After scanning the brains of 297 individuals between 14 and 24 years of age , a group of neuroscientists from Cambridge (UK) has designed a kind of “instructions” to build an adolescent mind. The results of his research have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Thanks to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, experts have observed that the areas specialized in basic tasks and senses such as movements, sight and hearing are completely finished when childhood ends, but that it is precisely from that moment when other sophisticated areas of the human gray mass begin to undergo their most important changes .
Linked to complex reasoning and decision-making, the authors compare these regions to large communications hubs or international airports with high aircraft and passenger traffic . The study indicates that during adolescence they condense or “shrink” and are protected with a substance called myelin , essential for the connections between neurons to function properly.
Then, indicate the Cambridge researchers, a series of genes similar to those that trigger schizophrenia are activated, which would explain why the first episodes of this psychiatric disorder manifest when we leave childhood. The complex process of brain wiring would also be involved in the sudden mood swings of adolescents , who are experiencing a delicate phase of brain maturation susceptible to being altered by external factors such as traumatic experiences, stress or abuse.
Image: Cambridge University.
