Comparing The "Tuned-In"
The other night I watched a program on PBS about the development of the adolescent brain. One section of this program that I found to be quite interesting compared adult and adolescent brain activity (and perception). Each subject's brain was monitored while they were asked to view a series of pictures. These pictures were of human faces in odd sort of contortions. I could imagine the photographer asking the people being photographed to make a "weird face," or to try and incorporate every possible emotion in to one face. As humorous as the faces were, it was not apparent why they were making such a face. I guess this was why the subjects were then asked to determine what emotion the facial expressions were exhibiting. In other words, it was like an ink blot test.
Most of the adolescent subjects described the faces as being "angry" or "sad," while most of the adult subjects described the faces as being "frightened," or "worried." These results were not so much shocking as they were affirming for me. What I do find "shocking" would be that from the moment I approached puberty I was bombarded with educational materials about the whole process. I knew about "teen angst" before I experienced it. Yet when I approached adulthood I received no educational materials informing me that the predilection of the adult mind in my culture was towards fear and worry.
Most of the adolescent subjects described the faces as being "angry" or "sad," while most of the adult subjects described the faces as being "frightened," or "worried." These results were not so much shocking as they were affirming for me. What I do find "shocking" would be that from the moment I approached puberty I was bombarded with educational materials about the whole process. I knew about "teen angst" before I experienced it. Yet when I approached adulthood I received no educational materials informing me that the predilection of the adult mind in my culture was towards fear and worry.