In experiments with mice, American scientists from Cornell University, Brown University and the New York University School of Medicine examined the brain activity of rodents of different ages and found that adolescent mice showed less activity in both areas of the brain associated with the processing of fear experiences, the amygdala and the hippocampus . It was not, therefore, that adolescent mice did not learn to be afraid, but that their brains did not send the same signals as adult or child mice, suppressing contextual fear and associated neural activity.
The reckless response at these ages could be evolutionarily useful, according to the authors, because it occurs at a time when adolescents are exploring and testing the limits of their independence , which they could not do if they were paralyzed from death. afraid.
