Because teenagers are so often labelled mini adults or junior adults, the fact that they are still going through growth and development is sometimes an easy thing to forget. For example, according to scientists brain functions for storing simultaneous or overlapping information and input only become fully developed in adulthood, so that teenagers have less capability for juggling several thoughts than adults have.
A study, which compared a group of 11 to 17 year olds to a group of 22 to 30 year olds in a controlled set of tasks highlights this fact.
All participants were asked to remember two or three digit numbers prior to a task involving elaborate social interaction. This second task was more a distraction task from the first task. During the second task, the participants had to move objects and position objects according to the instructions of the appointed director of the team. When the second task was completed, the participants were asked to recall the digits they were asked to memorise.
According to the researchers: "Overall, adolescents were less adept at multitasking than adults when under high cognitive load. These results suggest that multitasking during social interactions incurs performance deficits, and that adolescents are more sensitive than adults to the effects of cognitive load while multitasking."
Parents who feel that they have problematic teenagers in their hands should, therefore, consider that perhaps the issue rests more on teenage brain development and decision making rather than a wilful choice by teenagers to ignore their parents while they are busy with another task.
Lead author Kathryn Mills, of the University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, says: "These results might have implications for how adults who work with adolescents structure activities with adolescents. For example, in-class group work might be particularly difficult for adolescents who are already struggling with the assignment topic."
During teenage brain development, trainings that enhance and accelerate neuro-development would not go amiss. In Chicago, a study of 40 high school students gave evidence of musical benefits to brain development. According to the researchers, this type of training allows better development of response to sound, hearing and language in a teenager's brain.
In the study, close to half of the participants spent two to three hours each week on group music instruction in school. The rest of the participants spent their time on fitness exercises. Based on electrode recordings, the participants that had music training displayed increased brain maturation in sound response and a longer sensitivity to the details of sound.
Senior study author Nina Kraus, who is also the director of Northwestern University's school of communication, says: "Although learning to play music does not teach skills that seem directly relevant to most careers, the results suggest that music may engender what educators refer to as 'learning to learn."
"Our results support the notion that the adolescent brain remains receptive to training, underscoring the importance of enrichment during the teenage years," the authors said.
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