Changes in the teenage brain make it harder to learn

Recent research has led scientists to believe that changes to the brain make it harder for teenagers to learn during puberty. So on top of coping with exams, parents and your hormones going all over the place this shows that teens also find it more difficult to learn!

Scientists from the State University of New York showed puberty causes the brain to make high quantities of protein that interferes with learning. The research shows that spatial memory, which helps you to navigate, is particularly affected in teenagers.

In experiments for the research, mice were trained to recognise landmarks in a room while sitting on a rotating platform. The experiments showed however that when the mice reached adolescence they found the task much more difficult.

One of the researchers, Dr Sheryl Smith said: 'We trained them over three 10-minute sessions. The mice that were tested before the onset of puberty learned very rapidly between the first and second session. In contrast, the mice tested after the onset of puberty didn't learn even across the three sessions.'

However the researchers injected the animals with a steroid drug which boosted learning. This research paves the way for a new 'smart pill' to help teenagers through their exams.

Dr Smith said: 'It would be interesting to look at ways of developing tools for learning and cognition during adolescence that would perhaps lead to improvement in learning, especially among adolescents who may already have learning disabilities.

‘There, there are reports that these learning deficits are greater, whereas children who are gifted might not experience any kind of deficit at all.’

Other research has shown that the teenage brain works differently to an adult brain. The result is that teenagers do not have the ability to consider how their actions will affect others, as easily as adults do. Teens also find it harder to put themselves in someone else's shoes and imagine how they might feel. A hormone called neurokinin B causes puberty and the hormonal changes behind teenage mood swings and dramas. The moodiness of teens might also be partly explained by differences in sleeping patterns which can leave teenagers in a permanent state of 'jetlag'.

So if you have exams looming and are finding it difficult to learn or revise why not check out Oy!'s tips for exam stress!