attachments • The males mature later – protective • Shy and offensive • Middle school

  12. Wake UP!! • Melatonin surges 2 hours later • Adults respond by: having them go to bed early and start school earlier • Sleep loss leads to: • Anger • Silly • Increased emotion

  13. Risky Business-Why do they do what they do? • Most do a few stupid things • Normal & necessary • Risky • 20% of 7th and 60% of 11th graders have had sexual intercourse • 10% drank weekly • Probably not “immortal” - just their own logic

  14. Risky Business-Why do they do what they do? • Neuroscience of risk • Use prefrontal cortex • Thrills: • Dopamine- • Smooth movement and Pleasure – Reward circuit • Increased in • Videogames • Addiction / drugs

  15. THRILLS!!! • Novelty seekers • 50% heritable – Kennedy legacy • High – sensitive to reward • Low- safe except with alcohol • Dopamine decreases from childhood (except pre frontal cortex) • Teens are depleted

  16. THRILLS!!! • Addiction • Drugs - cocaine, heroin, nicotine, alcohol all increase dopamine • Overload down regulates dopamine

  17. Drugs • Alcohol • Alcohol in Adolescents is less sedating • 50% alcoholics traced to a gene related to the reward system – dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins

  18. Drugs • Alcohol • Rats • Damage to the hippocampus 10% smaller • With 2 drinks per day • More Problems with stopping drinking • With alcohol the NMDA-glutamate receptors are blocked – then more sensitive • Too much calcium is let in - cell suicide • Death in the hippocampus

  19. Drugs • Alcohol • Worse for teenagers • 2 drinks a day leads to 10% memory loss • Heavy drinkers (5 drinks in a row at least 1X in 2 weeks) • 30% 12th graders • 26% 10th graders • 14% 8th graders

  20. Drugs • Alcohol • Worse for teenagers who drink before 15yr • 5X more likely to be a heavy drinker • 10X more likely to be involved in a fight • 7X more likely to be in a car wreck

  21. Smoking • Smoking and Panic • If smoke 15X risk of Panic attacks • Nicotine mimics ACH • Esp in the ventral tegmental area where there are many neurons that produce dopamine • Produce 2X the number of receptors = leads to craving

  22. Smoking • Females • are more susceptible due to estrogen • Hippocampus damage • All • Lower serotonin levels which lead to depression • Prone to infections

  23. Schizophrenia • Theories: • Abnormality of Dopamine and GABA • Normally loose 15% of excess cortical gray matter • Problem with pruning- Schizophrenics loose 25% • Prefrontal cortex abnormalities

  24. Conclusions • Science continues to show behavior and brain structure dance in tandem

  25. Thought….. The Chinese symbol for Change is both Peril and Possibilities

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