The Adolescent Brain

• PFC still a work in progress: – Decision making based on reward rather than risk

Awesomely adaptive and necessary for growth!

• Friendships are incredibly important to growth!

• The adolescent brain is constantly changing depending upon….– What you do.– Neurons that fire together wire together

Brain Communication

Nueron

Neuron Communication & Learning

True or False

• The brain is larger in adults than in children.

FALSE - At birth, each neuron in the cerebral cortex has approximately 2,500 synapses. By the time an infant is two or three years old, the number of synapses is approximately 15,000 synapses per neuron (Gopnick, et al., 1999). This amount is about twice that of the average adult brain (7,500). As we age, old connections are deleted through a process called synaptic pruning.

How our brainschange: Pruning(Use it or lose it.)

• Apoptosis – dying off of neurons from lack of use.

• An increase in the number of synapses between neurons.

Practice makes perfect or…the more you use/learn the stronger/more

efficient it gets. Neurons that fire together, wire together!

• It’s kind of like…– Google– Cell phone networks– Friendship networks of communication– Muscle memory– Emerging talents in sports, instrumentation,

dance, etc…

Activity

Pass the signal!

Create those neuro-networks!

Homework

Draw a picture of your neural pathways and answer prompts on your Hero/ine Journey Page:

1. What are your current activities?2. What activities take up most of your time?3. Which activities have you stopped

doing since last year?4. Which are getting stronger?