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Abstract
The behaviour of human beings is determined by the brain particularly the prefrontal cortex which determines the maturity of human beings.
Adolescents in the second decade of their life are among the most hardworking compared to adults.
They are found to put so much effort to work utilizing their energies to the maximum (Dolan 2002, pp. 76). However, adolescent behaviour is found to be more violent than adult behaviour in the execution of duties. At times, some adolescents tend to behave more or less like adults but this is not the case. This essay devises mechanisms through which one can analyze the relationship between age and behaviour of human beings based on mental development. Studies by neuroscientists show that adolescents possess the ability to perform very organized work in one day but the following day they do something one did not expect them to do. It was also arrived at that the brain of an adolescent takes chronological modelling which makes them able to live by taking risks and making some inappropriate responses.
Behavioural differences of adolescents and adults brain development
The scientific study of the brain also known as neuroscience is among the greatest studies used in the analysis of actions of human beings both at their young and old ages. In the transition age from childhood to adulthood, the brain undergoes development especially at its frontal lobe which is responsible for the socialization process. If the brain development of an early adolescent is measured then compared with that of a late adolescent, it will then be discovered that the late adolescent brain will have grown significantly resulting in many differences in change of behaviour (Hooper 2000, pp. 103). What develops in the mind of an adolescent that makes them change to adults is the prefrontal cortex which is located in the frontal lobes of the brain. This part is also known as the executive of the brain which is responsible for organizing personal priorities, setting strategies and allocating attention. The development of this part of the brain is what makes adults different from teens in terms of behaviour response.
The unavailability of this ability in adolescents makes them behave in a more disorganized manner. Most of them indulge in excessive beer drinking forgetting their priories of life, some even decide to leave education for beer compared to an adult who just drinks a little beer and goes on with his planned strategies and priorities.
The growth and development of the chemical messages dopamine among adolescents take place drastically during adolescence. This part is responsible for mature judgment among adults but this at times is noticeable among late adolescents. This explains why adolescents at their early stages perform things without due concern about the results they would get. It happens that most just do a thing for their own satisfaction. Some at times take their time to jump off cliffs not aware that they may get injured but to satisfy their egos. This slow brain development of adolescents puts their lives at very high risks of death or procuring deadly diseases like sexually transited diseases due to their high levels of carelessness and failure to think of the future.
The part of the brain that handles information and critical messages and also which is responsible for helping in conceptualizing laws and rules as well as codes of social conduct and norms tends to have complex interconnections of neurons on the different parts of the cortex during adolescence. This complexity of interconnections reflects the amount of information that needs to be handled in the mind of an adolescent. Such development enables adolescents to learn and master cognitive and emotional challenges in life. This is why adolescents at this age are able to mater many things and with diverse involvement in so many activities like many friends, education, games, drinking and many other unidirectional activities (Hooper 2000, pp.137). In their twenties, adolescents reach an adult pattern with reduction of the complex interconnections to the formation of parallel processing mechanisms as adult age approaches. This is due to specific roles that adults become involved with which are relatively directional compared to those of adolescents.
The human brain during adolescence is the part of the body that is rapidly developing as adulthood approaches. This has been confirmed by neuroscientists through Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a technique that has been used to study brain development from adolescence to adulthood. Many biological changes take place in the brain during adolescence including the thickening of the grey matter as well as increasing the white matter in the brain (Giedd 1999, pp. 115). The close levelling of the grey matter and the white matter in adolescents brings out an increasing level of maturity based on the actions associated. This automatically changes the behaviour from a more disorganized manner to a more organized and focused behaviour just like adults. The growth of the brain however can be influenced by either genetic or environmental factors. These may include bacteria, viruses, education, peers, drugs, nutrition and many others.
The MRI studies have shown how the adolescent brain is activated during some life situations. Normally, adolescents are very violent and easily carried away by emotional situations. The Magnetic Research Imaging research centre found that high emotions among teens were a result of activation of their amygdala which is the mental part responsible for experiencing and reacting to fear and danger. The amygdala is however absent in adults’ brains (Rausch 1998, pp. 97). Compared to adults, during emotions, a different part of the brain was found to be active. Their frontal cortex which is associated with thought and judgment was found to be activated at times of anger or danger. This frontal cortex is normally absent in adolescents but develops towards adulthood. The reaction of adults was classified as intellectual while those of adolescents were said to be out of personal guts.
During adolescence, teens frontal cortex is not normally functional but lags behind while still developing to maturity. Studies have been done by observing changes that occur during reasoning when an adult or an adolescent suffers brain damage. It was found that adults who suffer brain injury affecting their frontal cortex tend to be more impulsive and are easily destructed from their tasks thus lack sustained attention and suffer from short memory (Hooper 2000 pp.126).
This observation clearly gives the reason why adolescents possess a problem in inhibiting impulses. This was supported by the fact that in adolescents circuits needed for the control of impulses are not fully developed making it hard to sustain impulses.
In this study, it was also found that adults with damaged frontal cortex became hard to adapt to changing environments. This ability is associated with the frontal cortex which develops with age towards adulthood. In adolescents due to their developing frontal cortex, exhibit a problem in adapting to environmental changes in life even affecting their ability to change from situations. This is why many adolescents who are drug addicts are unable to change.
Connected with this premature development of the prefrontal cortex, it also affects the ability to plan for the future and the consequences of the line of action taken (Fieldman 1990 pp.47). Therefore, adolescents tend to make their decisions guided by emotions not taking into consideration the outcome of such a resolution. In addition to this, studies have found that the absence of the prefrontal cortex among adolescents makes them arrive at decisions guided by immediate outcomes and rewards.
Conclusion
Scientific studies and research have found that adolescents are never the same as adults in behaviour. The differences are based on the fact that the adolescent brain especially the part that controls the ability to make sound decisions in complex situations, the ability to control impulses and the making of good planning is not fully developed to maturity. Neuroscientists confirmed that this maturity happens in the third decade of life among human beings.
Social research recommends that teenagers should be in the hands of responsible adults or institutions that can help them learn adult behaviour.
In relation to laboratory animals, at their adolescent age, they are found to be very active just like adolescent human beings.
References
Hooper, C. (2000) Adolescent emotions and behavior. New Jersey, Erlbaum.
Fieldman, S. (1990) Adolescent development. Cambridge, Harvard Uni. Press.
Giedd, J. (1999) Brain development in adolescents. Florance, Routledge.
Hooper, C. (2000) Adolescent development psychology. Oxford, OUP.
Rausch, M. (1998) Neuroscience of emotions of human beings. Cambridge, MIT Press.
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