Aired on CNN, December 6, 2000
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Seen in classrooms the world over, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: Welcome to this special edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Shelley Walcott.
Today we're going to get inside your head and delve into "Your Brain." We'll give you the scoop on what makes your brain uniquely yours.
But first, let's look at today's rundown.
Your brain gets top billing today. Find out what it does, what it needs and how it works.
And we'll cover the latest on the U.S. presidential election.
We move farther down your physical form in our daily desk. Learn why businesses are getting serious about your body measurements.
Then, grab your passport, "Worldview"'s traveling to China, where young people are going insane in the membrane over techno music.
Don't touch that remote, there's more brain buzz coming up in "Chronicle."
Topping today's show mind-bending information that -- believe it or not -- has nothing to do with U.S. presidential politics. Today, it's all about your brain. Turns out hormones aren't the only reason teenagers sometimes act crazy. You know the behavior we're talking about: rapid mood swings, poor self-control.
Now, a team of neuroscientists says there's a good reason why adolescent brains seem different: they literally are.
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WALCOTT (voice-over): The teen years can roar in like a lion, turning an otherwise easygoing kid, into one with ferocious mood swings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think, in general, teens get kind of a bad rap. WALCOTT: Maybe so, but teens have been known for making silly decisions, appearing out to lunch in the area of self-control, running hot, then cold; loving you one minute, hating you the next.
(on camera): It's behavior often blamed on hormones or youth rebellion.
(INTERRUPTED BY COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... inappropriate responses, controlling emotion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes me and my friends, we laugh a lot and we have a lot of jokes and stuff. My parents, they're kind of down to earth and not like that.
WALCOTT: As children grow older, the wave of rapid growth in the frontal lobes responsible for all that organization and planning slows down, not picking up again until much later in adolescence into early adulthood.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Teenagers can plan and organize their lives, just not as well as they probably can when they're maybe 20 or 25.
WALCOTT: The second phase of brain development takes place between the ages of 7 and 13. At that time, there is a growth spurt towards the middle and back of the brain, areas that affect, among other things, language skills.
DR. PAUL THOMPSON, NEUROSCIENTIST, UCLA LAB OF NEURO IMAGING: So one of the things you might want to do is, maybe I'll learn a language at a little bit younger, learn French or Spanish or something like this. That might be a key period for educating children in that type of skill.
WALCOTT: But all this rapid growth suddenly ends around the ages of 13 to 15. During this final phase, the brain begins to fine-tune itself for the adult years, holding on to neurons and connections that get used a lot, and shedding those that are hardly used at all.
A time when certain motor skills, like playing an instrument, become more of a challenge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, I started playing guitar last year, and I'm still pretty bad at it. So, you know, that might support the theory.
WALCOTT: Scientists say, the brain's growth pattern also explains the characteristic most associated with adolescence: teen angst. That feeling of edginess, and inability to control emotions, plain-old stress. All this, scientists say, can be traced to the amygdala. That's the area of the brain that controls fear, the fight or flight response.
Teen emotions are centered around the amygdala, since their frontal lobes, which temper emotions, are still not fully developed.
DR. DEBORAH YURGELUN-TODD, NEROSCIENTIST, MCLEAN HOSPITAL: It has implications for anything that requires a responsible review of the consequences, and that could be anything from decisions about what kind of work one's going to do, how you're going to apply yourself in school, what kind of relationships you want to have.
WALCOTT (on camera): So whether it's learning French, learning to play an instrument, or learning to control anger, biology plays a big part in those all-important teen years. And while parents may not have much say in the development of their child's brain, they can make a difference in another crucial area.
DR. ELIZABETH SOWELL, NEUROSCIENTIST, UCLA LAB OF NEURO IMAGING: If parents really understand that maybe their teenagers are a little bit scattered or disorganized or take risks or are rebellious because the part of their brain that would keep them from doing that isn't yet finished. So I think that again reinforces that strong structure and support through the teenage years is of critical importance.
WALCOTT: Scientists say, they will continue to probe the teenage brain, and they say parents should take heart. Even though it might sound like the teen brain is nothing more than a mental mosh pit, adolescence is actually the time when nature steps in to help a teenager grow up.
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