Teenagers’ brain development is to blame for the unwise decisions they often make, a study has found.
Adolescents often make choices that get them in trouble and now scientists think they know why – they are less likely to make decisions using planning and picturing different outcomes.
Young people are learning from new experiences they need to balance with already known good choices – all while their brains are undergoing substantial developmental changes. They are known to be more likely to choose a worse option despite a better one being available – decisions that can lead to bad outcomes.
“That simple, suboptimal choice is referred to as ‘decision noise’. Strikingly, this enhanced noise in younger individuals predicts their reliance on complex decisions – a result that was not reported before,” Dr Vanessa Scholz, a postdoctoral research fellow from the University of Würzburg, Germany, told The National.
“We show that the development of higher-level or complex decisions – for example, the planning of choices, mapping different outcomes to actions, flexibly adapting your behaviour – is indeed partially dependent on ones’ level of decision noise. We were surprised by the extent of the impact decision noise has on those cognitive functions.”
What leads the developing brains to make more suboptimal choices is still an open debate, she said. And we still need to understand whether this reflects a benefit or disadvantage for later development. “It could be that poor choices allow teenagers to learn new things, but also hinder development,” said Dr Scholz.
So should we be more understanding of them because it is not their fault? “This is a really great question and something we are targeting in ongoing and future research,” she said. New studies should also target how poor choices decline as adolescents age.
“This can tell us when and under what circumstance adolescent noisy choices can be a benefit or disadvantage for later development,” said Dr Scholz. “Noise, to some extent, could be good to explore new things but with too much you may get stuck with bad outcomes.”
The process could be relevant to conditions like ADHD, where complex choices are known to be impaired and there is a higher portion of “suboptimal” choices.
“But we do not understand yet how they relate. Here, we need more research to explore whether decision noise is an amenable target to improve clinical interventions.”
The teen mind processes information differently from that of a fully formed adult. Experts say that because the frontal lobe – the ‘executive centre’ of good decision-making, impulse control, planning and self-regulation – is not fully formed until about 24 years of age, parents have to help children think through problems.
Parents should encourage their children to consider the long-term consequences of their actions to help the brain form connections to support independent decision-making in the future, Neha Qazi, family psychoeducator and school liaison at Thrive Wellbeing Centrepreviously told The National. “Teens feel happy when trusted with independence and a structured thinking style will also help them feel secure,” she added.
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West Asia Premiership
Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles
Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain
Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
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Price: From Dh590,000
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The five pillars of Islam
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
As You Were
Liam Gallagher
(Warner Bros)
Global institutions: BlackRock and KKR
US-based BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $5.98 trillion of assets under management as of the end of last year. The New York firm run by Larry Fink provides investment management services to institutional clients and retail investors including governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, banks and charitable foundations around the world, through a variety of investment vehicles.
KKR & Co, or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is a global private equity and investment firm with around $195 billion of assets as of the end of last year. The New York-based firm, founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, invests in multiple alternative asset classes through direct or fund-to-fund investments with a particular focus on infrastructure, technology, healthcare, real estate and energy.
Fixtures (all times UAE)
Saturday
Brescia v Atalanta (6pm)
Genoa v Torino (9pm)
Fiorentina v Lecce (11.45pm)
Sunday
Juventus v Sassuolo (3.30pm)
Inter Milan v SPAL (6pm)
Lazio v Udinese (6pm)
Parma v AC Milan (6pm)
Napoli v Bologna (9pm)
Verona v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Monday
Cagliari v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
