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GREY MATTER AND WHITE MATTER

Grey Matter: appears grey and is matter which contains cell bodies and the dendrites

White Matter: appears white in a brain scan and are huddles of myelinated axons connected neurons

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NEURONS AND MYELIN

Carry information as an action potential along an axon and passes an electrical impulse along to the dendrites of another neuron, thereby transmitting information.

Myelin along the axon speeds up this transmission by insulating the axon.

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SYNAPTIC PRUNING

Originally, it was thought this reached a peak at around age 3 years, but research has now shown that it also occurs post puberty.

(Sewell et al., 2003)

This means that during puberty there is a sluggish and overloaded neural network.

This is the process whereby those neural connections which are weak are lost – pruning.

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THE ADOLESCENT BRAIN AND COGNITIVE TASKS

11-12 year olds do not do as well in a task as younger children where they have to match facial expressions to the associated words.

It is a task that requires working memory and decision making – both of which are part of Executive Function. The results suggested a ‘dip in performance’ in this type of task at the onset of puberty.

(McGivern et al., 2002)

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THE TEENAGE BRAIN

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RISK TAKING IN ADOLESCENTS

Adolescents are more likely to seek extreme incentives – they need more to get them going in terms of motivation.
Adults are less risk taking because they are more able to visualise possible outcomes due to their more efficient neuronal circuitry.
Reasoning, or executive function (EF) which is more inefficient in adolescence.

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CHALLENGES FOR ADOLESCENTS

Exams
Relationships
Considering future career
Bodily changes (puberty)
Increased responsibility
Desire for independence
Parental pressure
The search for identity
Sexuality
Peer pressure

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SOCIAL MEDIA AND ADOLESCENTS

“… we highlighted the neural systems that are associated with behaviors that are important for social media use, including social reward processing, emotion-based processing, regulation, and mentalizing about others. As these neural systems are still underdeveloped and undergoing significant changes during adolescence, they may contribute to sensitivity to online rejection, acceptance, peer influence, and emotion-loaded interactions in media-environments.”

(Crone and Konijn, 2018, no page)

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ADOLESCENCE AND MENTAL HEALTH

“adolescence as a sensitive period for the effects of stress on mental health”

“… social stress in particular is thought to have a disproportionate impact”

(Fuhrman, Knoll and Blakemore, 2015, p. 561)

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FEATURES OF ADOLESCENCE

Withdrawn

Mood swings

Appetite changes

Changes in

sleep pattern

Drug & Alcohol

use

Feeling sad

or down

Poor concentration

and Motivation

Irritability

Feelings of

anxiety and fear

Relationship

problems

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FEATURES OF EMERGING MENTAL DISORDER

Withdrawn

Mood swings

Appetite changes

Changes in

sleep pattern

Drug & Alcohol

use

Feeling sad

or down

Poor concentration

and Motivation

Irritability

Feelings of

anxiety and fear

Relationship

problems

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HOW CAN WE HELP GENERATION ALPHA ADOLESCENTS?

Importance of adult guidance
Strategies for effective mentoring

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PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATORS

Incorporating technology in learning
Emphasising experiential learning
Fostering social and emotional skills

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IN CONCLUSION ….

Terima kasih banyak!

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REFERENCES

Banyard, P. (2015) Essential Psychology. Los Angeles: SAGE

Blakemore, S. and Choudhury, S. (2006) ‘Development of the adolescent brain: implications for executive function and social cognition’. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(3/4). pp. 296–312.

Crone, E. A. and Konijn, E. A. (2018) ‘Media Use and Brain Development during Adolescence’. Nature Communications, 9(1)

Fuhrmann, D., Knoll, L. J. and Blakemore, S.-J. (2015) ‘Adolescence As a Sensitive Period of Brain Development’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19(10), pp. 558–566

Kelley, P., Lockley, S., Foster, R. and Kelley, J. (2015) ‘Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’. Learning, Media and Technology, 40(2), pp.210-226.

Luna, B (2004) ‘Algebra and the adolescent brain’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, pp.437-439.

McGivern, R.F., Andersen, J., Byrd, D., Mutter, K.L., and Reilly, J. (2002) ‘Cognitive efficiency on a match to sample task decreases at the onset of puberty in children’. Brain and Cognition, 50, pp. 73–89.

Sewell, E.R., Peterson, B.S., Thompson, P.M., Welcome, S.E., Henkenius, A.L. and Toga, A.W. (2003) ‘Mapping cortical change across the human life span’, Nature Neuroscience, 6 (3), pp.309-315.