Title: Why 14 is the riskiest age for a teenager
Headings: Why 14 is the riskiest age for a teenager
Why 14 is the riskiest age for a teenager
They’re more embarrassed
Teens don’t always take risks, but they do when they’re with friends
Risky behavior continues into our early 20s
Even teen mice experience peer pressure
Puberty does a number on the brain
They’re bad at filtering out emotional information
Teens are less likely to learn from punishments
They’re more creative (in some ways)
Share this article:
Read Next

Content: . It’s possible that the large changes in sex hormones at this time might trigger changes in brain circuitry,” Blakemore writes. This supports evidence of the “educational dip” in early adolescence, between 12 and 14, where some students tend to do worse in school. They’re bad at filtering out emotional information
A study at the National Institutes of Health in 2007 suggested that teens are worse at ignoring emotional cues than adults. The study asked two groups, one ages 9 to 17, the other 25 to 36, to view fearful faces in fMRI scanners. “ Compared with adults, the children and adolescents showed higher activation of two regions in the frontal cortex when they were asked to look at fearful faces than when they were asked to look at neutral faces,” Blakemore writes. This didn’t change when they were told to focus only on the “non-emotional aspect” — the nose (fear is typically communicated through the eyes) as it did in adults. “ This suggests that the adolescent brain is tracking emotional and arousing stimuli in the environment even when the individual has been asked to focus on non-emotional stimuli,” she writes. Teens are less likely to learn from punishments
In 2016, Blakemore found that adolescents are “less likely to learn from punishment.” In the study, she asked two groups — 12 to 17 and 18 to 32 — to choose symbols that (they would learn over time) were associated with rewards and punishments.