Parts of brain do not mature until age 25
Did we really need a government-funded study to tell us what parents already know?
A National Institutes of Health study suggests that the region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior is not fully formed until age 25, a finding with implications for a host of policies, including the nation’s driving laws.
“We’d thought the highest levels of physical and brain maturity were reached by age 18, maybe earlier — so this threw us,” said Jay Giedd, a pediatric psychiatrist leading the study, which released its first results in April. That makes adolescence “a dangerous time, when it should be the best.”
Mr. Giedd obviously has no children or at least no NORMAL teenagers, I would assume from reading his comments above. He goes on to say that adolescence should be the best years, but is instead a dangerous time. What planet has he been living on???
Hat tip to Drudge Report and MSNBC.com
Theresa,
I have also read that the mathematical reasoning part of our brain doesn’t fully mature until our early 20’s. I wonder if more people would excel in math given more time to mature.
I suppose this risk taking in the young is why wars have always been fought with mostly 20 something men. I’m with you about this report. . .duh!
Mary