8/11/2019 Article Review-Teen Brains and Placebo
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Teen Brain-Article Review
Dr. Jay Giedd, chief of brain imaging in the child psychiatry
branch at the National
Institute of Mental Health, conducted research which involved
building a record of brain imaging
over teenage years. Giedd studied many patients and used MRIs to
see how the brain progressed
as it matured. It was generally thought that the brain was an
almost complete product by age 12.Giedds research indicates
otherwise.Giedd believes that brain density may peak at about
12
years. At this point, however, proliferation and pruning occurs.
The brains gray matter is
thinned out at a rate of about 0.7% a year and the brains white
matter begins to thicken. This
creates new pathways for nerve signals and increases the number
of connections in the brain.
During teenage years, the brain is also affected by hormones.
When puberty hits, sex hormones
are more active in the brains emotional center. Further, many
teens rely greatly on the amygdala
which a structure in the temporal lobe linked to emotional and
gut reactions. These discoveries
have also sparked questions over the development of mental
illnesses. Some mental illnesses,
such as schizophrenia, are now thought to develop during teenage
years.
I feel that Giedds work has helped start research on the teenage
brain. The research that
Giedd is conducting seems sound in nature. He is studying many
teenagers and is frequently
using MRIs to trace brain development during teenage years.The
fact that brains continue to
develop and begin to proliferate and prune after around 12 years
did not really come as a surprise
to me. In fact, I was more surprised that scientists used to
believe the brain was almost a finished
product by age 12. I agree with Giedds conclusion that there is
a second wave of proliferation
and pruning with the final parts of the wave occurring late in
the late teens. I also believe that
what actions you take during this development can alter the
proliferation and pruning process. If
one were to frequently play the piano during this second wave,
it seems logical that neurons in
the brain regions that control finger movement will thicken. A
few questions came to mind when
I was reading this article. First, is there a way to accelerate
the entire proliferation and pruning
process, and what effects would this have? Also, how would
external factors, such as poor health
or stress, affect the proliferation and pruning process? Giedd
did not violate any ethical issues
when conducting his research.
