Adolescent

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Adolescent Learning
The Brain

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LEVELS OF BRAIN ORGANISATION

• Consciousness
• Dysfunctions e.g. schizophrenia, depression
• Functions e.g. memory, vision
• Sub functions e.g. colour/form/motion
• Brain regions
• Large scale assemblies
• Isolated neuronal circuits
• Neuronal connections (synapses)
• Components of synapse
• Genes

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An INDIRECT link between genes and brain
function.
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Mice with the gene for Huntingtons Chorea An
example of Nurture trumping Nature?
van Dellen, Blakemore, Deacon, York Hannan
2000, Nature
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NURTURE CAN TRUMP NATURE
van Dellen, Blakemore, Deacon, York Hannan
2000, Nature
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NURTURE CAN TRUMP NATURE
van Dellen, Blakemore, Deacon, York Hannan
2000, Nature
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NURTURE CAN TRUMP NATURE
Standard housing
Percentage displaying profound symptoms
Enriched housing
Non-Huntingtons
Age (days)
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NURTURE CAN TRUMP NATURE
Standard housing
Percentage displaying profound symptoms
Enriched housing
Non-Huntingtons
Age (days)
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NURTURE CAN TRUMP NATURE
Standard housing
Percentage displaying profound symptoms
Enriched housing
Non-Huntingtons
Age (days)
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CAUTION!

• There is no
• one-to-one relation between a single gene and
• a complex mental
• Trait!

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What IS a Mind?
Newborn 3 Months 15
Months 2 Years
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A Pascual-Leone et al J Neurophysiology (1995)
74 3 1037-1045
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Isolated Environment
EnrichedEnvironment
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The Growth, and Loss, of the Mind
earlypostnatalperiod
developingsenescence
senility
maturation
embryo
foetus
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Developing And Losing Ones Mind
...Reflected In Brain Cell Connections
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Losing your mind (dementia).
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More Branches, More Connections, More
significance MORE UNDERSTANDING!
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THE MIND IS THE PERSONALISATION OF THE BRAIN
THROUGH UNIQUE DYNAMIC CONFIGURATIONS OF NEURONAL
CONNECTIONS, DRIVEN BY UNIQUE EXPERIENCES
A shift from SENSORY to COGNITIVE experience
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Adolescence
Major structural rearrangements throughout
adolescence
1. Increase in white matter - myelination
2. Decrease in synaptic density (connections)-
pruning
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THIS FINE-TUNING OCCURS LATEST IN TEMPORAL AND
FRONTAL AREAS
http//www.loni.ucla.edu/thompson/DEVEL/dynamic.h
tml
Giedd (2004) Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci.
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EVOLUTION OF FRONTAL LOBES
Brain has expanded forward at a huge rate!
3.5
11
17
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• Prefrontal cortex grown the most
• Also denser interconnections to other brain
  regions

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HUMAN NATURE? Thinking symbolically..
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THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX EXECUTIVE FUNCTION
PREFRONTAL CORTEX
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EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS
PLANNING
INHIBITION
ATTENTION
DECISION MAKING
INTROSPECTION
WORKING MEMORY
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EXECUTIVE FUNCTION DEVELOPMENT
Huizinga, Dolan, van der Molen (2006)
Neuropsychologia
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What happens if the prefrontal cortex is damaged?
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Prefrontal Under-Function

• Damage
• Schizophrenia
• Obesity

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DECISION-MAKING IN OBESITY A STUDY USING THE
GAMBLING TASK. Pignatti R, Bertella L, Albani G,
Mauro A, Molinari E, Semenza C. Laboratory of
Psychology, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS,
Piancavallo (VB), Italy. pignatti_at_virgilio.it
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A common factor The Thrill of the Moment?
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Living in the here-and-now, with undue emphasis
on external environment.
A world that is not COGNITIVE but SENSORY!
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2 Basic Modes of Consciousness

• Strong feelings
• Sensory
• Here-and-now
• External environment dominates
• Little meaning
• Reduced sense of self
• No time-space
• Infants and children
• Prefrontal under-function?

• Thinking dominates
• Cognitive
• Past / present / fantasy
• Internal perceptions dominate
• Personalised meaning
• Strong sense of self
• Clear time-space reference
• Older children and adults
• Prefrontal activation?

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Blowing your Mind
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LIVING IN TWO DIMENSIONS
(1) Thinking
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Changing generations The Flynn effect
1932
1997
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2.25
2.25
120
85
115
145
160
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70
100
130
IQ score
After Flynn 1984, 1987 Psychological Bulletin
Neisser 1997 American Scientist
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People of the Screen versus People of the Book
Screen culture is a world of constant flux, of
endless sound bites, quick cuts and half baked
ideas. it is a flow of gossip tidbits, news
headlines and floating first impressions. Notions
dont stand alone but are massively interlinked
to everything else truth is not delivered by
authors and authorities but is assembled by the
audience. Kevin Kelly, Journalist
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Why the increase in methylphenidate
prescriptions?What changed in todays
environment has?
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Effects of Screen Culture on Thinking

• Shorter attention span
• Strongly visual
• Literal vs abstract
• No conceptual framework
• Process over content

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LIVING IN TWO DIMENSIONS
(1) Thinking (2) Identity
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Effects of Screen Culture on Identity

• False (Second Life)
• Collective (Wikipedia, Mass Creativity, Open
  Source, Noosphere Mentality
• None (Yuck and Wow)

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LIVING IN TWO DIMENSIONS
(1) Thinking (2) Identity (3) Risk-taking
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More Risk-Taking in the Future?

• Risk-taking linked to under-function prefrontal
  cortex/ less networking (eg Michael)
• Prefrontal cortex under-function/less networking
  excessive reaction to external stimuli
• (eg schizophrenia, obesity)
• Emphasis on sensation, less networking needed
• Future characterised by fast, strong stimulation
• Brains may adapt to states characterised by less
  internal personalised networking/ prefrontal
  hyperfunction
• More risk-taking?

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EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS LEARNING
Childrens ability to control attention and
action are stronger predictors of academic
performance than is IQ or entry-level maths or
reading skills.
Blair, C. (2003)
Primary school teachers rank Executive Functions
as the most important characteristic necessary
for school readiness and indicate that over half
their children lack effective EF.
Rimm-Kaufman et al. (2000)
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WALTER MISCHEL - CLASSIC MARSHMALLOW EXPERIMENT
Importance of self-control
4-year olds
Mischel, W. et al (1989). Science, 244, 933-938
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Fixed (Entity) vs Flexible (Incremental)
MindSet
Blackwell et al (2007) Child Development, 78(1)
p246
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THE BRAIN CAN TRAIN ITSELF!
1. learning changes brain connectivity
2. this process continues through life
3. you are in charge of that process
Blackwell et al (2007) Child Development, 78(1)
p246
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8 x 1/2hr intervention lessons change
mindset, motivation and grades
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CREATIVITY The apotheosis of the individual?
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For most of the time, our adult minds are
working the world has a personalized meaning,
due to our personalized brain circuitry
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Is Creativity a Small-Network State of Mind,
ie an Under-functioning Prefrontal Cortex?
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STATES ALREADY ASSOCIATED WITH SMALL NETWORKS

• Childhood (fewer connections)
• Neurodegeneration (fewer connections)
• Dreaming (no strong, driving stimulus)
• Schizophrenia (neurochemical malfunction)
• Drugs (neurochemical malfunction)

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Creativity and Mind-Set

• Not all ravers etc are creative
• Not all creative people take drugs, mentally ill,
  or children
• Small networks, triggered in variety of ways
  necessary but not sufficient?

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Creativity a Small-Network State of Mind

• Premium on de-constructing to abstract sensations
• Unusual and idiosyncratic associations
• BUT ALSO
• These new associations activate more extensive
  connections (have a meaning) in self/others

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Encouraging Prefrontal Activation?

• Reading
• Facts crossed referenced
• Widest context
• Abstract concepts and symbols
• Notion of narrative for self and others
• Understanding Creativity New meanings and
  insights for self and others