The Ted Talk By Blakemore

In the TED Talk done by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, she discusses some of the differences in the brain of an adolescent compared to an adult. In adolescence, the first thing that Blakemore observes is that the prefrontal cortex, which tells a person which behaviors to inhibit, is not fully developed in adolescence. Along with that, the adolescent brain is still learning which brain connections to keep and which ones to get get rid of in order to make new ones depending on the environment around them. The limbic system is the part of the brain which helps a person to feel a sense of accomplishment and rewarded because of certain behavior. While in adolescence, the limbic system is more reactive to feelings of risk. For adolescents, the combination of having a lower sense of which behaviors to inhibit and which to act on along with a higher sense of reward after risky behavior can help to explain why adolescents are more prone to risky behaviors than adults.

This type of learning is what occurs when two events occur and the mind creates a connection between the two. In this case, adolescent minds are learning that by partaking in risky behavior, they are getting a good feeling from their limbic system. Because the limbic system helps the body to feel rewarded, after an adolescent does something risky and limbic system makes them feel accomplished for it, they begin to associate that doing risky behaviors will lead to good feelings. If parenting and other factors come into play and keep the adolescent from doing these behaviors, then they will have associated risk with feeling good fewer times and thus grow into an adult that takes less risks. On the other hand, if an adolescent is allowed to take risks then they will be able to associate risks with good feelings and in turn will become more of a risk taker as an