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Ah, puberty. A time for raging hormones, growing independence and being stupid. Okay, not every teenager gets stupid. But they actually do learn less. And in a study published in the journal Science [see Hui Shen et al, http://bit.ly/dbeLY6], researchers describe the cellular and molecular changes that drive this puberty-associated desmartification.
Learning happens in the hippocampus, a brain region that plays a key role in acquiring memories. From a cellular perspective, learning takes place when the connections between nerve cells are strengthened. Interfere with those stronger neuronal connections, and a brain can have trouble laying down new memories. Which, apparently, is what happens in adolescence. At least in mice.
Scientists used a variety of methods to study the brains of pubescent female mice. And they discovered that a particular protein, a kind of GABA receptor, for those of you keeping score at home, crops up in the hippocampus during puberty. These receptor proteins interfere with neuron communication and thus prevent the sort of synaptic strengthening these young animals need to learn.
The good news: a hormone that quiets this pubescent protein turns these young animals back into better learners again. Imagine, a hormone that actually makes an adolescent act smarter.
—Karen Hopkin
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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7 Comments
Add CommentHay! We all have to take time out to learn how to become a man or woman...that's important too, you know.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't know about that, messing with nature could have consequences.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis kind of sounds like they are trying to make teenagers sound stupid though they're not. I agree with Nchssmaria messing with nature doesn't sound like to good of an idea.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have always maintained that I did my best thinking before puberty. Now I know why.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis maybe why Maria Montessori suggested sending middle school aged students to the farm for two years to work off energy. After the two years they would be ready to come back to learning.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a speech-language pathology grad student, I've always learned from professors that post-puberty learning changes occur,preventing one from "mastering" a second language. This information has helped shed light on a topic I've always wondered about.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy doesn't she say what the hormone is that changes them back to learners?
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