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When Does Maturity Set In?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the some-people-never-get-there dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Two Dartmouth researchers claim that they are one step closer to discovering at what age human maturity sets in. From the article: 'For the study, Baird and graduate student Craig Bennett looked at the brains of nineteen 18-year-old Dartmouth students who had moved more than 100 miles to attend college. A control group of 17 older students, ranging in age from 25 to 35, were also studied for comparison. The results indicate that significant changes took place in the brains of these individuals. The changes were localized to regions of the brain known to integrate emotion and cognition. Specifically, these are areas that take information from our current body state and apply it for use in navigating the world.'"

4 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm, let's see... where have I seen this story? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Is Slashdot ganking from Science Daily now, too?

  2. Re:It depends... by jimmyhat3939 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I think 18 year olds are just as mature as those who are 35 or even 45 years old. Moreso in most cases.

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  3. Re:It depends... by tomhudson · · Score: 0, Troll

    I've seen 10 year olds whose had a parent killed

    Geez, the youngest I've seen a kid "off" their parents was 16 ... you people start 'em off young.

    Now, whether that's the most "mature" way to settle an argument is another question.

  4. Re:It depends... by fafalone · · Score: 0, Troll

    Oh shut up, you have absolutely no understanding of research. A small N design does not invalidate the results. The size of the sample is accounted for in the methods that determine whether results are significant or not. Did you even bother to look at the research methodology or did you just eyeball that number and use your (complete lack of) experience with experiment design to determine that 19 and 17 could never produce a significant result? 19 AND 17 AREN'T EVEN CONSIDERED SMALL SAMPLES IN THIS KIND OF RESEARCH, WHICH YOU WOULD BE AWARE OF IF YOU WEREN'T TOO BUSY USING YOUR MIDDLE SCHOOL UNDERSTANDING OF STATISTICS TO CALL THE RESEARCH OF PHD-HOLDING SCIENTISTS WORTHLESS INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY REVIEWING THEIR METHODOLOGY. ffs, how did this idiot get modded up to +5? Oh right, because most people here are blissfully ignorant of experiment design and statistical significance, and he's saying something that makes sense to the completely uninformed, who just go ahead and presume that makes them right.