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You're An Adult, But Your Brain Might Not Be, Researchers Say (cnn.com)
"The human brain reaches its adult volume by age 10, but the neurons that make it up continue to change for years after that," reports the New York Times, citing a new paper by neuroscience researchers that questions when "adulthood" really begins. An anonymous reader writes:
One of the paper's authors -- an associate psychology professor at Harvard -- tells CNN that "There is no agreed-on benchmark that, when reached, would allow a neuroscientist to say 'Aha! This brain is fully developed'. However, it is safe to say that by almost any metric, the brain is continuing to develop actively well past the age of 18..."
"Some children, researchers have found, have neural networks that look as if they belong to an adult..." adds the Times, noting that adolescents also "do about as well as adults on cognition tests, for instance. But if they're feeling strong emotions, those scores can plummet. The problem seems to be that teenagers have not yet developed a strong brain system that keeps emotions under control."
And this cuts both ways, according to a psychologist at Temple University who wants the voting age lowered to 16. ("Sixteen-year-olds are just as good at logical reasoning as older people are," he tells the Times) But he also believes judges should consider the lack of emotional control when sentencing defendants -- even if they're in their early 20s. "Most crime situations that young people are involved in are emotionally arousing situations -- they're scared, or they're angry, intoxicated or whatever."
"Some children, researchers have found, have neural networks that look as if they belong to an adult..." adds the Times, noting that adolescents also "do about as well as adults on cognition tests, for instance. But if they're feeling strong emotions, those scores can plummet. The problem seems to be that teenagers have not yet developed a strong brain system that keeps emotions under control."
And this cuts both ways, according to a psychologist at Temple University who wants the voting age lowered to 16. ("Sixteen-year-olds are just as good at logical reasoning as older people are," he tells the Times) But he also believes judges should consider the lack of emotional control when sentencing defendants -- even if they're in their early 20s. "Most crime situations that young people are involved in are emotionally arousing situations -- they're scared, or they're angry, intoxicated or whatever."
I would be more willing to grow up if I saw it worked better for others.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
You are liberal at a young age until you look at the withholding and deductions from your pay stub.
Wife and I 'give' away more than most people make.
Are still liberal.
(We grew up being helped by those commie programs).
It certainly wasn't news 35 years ago when we had kids. The phrase then was "keep them alive 'till they're 25." Essentially, you continue to develop your sense of what is foolish (at least behind the wheel) until then. Research shows that people continue to develop their ability to handle concurrent tasks until their early thirties Think Hannibal, Napoleon, even Bobby Fisher when they were in their early thirties. Overall your judgement continues to improve, and overcomes your loss of handling concurrent tasks until you are about 60. If you are the argumentative type who says prove it, just Google Adam Gazzaley. That will get you started. I am not arguing for or against when you should vote, drink, or drive here. Just that the premise of the article is valid. You are not fully developed until around 25 or later.
Everything in the world does not piss me off. How weird is that?
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Same here. My education is state funded and still I managed to get a degree from one of the best universities around. I could not have afforded a US college to the tune of a few 100 grand.
Today, I get roughly 50% of my paycheck. Rest goes into tax and other government related stuff. Not having any kids sure doesn't help to get any of that money back any time soon, but that's how the deal works. Someone paid for my education, and now I pay for someone else's. Maybe for the son of the person who paid for my degree. OK, not directly, but they paid tax back then (and now probably get a pension from taxes), I pay tax now, and someone will be able to learn a thing or two because of that, get a good job and pay my pension with his taxes.
That's the deal we enter here. I guess I could get a much worse deal. Like, say, having a crippling student loan on my back that I won't pay off in my lifetime.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.