Social Media’s Effects on the Brain- taken from a Reading Reaction to Chapter 7

1. I learned in this chapter that social interaction is beyond vital when it comes to adolescents socializing with others in order for the development of the social brain because adolescence isa time where we begin to form relationships with other peers rather than familiar figures such as parents.
2. Which brain regions comprise the social brain?

The social brain is comprised of the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, temporparietal junction, amygdala, posterior superior sulcus, and anterior temporal cortex.  

What is the amygdala’s role in emotion?

The amygdala is located in the “deep layers of the brain” and is responsible for our survival response. It is part of the brain structure that is found in all vertebrate animals, and therefore is the key player in our threat detecting and fight or flight response. It is extremely important when talking about the social brain because it recognizes the emotion that we feel.

3. How does the rapid rise in technology and social media affect social processing in the brain for adolescents? We live in a time where we have the internet at our fingertips, and FaceTime and Instagram are beginning to replace our face-to-face interactions with others. Cognition and emotions were discussed at depth in this chapter; the significance of the “happy face” and the exposure to positive influences during adolescence were spoken about as well. Adolescents are exposed to self-consciousness and vulnerability, and therefore positive reinforcement is crucial. But social media isn’t always positive; many scrolling through Instagram often feel self-conscious when looking at others’ highlights. Teenage girls struggling with their fluctuating weight are at risk for serious issues if they are constantly looking at skinny bikini models who promote an unrealistic lifestyle. Toxic masculinity is rising as well, with influence online being so easy. These are serious issues that target developing teenagers, and technology is only going to become more advanced.

Position Paper: The Negative Stereotype of Adolescents

Brett Bearrows

Kenyon College
Class of 2022

It seems as if the common sentiment of adults toward teenagers, of this generation in particular, is that they are irresponsible, lazy, lacking in proper communication skills, and possessing a general apathy towards others. Whatever factors adults blame for these assumed qualities -- media use, technology, etc -- it is crucial to realize the negative consequences of these views on adolescents and, more importantly, the benefits of changing the attitude of adults toward teens for the sake of our teens and our culture. Misinterpreted adolescent neuroscience research may be to blame for negative stereotypes of young people today. Adolescent neuroscience suggests that the developing brains of young people make them immature, irresponsible, too engaging in risk-taking behavior, and too impulsive. Adults sometimes use this knowledge in a poorly-framed light to fuel their negative, skeptical attitudes and behaviors toward young people instead of, perhaps, utilizing this knowledge of adolescent plasticity and brain development to better the experience of adolescents and create a more meaningful and valued role for young people in society.

We are interpreting adolescent neuroscience incorrectly and unambiguously which causes unfair generalizations to be made and negative stereotypes to be perpetuated. The literature proposes that the adolescent brain does not fully mature until the age of 25, according to Casey et al. The generalization that is made from this knowledge is that “adolescent decision-making and judgment is similarly limited up to this age.” The research suggests that the myelination and pruning of the prefrontal cortex continues beyond adolescence and into adulthood, even after ventral limbic regions that control motivation and reward have developed.

Risk taking in adolescence can be attributed to the typical development of the reward processing center of the brain before the maturation of self-control. In addition, according to Chick (2015,) reward-sensitivity reaches a peak during adolescence and self-regulatory processes are less active. The variance in the development of the reward centers and self-regulatory regions presents an imbalance that also contributes to the miscommunication between parts in the brain and results in behaviors that we deem risky among adolescents.

Despite this knowledge of the imbalance in adolescent brain development we may be too heavily crediting research that is more ambiguous than we previously thought -- and we may be misinterpreting this research in the first place. In other words, although it makes sense for risky adolescent behaviors to be caused by clear variances in brain development that neuroscientists have studied, Bjork and Pardini (2015) present that the imbalance in adolescent brains peaks between ages 14 and 16 while the peak in “binge drinking, risky sex, and unintentional injury, including death, does not occur until the ages of 19–23 years in the United States.” Neuroscientists and other adults alike jump to the conclusion that the common behaviors of adolescents that we can agree upon are necessarily caused by the accepted research of the developing brain. Although there may be evidence for a correlation between risk-taking and imbalanced brain functions in the laboratory setting, the relationship between real-world risk-taking among adolescents and developmental imbalances is still ambiguous, despite the arguments of many neuroscientists and adults, according to Galvan (2007).  

Chick (2015) also argues that the average teenager does not behave the way society has stereotyped them. The few adolescents that behave in extremely risky, careless, or reckless ways seem to promote a generalization of bad teenage behavior. In addition, Reyna and Farley (2006) uniquely argue that children may possess the same inclination to take risks as adolescents but adolescents are presented more and greater opportunities to do so. This research offers a rejection to the rebellious teenager stereotype and the classification of risk-taking as a solely adolescent characteristic and tendency.

Chick also explains that the individuality of brain development makes it even more unfair to generalize even the adolescent-wide development of the brain and its functions. The development of risk-taking initiatives, social maturity, and reward-processing varies within each individual which makes general statements and assumptions about adolescent neuroscience problematic and disadvantages for young people. Similarly, it is hard to make the distinction between increased reward sensitivity and decreased risk sensitivity in the laboratory setting and in real-life studies of adolescence. This limitation in research is important because it enforces generalizations that we cannot fully prove or define. Chick (2015) argues that “reward sensitivity per se may not lead to risk taking; instead, the influence of reward sensitivity may depend on combination with other traits” and each individual’s experiences.

In this way, we, as a society, are quick to blame the behavior of adolescents to their brains and their development. Not only should we not be so quick to condemn our youth and their brains, but we need to change the language in our interpretation of neuroscience — attribute qualities to biology rather than blame them upon biology.

In addition, an important distinction to make in recognizing negative attitudes toward adolescents is that adults tend to love and support the young people they know personally yet still look upon the “average youth” as irresponsible, lazy, and rude. The widespread negativity toward adolescents as a group can be contributed to generational differences in the change in the role of young people in society. Not only is it unfair to stereotype an entire age group in society, but it is also close-minded to neglect the ways in which being a young person today is fundamentally different than it has been in past generations. Changing roles of young people in society, due to different economic, social, and media-related environments may be particularly visible because of the nature of the developing adolescent brain. Adults today may be unaware and as a result close-minded, of the fact that teens today face a wide range of socioeconomic roles and adverse childhood experiences than they used to. Further, the media may play a role in the way adolescent neuroscience and the behaviors of young people are negatively skewed. Unfortunately, another reason why some adults may view teenagers negatively in society is that they forget what it was like to be a teen themselves. They may not remember the daily struggles and worries of high-school aged kids as a result of the memory storage process in the brain -- it is more likely that defining moments are more prevalent in adult’s memories which makes sympathizing with the youth harder and less likely.

Neuroscientist Ron Dahl acknowledges that parents and their views towards certain things cause a huge effect on their teens. Dahl also draws light to the fact that peers, though they increasingly care more about what their peers think of them, also care deeply about whether the adults in their life think of them as well. Teens want admiration and affirmation from teachers, coaches, and parents. What’s more, Dahl found that in some young people at higher risk for depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, the role of parents or other adults may be even more important than peers.

Dahl suggests an interesting tactic for adults, particularly parents, to implement when dealing with adolescents that I want to try with my own children or adolescents that I come in contact with. The tactic that Dahl describes is “motivational interviewing” in which adults ask the adolescent questions in order to encourage reflection and introspection within the teen in order to prompt a discussion about what they want to do. At this point, Dahl found it effective for the adult to suggest approaches or solutions to their current predicament. Dahl and other neuroscientists agree that adults being involved -- still from a distance -- at an early stage in an adolescent’s development and/or crisis navigation can be crucial in the teen seeking help when they actually need it and grow their independent thinking skills at the same time.

Dahl’s approach mediates the struggles of some parents or adults in adolescent’s lives who struggle to find a middle ground between being overbearing and controlling or too hands-off when their teen needs them most. In approaching these discussions, adults should recognize the importance of breaking down the stereotypical barrier in communication between adults and teens by maintaining a healthy relationship and learning when to give teens space as opposed to approaching them respectfully.

I am biased, as I am still a young person, but I truly believe that adolescents are undervalued and underutilized in society as a result of negative attitudes in adolescent neuroscience and through a misinterpretation of the characteristics of the developing brain. As I grow older I want to actively support youth and be more empathetic to their daily struggles and concerns as well as recognize the growing pressure on young people today. Starting now and into parenthood, I want to advocate for a change in the way we view adolescents both in neuroscience and in societal stereotypes. After learning the way we develop and the way the adolescent brain works, I want to tell adults and parents to relax in their relationship with teens because teenagers rebelling against them, challenging them, and grasping for independence is natural and beneficial in the long run.

Sources

Chick, Christina F. "Reward Processing in the Adolescent Brain: Individual

    Differences and Relation to Risk Taking." The Journal of Neuroscience, vol.

    35, no. 40, 7 Oct. 2015.

Dahl, Ronald. "5 Ways We Misunderstand Adolescents, According to Brain Science."

    World Economic Forum, 19 Jan. 2018, www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/

    we-misunderstand-adolescent-brains-science/. Accessed 10 May 2019.

Dawes, R. M., & Corrigan, B. (1974). Linear models in decision making. Psychological Bulletin, 81(2), 95-106.

Matthews, Dona. "Teen Attitude, Teen Trouble." Psychology Today, 15 Aug. 2017,

    www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/going-beyond-intelligence/201708/

    teen-attitude-teen-trouble. Accessed 10 May 2019.

Nichols, Sharon L., and Thomas L. Good. "Why Today's Young People Are Viewed So

    Negatively." Education Week, 14 Apr. 2004, www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/

    04/14/31good.h23.html.

Reyna, V. F., & Farley, F. (2006). Risk and Rationality in Adolescent Decision Making: Implications for Theory, Practice, and Public Policy. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 7(1), 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2006.00026.x

Romer, Daniel et al. “Beyond stereotypes of adolescent risk taking: Placing the adolescent brain in developmental context.” Developmental cognitive neuroscience vol. 27 (2017): 19-34. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2017.07.007

Suttie, Jill. "What Adolescents Really Need from Parents."

    GreaterGood.Berkeley.edu, 25 May 2016.

Walker, Deena M., et al. "Adolescence and Reward: Making Sense of Neural and

    Behavioral Changes amid the Chaos." The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 37,

    no. 45, 8 Nov. 2017, pp. 10855-66.

Position Paper: The Problems with Integration of Technology in Schools in Adolescents

By: Amna Tahir, Neuroscience, 2021

Position paper on the integration of technology in schools and how it is particularly detrimental to adolescents because it affects brain development, mood regulation, and causes adolescents to take more time in completing tasks.

In today’s society, it has become abundantly clear that technology plays a great role in shaping the way we act, think, and even plan our day. And while the introduction of technology in schools has been seen as progressive, I believe that it hurts the students rather than helping them. Technology is particularly detrimental to adolescents because their brains are at a crucial point of development that is disturbed by being on different devices all day. It also acts as a distraction, because rather than staying engaged, adolescents would rather play games on their phones or answer texts. This is why there is always the no phones policy in classrooms, yet by giving adolescents tablets to do work on, taking away phones does not actually make a difference. Tablets still act as a distraction, because they are basically larger phones. On top of that, giving each student a tablet or a laptop is a large amount of money the schools could be spending on bettering other aspects of the school, such as the arts and music departments. Art and music have been found to help in brain development in adolescents (Miranda, 2013). So, rather than spending money on things that disturb development, schools should think of ways to help aid brain development in adolescents. While there may be pros, studies have shown technology affects brain development, mood regulation, and causes adolescents to take more time in completing tasks.

As we all know, adolescence is a vital time for brain development. During puberty, which generally marks the start of adolescence, is when the amount of gray matter in the brain begins to increase (Dunckley, 2014). Gray matter is the collection of cell bodies that are involved in muscle control, emotions, and decision making. The amount of grey matter found in the brain peaks in adolescents and then begins to decline during adulthood. Like grey matter, the amount of white matter, which is the myelinated neurons in the brain, also increases during adolescence (Lenroot et al., 2006). When an adolescent spends too much time online, they can develop problems such as Internet Addiction Disorder, or IAD. IAD is when a person is unable to control their usage of the internet. This can lead to problems in their life, such as lower academic performance, social interactions, occupational interests, and behavioral problems. Adolescents with IAD were found to have lower white matter and grey matter concentration in the brain, especially in the anterior cingulate cortex, the corpus callosum, and the orbitofrontal cortex (Lin et al., 2012). The corpus callosum is involved in communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. A decrease in the corpus callosum results in a lack of communication between the two hemispheres which can lead to impairments in motor skills. As stated earlier, white matter is the myelinated axons in the brain. Myelin is used by neurons to increase the strength of the signal being carried down the neuron, along with keeping the neuron healthy. When the amount of white matter in the brain decrease, the neurons are no longer receiving the nutrients the myelin provides, which results in neuron death. This is why there is a decrease in these regions of the brain. The orbitofrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex are important in emotional processing and mood regulation.

Lenroot, R. K., and Giedd, J. N. (2006). Brain development in children and adolescents: Insights from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/

Another issue caused by the overuse of screens is problems with mood regulation. One disorder that results from the overexposure to screens is Electronic Screen Syndrome. Electronic Screen Syndrome is caused by an increase in the activation of the nervous system that causes dysregulation. This relates to screens because the blue light from the screens causes alertness and disturbs the body’s sleep-wake cycle (Chang et al., 2015). This dysregulation causes the inability for a person to regulate their mood and attention and can lead to an ADHD misdiagnosis. Symptoms of Electronic Screen Syndrome are related to mood, anxiety, cognition, and behavior that leads to impairments in school, home, or with peers. There are also symptoms that will mimic chronic stress, low frustration tolerance, and disorganized behavior among other things (Dunckley, 2012). Overactivation of brain regions caused a decrease in the number of neurotransmitters being released as a form of control. Neurons need to be able to fire to stay strong and need neurotransmitters to do so. By decreasing the neurotransmitters in some regions of the brain, such as the previously stated orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices which are involved in emotional processing and mood regulation, there is a decrease in the strength of the synapses. This causes the neurons to fire less, which is why there is a decrease in the adolescents' ability to control their emotions. This leads to adolescents constantly being described as aggressive, impatient, and hostile.

Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2019). Media Use Is Linked to Lower Psychological Well-Being: Evidence from Three Datasets. Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://link.springer.com/

Lastly, a third issue is the length of time allotted to adolescents completing a task increases when there is an escalation in screen use. One of the reasons is there is also an increase in multitasking. While multitasking is seen as efficient, it is actually the opposite. The prefrontal cortex, which is used to process and prioritize different streams of information, has to constantly send information to other parts of the brain when switching between tasks. This creates a “bottleneck approach” because all new information needs to leave from the prefrontal cortex, which lengthens the amount of time need to complete the task (Dux et al., 2009). It also shortens attention spans and makes it harder to focus. Another part of the issue is that social media is readily available which can cause an increase in peer pressure and sensitivity to acceptance from peers (Twenge, 2019). Nothing good comes out of the usage of social media. Studies have shown the more time an adolescent spends on social media, the worse their mental health gets (Twenge, 2019). With all of these factors increase the amount of time it takes to complete a task, adolescents are unable to do things that actually help with development, like engaging in sports.

There may be pros to integrating technology into schools, such as the access to more information than what is provided in the classroom, and the fact that understanding how to use technology is important in the world we live in, but I feel the cons outweigh the pros. There are more ways to engage students and teach them to experience the world than forcing them to see the world through a screen. Also, although they may have access to all the information, it is unlikely they are actually going to spend their time learning when “distractions” like social media are just as easily, if not more, accessible. As mentioned earlier, music and art are a significantly better way of keeping students engaged. Music has been found to influence major parts of development in adolescents, from identity to emotional regulation (Miranda, 2013). Developing a sense of identity is extremely important in adolescents. It is a time for them to figure out who they are and where they want to be socially. Music can give them a space to do so without a negative impact on more physical development, unlike social media. Art helps in allowing adolescents to have a way to express themselves. Studies have shown adolescents with depression will “act out” because they do not know how to properly deal with their emotions, and art therapy was able to help assess and treat their depression along with providing a way to focus on how they feel (Riley, 2001). These are clearly better ways of keeping students on track compared to giving students homework on computers.


Another problem is technology is extremely unavoidable. It would be very difficult to completely stop schools from increasing the usage of technology. However, there are ways to limit screen exposure without stopping it completely. One way would be to have classes where students could learn how to properly use computer programs that would help them in the future, such as Microsoft Excel or Word, but cut back on using it in other classes for things such as homework. This way the adolescent will know how to use the technology, but stop them from being overexposed to it. Another way to limit screen time is to give homework assignments that require the student to go outside or complete an activity that engages the brain. Constantly having to write papers and watch videos for a class is time-consuming and keeps the student from developing their mind, even if it teaches them new material.


All in all, technology should not be integrated into schools because it has an effect on brain development, mood regulation, and causes adolescents to take more time in completing tasks. Spending too much time on screens decreases the white matter and grey matter concentration in the brain and can result from problems like IAD that leads to a decrease in social interactions and academic performance. This can also lead to problems with mood regulation because there is a decrease in white matter concentration in brain regions that allow for control over emotions. This overactivation of these brain regions can lead to Electronic Screen Syndrome which is another way moods and emotions become dysregulated. There is also an increase in the amount of time and adolescent will spend completing tasks since they think they are being efficient by multi-tasking, but they are actually creating a “bottleneck” approach in their prefrontal cortex that causes them to take more time. And, the internet is an open source of distraction from things such as social media. This is why schools should take the money they are spending on integrating technology in schools to more useful and fulfilling activities, like art and music. Or, they should provide other ways of teaching students to use computers, that do not take up such a great amount of their time, like making them do their homework online.

Resources:


Chang, A., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., and Czeisler, C. A. (2015). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from https://www.pnas.org/content/112/4/1232.long


Dunckley, V. L. (2012). Electronic Screen Syndrome: An Unrecognized Disorder? Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/


Dunckley, V. L. (2014). Gray Matters: Too Much Screen Time Damages the Brain. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/


Dux, P. E., Tombu, M. N., Harrison, S., Rogers, B. P., Tong, F., & Marois, R. (2009). Training improves multitasking performance by increasing the speed of information processing in human prefrontal cortex. Neuron, 63(1), 127–138. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/


Himmelsbach, V. (2019). Six Major Pros & Cons of Technology in the Classroom. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from https://tophat.com/blog/6-pros-cons-technology-classroom/


Lenroot, R. K., and Giedd, J. N. (2006). Brain development in children and adolescents: Insights from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Retrieved May 5, 2019, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/


Lin F, Zhou Y, Du Y, Qin L, Zhao Z, et al. (2012). Abnormal White Matter Integrity in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study. PLOS ONE 7(1): e30253. https://journals.plos.org/


Miranda, D. (2013). The role of music in adolescent development: much more than the same old song. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 18(1), 5-22. https://www.tandfonline.com/


Riley, S. (2001). Art therapy with adolescents. The Western journal of medicine, 175(1), 54–57. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/


Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2019). Media Use Is Linked to Lower Psychological Well-Being: Evidence from Three Datasets. Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://link.springer.com/

Position Paper/Blog Post

Ariella Kissin 

Behavioral Neuroscience of Adolescence

Spring 2019

Position Paper

   Why Schools Need In-School Musical Training for Brain Development in Adolescents 

      The aim of this position paper is to educate readers on the numerous benefits that music training has on the brain, as well as provide a background of how exactly the brain processes music, discuss the role of music in adolescence in regards to social processing and development, and make a case for parents and educators to take music training seriously in the daily lives of both children and adolescents. 

       Our brains reach 90% of adult size by the time that we are six years old. During the years between childhood and adolescence, our brains are still developing and neural connections are occurring, due to the plasticity of our brains. In a Northwestern study, researchers cited the fact that “relative to non- musician peers, musicians tend to show enhanced speech-in- noise perception, verbal memory, phonological skills, and reading, although not without exception. Music training has also been linked to enhancements in the encoding of sound throughout the auditory system.” It is therefore that in this position paper, I will argue for the availability of in-school music programs, as the benefits are significant and can have positive effects on adolescent brain development. (https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/112/32/10062.full.pdf)

        Music training can positively alter adolescent brain development. For example, it is common knowledge that certain areas of the brain are responsible for learning languages, and that the obvious most advantageous time to learn a language is during childhood. Learning a new language during adolescence or even adulthood is far more difficult. The researchers of the Northwestern study stated that this is due to the fact that “subcortical response consistency peaks in childhood, waning into young adulthood, coinciding with a period when learning a second language becomes more difficult than earlier in life.” The areas of the brain that are most responsible for learning languages and for speaking are the Broca’s area, which is located in the frontal lobe, Wernicke’s area, located in the cerebral cortex, and the primary auditory cortex, which is located in the temporal lobe. The researchers hypothesized that the “response consistency” associated with language is often “enhanced in musicians.” Their goal, similar to mine, was to prove that in-school musical training has several advantages and therefore should be implemented and/or improved in schools. The “expected wane in subcortical response consistency,” which was previously mentioned in relation to language learning, was found to “maintain heightened neural consistency” throughout the students’ high school careers. 

       In order to test their hypothesis, the researchers used two groups of high schoolers who, due to their in-school available programs, chose either music training or JROTC. The students were tracked for the entirety of their high school careers. Both of these options required effort and dedication on the teenagers’ parts, despite being significantly different in terms of what they demanded. The results, depicted in the figure above, show the neural results for both the groups. This result in particular was that of the “subcortical response consistency” which was also cited by the researchers as being important in language comprehension and learning. The students who partook in JROTC experienced a decline in this neural category, while for the musically trained individuals, it was more consistent. In addition, the group of students were musically trained “exhibited earlier emergence of the adult cortical response,” which to the researchers was a sign that musical training “accelerates neurodevelopment.” Their overall conclusion was that the adolescent brain “remains receptive to training,” but it is not a given and work must be dedicated to its enhancement; in this case, the key contributor was musical training implemented in schools. (https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/112/32/10062.full.pdf)

        It comes as no surprise that different aspects of music, whether listening, composing, or producing it are beneficial for several different areas of the brain. But common public knowledge about the benefits of music is underrepresented in schools and in home life. Even something so simple as humming a familiar tune, is using “auditory pattern-processing mechanisms, attention, memory storage and retrieval, motor programming, sensory–motor integration, and so forth (Nature).” This position paper will aim to educate readers on the several advantages that music has on the brain, connect the importance of adolescent involvement with music, and urge schools and educators to implement more music programs for both children and adolescents, as it will be a part of their identities for the rest of their lives. My position of this topic is that music is crucial for brain development and is especially important for social processing in adolescents. Music itself provides us with a tool to study several aspects of neuroscience extensively, as it utilizes many areas of the brain. Some aspects of this are motor-skill learning and emotion. It is known that writing, listening, and producing music utilizes several areas of human cognitive functions. “Specifically, emotional processing of music most likely involves limbic and paralimbic structures that include amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, insula, temporal poles, ventral striatum, orbitofrontal cortex, and the cingulate cortex.” 

(https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/43377509/NEUROSCIENCE_OF_MUSIC_AND_EMOTION20160304-7048-18p8ehh.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1556840895&Signature=WFAGOtOPUQifJtqskxMzTZpNYKs%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DNeuroscience_of_Music_and_Emotion.pdf). 

       How does music specifically relate to adolescents? It is a huge source of "enjoyment and entertainment” and according to a University of Montreal study, adolescence is often when time dedicated to music increases dramatically, with an average listener being exposed to music from two to three hours a day. The same study cites the fact that music listening is crucial for developmental tasks, including “self-actualization, individual and cultural identity, socialization and integration with peers, and emotion regular” (University of Montreal). Developmentally speaking, the adolescent exposure to music is advantageous for two distinct reasons: one is social, which includes friendships with other peers, new relationships, and cultural and personal identities. The second is individual, which includes “mood-regulation and coping.” This study relates the exposure to music to mental health, saying that much of the themes of adolescence, such as forming new relationships, mental health struggles, and so on, can be connected to their relationship with music. For example, it is common knowledge that during adolescence, teenagers often look to new peers and relationships outside of their familial ones in an attempt to “break away” and become more independent. That is ultimately one of the major pillars of adolescence: teenagers begin to form relationships with their peers and therefore, because they do not rely so much on their parents, begin to experiment with identity. Music provides an outlet for this, as numerous genres and styles contribute to several different identities. A study done by researchers at Northwestern University concluded that “beginning music training as late as high school can improve the teenage brain’s response to sound, sharpen language skills, and improve academic performance” 

         While this paper aims primarily to educate others on the effects that music has on the brain, it is worth mentioning other positive influences that music has on individuals that isn’t restricted to neuroscience. A 2014 study found that patients with fibromyalgia experienced a slight decrease in physical pain after listening to music. The decrease in pain was due to the fact that listening to music is a possible trigger of opioids. Opioids are known as “the body’s natural pain relievers.” The method that researchers used for this experiment was to evaluate the pain levels of patients listening to their favorite songs compared to listening to “pink noise.” From their results, the researchers were able to “encourage the use of music as a treatment adjuvant to reduce chronic pain in FM and increase functional mobility thereby reducing the risk of disability.” This is a significant improvement and can positively impact patients suffering from this disease. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24575066)

       An additional benefit to music in our daily lives is that it is known to reduce stress. There have been numerous studies in which researchers have had two groups of participants involved in a stressful task or experience, such as having an IV inserted. One group listened to music while the second group didn’t. The results are almost always the same: music played a significant role in decreasing the amount of stress that participants endured.  

       Risk-taking is so appealing to adolescents because of the release of dopamine and/or serotonin in the brain when exposed to several different factors, such as drugs and alcohol, peer acceptance, sex, and so on. Music adds to the list of triggers that release dopamine. A research study from the McGill University in Montreal took on the task of tracking how exactly music affects us. One of their results was that “levels of dopamine were found to be up to 9% higher when volunteers were listing to music enjoyed.” The methods used for this particular study were that of brain scans. The response to listening to music was measured in “chills,” which was also referenced as “peak enjoyment.” A PET scan was used for the participants, and the way that the researchers went about the methods was to scan their responses when they listened to music they enjoyed and music that they were “neutral” to. Then, using an fMRI scan, the participants listened to music they enjoyed and music that they felt neutral about, alternating between the two. The researchers also made sure to mark when the participants felt some sort of chill- often exhibited by a shiver down their spine. Unsurprisingly, the dopamine release levels were higher when the participants listened to their choice of enjoyable music. 

       This can be related to adolescence, because teenagers often look to dopamine-releasing activities that fulfill their desire for risk-taking and reward-seeking. Common ways that teenagers attempt to satisfy this reward-seeing system is by taking risks such as engaging in illegal activities, such as driving under the influence, taking drugs, drinking alcohol, and having unprotected sex and getting caught up in “unhealthy” or “toxic” relationships with other peers. While on a practical level, simply listing to music will not replace these aforementioned activities, but more exposure to it, whether on the radio, or the knowledge of theory or composition, not to mention actual experience learning how to play a new instrument, can significantly benefit teenagers in terms of replacing the dopamine pathways that would otherwise be taken up by risky and dangerous behaviors. 

The benefits of music, whether engaging in training or simply listening to it, extend past simply neuroscience-related advantages. The aforementioned benefits, such as stress relief and pain reduction, are simply supplements to the argument that schools should be providing in-school musical training to adolescents. The role of music is especially important when relating to the themes of adolescence, such as peer association. When it comes to actual brain development, the Northwestern researchers noted that their results “support the notion that the adolescent brain remains receptive to training, underscoring the importance of enrichment during teenage years.” Adolescence is an extremely sensitive time; if the advantages of musical training were more well-known, then more and more schools would be implementing these programs instead of cutting their funding. It is somewhat ironic that schools tend to cut music and art programs in order to make room for standardized testing prep; if only they understood that the benefits of music include the development and consistency of subcortical responses relating to speech and language, as well as the development of the cerebellum. I hope that educators are encouraged to take the steps necessary to provide such an outlet for adolescents, because the advantages are tremendous and can truly make a difference. 

Works Cited 

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Adolescent Social Development

Brett Bearrows

Kenyon College
Class of 2022

This is an annotated bibliography that describes the overall social development that occurs during adolescence. In particular, I examine the negative and positive effects of peer interaction on an individual's social development and the importance of teen's views of themselves and others.


Blakemore, S.J., and Mills, K.L. (2014). Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing? Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 187-207 from
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100412

In addition, in "Peer contagion in Child and Adolescent Social and Emotional Development," Peer contagion is the phenomenon of spreading “deviant behavior” from one teen to the next -- much like a virus spreads easily between two people in close contact or among a group of people. Peer contagion encompasses the negative effect of teens on each other in a codependent relationship in which negative behaviors and emotions are shared, often not intentionally. For example, a teen may exemplify peer contagion by seeking an audience or approval while engaging in poor decision making or juvenile activity, which negatively influences themselves and others. Increased social interactions during adolescence follow similar patterns of increased delinquency and deviant behavior. The use of social media, in particular, perpetuates the use of peer contagion in the spread of obesity, poor body image and expectations, and eating disorders. Peer contagion reverses the goals of public education and programs intended to face deviant behavior among young people in juvenile centers. The authors mention the importance of neuronal activity in relation to peer contagion -- the social brain is devoted to the social environment. In particular, the neuronal activity that is devoted to mirroring and interpreting the behavior of others in relation to oneself. It is crucial to understand the workings and tendencies of the social brain in order to understand the potential of peer contagion to take root in individuals and among adolescents in society. The activity of the adolescent brain is important to understanding peer contagion and the broader phenomenon of peer influence because the instruments of peer interaction and influence are language, body language, face processing, and the overall perception of others.

The authors of "Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing?" discuss the structural and functional ways in which adolescent’s social brains change and the ways in which these changes affect their interactions. Face processing and biological motion detection, among other cognitive functions, become more complex in order for more advanced interactions to occur. In a particular study, participants between the ages of 7 and 27 were tested on their ability to take the perspective of another person into account when making decisions. The study found that the ability to take other’s perspectives into consideration continued to develop through adolescence -- because of an individual's increased concern for others thoughts and/or for the further development of social cognition. Not only did adolescents continue to be concerned for others, but they also had a greater awareness of themselves as adolescence progressed. The study specifically mentions the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, posterior superior temporal sulcus, and anterior temporal cortex as areas that make up the social brain which is almost exclusively dedicated to the advancement of social cognition processes. During adolescence, the opinions of one’s peers become more important and more influential in decision making. The behaviors and processes of adolescents are heavily dependent on their social environments, and throughout adolescence, we get better at socially interacting. Blakemore and Mills describe hypothesized changes in neurocognitive strategy and/or neuroanatomy between adolescents and adults that explain the differences in decision making, emotional responses, and other processes and behaviors. In particular, awareness and concern for the perspective of others continue to improve through adolescence. In the same way, guilt, embarrassment, shame, and pride are felt more/more deeply among older adolescents and adults because these emotions require mentalizing, empathizing, or realizing another’s mental state.

During development, primarily during adolescence, as described in "The early development of gender differences," differences have already arisen between boys and girls both biologically and socially. In particular, McIntyre and Edwards discuss how biological processes relate to the development of gender in society, specifically during adolescence.

I was interested and intrigued to know that boys and girls develop in different ways in terms of social engagement and affect processing. I feel like the differences between boys and girls in adolescents, especially in this way, have created and enforced harmful, problematic stereotypes for both sexes. For example, girls are stereotyped as being over-emotional, self-conscious, dramatic, and obsessed with popularity/what other people think of them. Boys on the other hand, are shamed for showing or having too much emotion. Both sexes are somehow encouraged to interact with members of the opposite sex but at the same time to avoid them and be rude to them. These phenomena seem to fit in with the differences between boys' and girls' affect processing. These stereotypes perpetuate a toxic adolescent culture for both sexes that continues throughout life and can be seen in gender stereotypes for all ages.

In addition, if individuals in adolescence have easily affected senses of self it may be harder for them to effectively empathize or connect with others. If individuals are undergoing much self-development and self-discovery, the way they view and interact with others will depend on how they view themselves and vice versa -- an adolescent’s view of self is easily altered by how others view them and how others interact with them.