With an increase in teenage cyber bullying and reports of teenagers killing their teachers, a new study has found proof that teenagers today have a more impulsive reaction to danger which might explain why they're more likely to be involved in criminal activities.
A study conducted by the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City found that teens had a higher propensity than adults or children to react (pressing a button) when presented with an aggressive face. The study participants included 18 children (ages 6 to 12), 19 teens (ages 13 to 17), and 20 adults (ages 18 to 27). The participants were instructed to press a button when they saw a neutral face and to refrain from pressing when they saw a threatening face.
Teens who were able to control their response to threatening faces showed significantly higher activity in an area of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex compared to children and adults.
"Crimes are often committed in emotionally charged or threatening situations, which push all the wrong buttons for reasoned decision-making in the adolescent brain," lead author Kristina Caudle, of Weill Cornell Medical College, said in a Society for Neuroscience news release.
"It's fascinating because, although the brains of young children are even less mature, children don't exhibit the same attraction to risky or criminal behaviors as do adolescents," Caudle said.
The study also found that males were also more likely to make a greater number of false alarm cues and showed greater activation of the orbitofrontal cortex, a region associated with confrontational behavior. Meanwhile, females showed greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex, which is tied to avoidant behavior.
The study is scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in San Diego.
Our deeper understanding of the origins of delinquent behavior can be a double-edged sword," said press conference moderator BJ Casey, PhD, of Weill Cornell Medical College, an expert in attention, behavior, and related brain disorders. "While we're making tremendous gains in neuroscience that should lead to improved treatments, our biological insights also have implications for criminal cases and the judicial process that we need to understand."
