Page 165 - Meeting with Children Book

P a ge | 163

that tends to increase self-consciousness. This age group
thinks about themselves as unique and invincible.

The formal operational thinker has the ability to consider
many different solutions to a problem before acting. This
greatly increases efficiency, because the individual can
avoid potentially unsuccessful attempts at solving a
problem. Of consideration is past experiences, present
demands and future consequences.

What About Adolescent Brain Development?
It turns out that although it was once thought that the brain
entered into a state of maturity by adolescence, this is not
true. The brain does not resemble an adult brain until a
young person is in his early 20's. This is important when
addressing the cognitive functioning of the adolescent. It
was thought that the volume of grey matter in the cortex
(where processes of thought and memory are based) was
the highest in early childhood and gradually decreased with
age. Brain scans show that in fact, the grey matter actually
increases (and is the highest during early adolescence) and
then decreases upon maturation. This pruning process is
important to increase the efficiency of the brain as those
synapses that are exercised are strengthened and stay
while those not used disappear. During the first month of
life, a child has more synapses than an adult brain.

Different parts of the cortex also mature at different rates.
The areas involved in processing information from the
senses and controlling behavior mature first. The top-down
brain processes that control impulses and planning ahead
are among the last to mature. Connections between
different parts of the brain increase throughout childhood
into adulthood. The brain circuitry involved in emotional
responses changes during adolescence as discovered
through functional brain imagery. There is some evidence
that adolescent brains respond in more heightened ways