Rick’s Rants and Raves

From Kluge, by Gary Marcus, page 143:

Teenagers as a species seem almost pathologically driven by short-term rewards. They make unrealistic estimates of the attendant risks and pay little attention to long-term costs. Why? According to on recent study, the nucleus accumbens, which assesses reward, matures before the orbital frontal cortex, which guides long-term planning and deliberative reasoning. Thus teenagers may have an adult capacity to appreciate short-term gain, but only a child’s capacity to recognize long-term risk.

This totally explains some of my behavior as a teen. Sorry mom, but there were a few times that I behaved like I was completely dumb as rocks. Yes, I got caught a time or two, but I was incredibly lucky I didn’t get caught more.

As I deal with my near-teen daughter, and her relationship with her younger brother, I’m frequently frustrated that she doesn’t seem to understand that he’s younger, and therefore understands less than she does. I try to remember that Emily doesn’t understand as much as I do (nor I as much as my mother!). Given the quote above, I’ll have some answers to the question “what the hell were you thinking?” even though my kids won’t be able to provide them.

Incidentally, Kluge is an excellent book. It is a very easy to read explanation for the evolutionary development of the human brain. It has lots of great examples and descriptions to go along with the somewhat technical discussions. Thanks to Greta for suggesting it.