Unit 11: Physical and Cognitive Development in Adolescence

What kinds of brain development occurs in the pre-frontal cortex during adolescence?

-A second burst of synaptogenesis, causing a rapid increase of connections among neurons -Volume of cerebral cortex increases to near adult levels -Synaptic pruning occurs at an accelerated rate

What are the impacts of school transitions?

-Academic motivation and achievement often suffer during school transitions -They are experienced as stressful because of changing environments, teachers, standards, support, and peers shift

How does puberty cause social changes in adolescence?

-Adolescents begin to be treated more like adults -They receive new roles, expectations, and statuses

How does puberty cause biological changes in adolescence?

-Adolescents begin to mature physically -They become capable of reproduction -Hormonal changes begin in late childhood and end in around 4 years

What is personal fable?

-Adolescents believe they are special, unique, and invulnerable

What is imaginary audience?

-Adolescents misdirect their own preoccupation about themselves onto others and assume they are the focus of others' attention

Why are close parent-adolescent relationships important?

-Affect academic motivation and performance from childhood through adolescence for young people at all levels of SES

What is formal operational reasoning?

-Being able to think abstractly, logically, and systematically -Involves hypothetical deductive reasoning

What do early maturing boys experience (before age 9)?

-Beneficial because of physical advantages for athletic activities -Seen as athletic, popular with peers, school leaders, and confident

What are gender differences in the timing of puberty?

-Boys enter puberty around the age of 12 -Girls enter puberty around the ages 8-10 -Girls can show breast and pubic hair growth as early as ages 6 or 7

Besides hormones what else could contribute to adolescent moodiness?

-Changing contexts -Negative perceptions -Lack of sleep

What is hypothetical deductive reasoning?

-Considering problems, generating and systematically testing hypotheses, and drawing conclusions

How does biology affect pubertal timing?

-Depending on body weight, leptin (a protein found in fat) can stimulate the HPA axis to increase the production and secretion of hormones

What causes adolescent egocentrism?

-Errors in reasoning and lapses in judgement

What do late maturing boys experience (after age 14)?

-Experience more social and emotional difficulties -More likely to be less liked by their peers -Insecure about body's image causing dissatisfaction and depression

What is the GnRH?

-Gonadotropin releasing hormone -Causes the gonads to mature, enlarge, and begin the production of hormones

What parts of the limbic system are affected by puberty?

-Hypothalamus -Pituitary gland -Gonads

What is the information processing perspective?

-Improvements in attention, memory, knowledge base, and speed

How does the limbic system affect risk taking?

-In early adolescence, the balance of neurotransmitters shifts. -The prefrontal cortex and limbic system experience a shift in levels of serotonin and dopamine, which are neurotransmitters associated with impulsiveness, novelty seeking, and reward salience

What is the contemporary perspective of adolescence?

-It can be stormy and stressful for some, but it is not a development problem -It also isn't inevitable or universal as well

Why is adolescence termed as a period of storm and stress?

-It is a troubling time for teens and parents to endure -It is triggered by puberty -Occurs between the ages of 14 to 24 -Based on the work of G. Stanley Hall who is known as the father of adolescence

What are the adrenal glands?

-Located above the kidneys -Regulates the body's response to stress through the secretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine

What is the hypothalamus?

-Maintains basic body functions such as eating, drinking, temperature, and production of hormones -Signals the pituitary glands

What is the pituitary gland?

-Produces hormones that stimulate the adrenal glands -Releases GnRH

What do late maturing girls experience (after age 13)?

-Protective effect on girls with regards to depression

What happens when the connections between the prefrontal cortex and other brain regions strengthen?

-Rapid communication between neurons -Enhanced cognitive functioning -Greater behavioral control

What is closely associated with risky activity?

-Response inhibition

What are the results of information processing perspective?

-Selective attention -Increases in working memory -Advances in response inhibition -Myelination -Maturation of prefrontal cortex

What are gonads?

-Sex glands: ovaries for females and testes for males -Produces testosterone (faster rate in males) and estrogen (faster rate in females)

How does the limbic system affect socioemotional perception during puberty?

-Since the brains of adolescents do not always help them properly assess situations, they have trouble identifying emotions in facial expressions.

How does an environment affect pubertal timing?

-Stress, single-parenting, male presence, father absence, and socioeconomic status

How does genetics affect pubertal timing?

-The age at which a mother experiences menarche is related to the timing of her daughter's menarche -Identical twins experience menarche around the same time

What is stage environment fit?

-The organization and characteristics of middle school often do not fit the needs of young adolescents -This can be harmful for already disadvantaged or struggling students -When there is little stage environment fit, school transitions can have negative effects

What causes adolescent moodiness?

-The rapid increase and fluctuation in hormones causes erratic and powerful shifts in emotions and behaviors -The correlation between pubertal hormones and adolescent mood is weak and inconsistent

What do early maturing girls experience (befoee age 8)?

-They feel less positive about their bodies, physical appearance, and menstruation -They're at risk for negative psychosocial outcomes

Describe the school transition for middle school

-They provide more flexibility and autonomy than elementary schools while encouraging strong ties to adults -Active learning stimulates young adolescents' emerging capacities for abstract reasoning while still providing structure

What is the delayed phase preference?

-Triggered by a change in the nightly release of melatonin, which influences sleep -Causes adolescents experiencing puberty to lose 2 hours of sleep