Teenager sitting on the floor. Getty Images
Teenager sitting on the floor. Getty Images

Teenagers 'can't help the bad decisions their brains make'



Teenagers’ brain development is to blame for the unwise decisions they often make, a study has found.

Adolescents often make choices that get them in trouble and now scientists think they know why – they are less likely to make decisions using planning and picturing different outcomes.

Young people are learning from new experiences they need to balance with already known good choices – all while their brains are undergoing substantial developmental changes. They are known to be more likely to choose a worse option despite a better one being available – decisions that can lead to bad outcomes.

“That simple, suboptimal choice is referred to as ‘decision noise’. Strikingly, this enhanced noise in younger individuals predicts their reliance on complex decisions – a result that was not reported before,” Dr Vanessa Scholz, a postdoctoral research fellow from the University of Würzburg, Germany, told The National.

“We show that the development of higher-level or complex decisions – for example, the planning of choices, mapping different outcomes to actions, flexibly adapting your behaviour – is indeed partially dependent on ones’ level of decision noise. We were surprised by the extent of the impact decision noise has on those cognitive functions.”

What leads the developing brains to make more suboptimal choices is still an open debate, she said. And we still need to understand whether this reflects a benefit or disadvantage for later development. “It could be that poor choices allow teenagers to learn new things, but also hinder development,” said Dr Scholz.

So should we be more understanding of them because it is not their fault? “This is a really great question and something we are targeting in ongoing and future research,” she said. New studies should also target how poor choices decline as adolescents age.

“This can tell us when and under what circumstance adolescent noisy choices can be a benefit or disadvantage for later development,” said Dr Scholz. “Noise, to some extent, could be good to explore new things but with too much you may get stuck with bad outcomes.”

The process could be relevant to conditions like ADHD, where complex choices are known to be impaired and there is a higher portion of “suboptimal” choices.

“But we do not understand yet how they relate. Here, we need more research to explore whether decision noise is an amenable target to improve clinical interventions.”

The teen mind processes information differently from that of a fully formed adult. Experts say that because the frontal lobe – the ‘executive centre’ of good decision-making, impulse control, planning and self-regulation – is not fully formed until about 24 years of age, parents have to help children think through problems.

Parents should encourage their children to consider the long-term consequences of their actions to help the brain form connections to support independent decision-making in the future, Neha Qazi, family psychoeducator and school liaison at Thrive Wellbeing Centrepreviously told The National. “Teens feel happy when trusted with independence and a structured thinking style will also help them feel secure,” she added.

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How being social media savvy can improve your well being

Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.

As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.

Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.

Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.

Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.

However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.

“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.

People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.

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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D 
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India

Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 4/5
Updated: November 14, 2024, 7:09 PM

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