Saturday, July 30, 2011

Humidity and Amygdala!?

Lately, I've been busying myself with some readings. I borrowed three heavy textbooks from the library and how I wish I can just buy it from there! It's so informative. 
So I'd like to share what struck me the most. One of the major implications that I got from  my readings is how our brain develops during the adolescent stage. There is a region in our brain called AMYGDALA that is responsible for processing information about emotions. This part develops and matures faster than our prefrontal cortext, which is especially important in higher-order cognitive functioning such as DECISION MAKING! "So this means that the brain region for putting the brakes on risky, impulsive behavior is still under construction." So my friends, this accounts for most of our reckless decision makings or emo-phases in life and I guess this explains why talking to a 14 or 16 year old can sometimes be unbelievably stressful when you've told them time and time again that what they're about to do is going to be a dead end, but they still end up doing it anyway. Hmmm, the science behind life.

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