The development of the MRI has done wonders for neuroscience and brain research. Previous research shows that the brains of infants, toddlers, and children are uniquely stimulated by their mother's voice. New research shows how that changes at about age 13, which signals the beginning of a teenager's separation from parents.
The change in adolescence shows that teenagers become more receptive to all kinds of voices, compared to younger children. However, stimulation of the pleasure centers of the brain begin to react more to novel voices, meaning those not quite as familiar as family, and less to one's mother's voice. By the end of the experiment, the scientists could guess how old the subjects were by just looking at data from the brain scans!
The effect has been long known by parents. However, the data shows how the change is controlled by biology and is quite consistent from one teen to the next. So when your kid starts to value the voices and opinions of their friends over Mom's, rest assured it's just part of growing up. Read about the experiments that showed these results at Stanford Medicine. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget)
