Sarah-Jayne Blakemore: The Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain

Published25 Sep 2012
Reviewed1 Feb 2013
Author Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Source TED

A roundworm, also known as Caenorhabditis elegans

Roundworms are used to study communication between neurons.

Credit: (2005) The Evolution of Self-Fertile Hermaphroditism: The Fog Is Clearing. PLoS Biol 3: e30. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.003003.

Even sea hares can learn, and Eric Kandel, MD, used them to conduct his Nobel Prize winning research on learning and memory.

Courtesy, with permission: Thomas Carew, University of California, Irvine.

Fruit flies battle each other for control over territory

To learn about depression, scientists have made an interesting choice — the fruit fly.

Courtesy, with permission: Kravitz laboratory, Harvard Medical School.

What fish have transparent eggs, allowing scientists to watch as the embryo inside grows and develops? Zebrafish.

Courtesy, with permission: Robert Fisher, Standford Neurology and Jaimie Henderson, Stanford Neurosurgery.

Zebra finch, also known as Taeniopygia guttata

How can birds help us learn about the development of language?

Credit: Adar E. et al. (2008) The Relationship between Nature of Social Change, Age, and Position of New Neurons and Their Survival in Adult Zebra Finch Brain. The Journal of Neuroscience 28:5706-07.

Mice and rats, also known as Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus

Mice and rats are the most commonly used vertebrates for research, and have advanced knowledge in almost every area of neuroscience research.

Credit: Garami A. et al. (2011) Thermoregulatory Phenotype of the Trpv1 Knockout Mouse: Thermoeffector Dysbalance with Hyperkinesis. Journal of Neuroscience 31:1561-1933.

A Briard dog at the U.S. Capitol building

Intelligent animals help scientists better-understand hearing, vision, and other senses. Briard dogs are prone to a genetic form of blindness. Once treated with gene therapy, visually impaired Briards showed improved vision. Today, Lancelot (shown) continues to see well after a single gene therapy treatment.

Courtesy,with permission: Foundation for Fighting Blindness.

A monkey feeds itself with a brain-controlled prosthetic arm.

Research with non-human primates is not done often, but for some areas of neuroscience, it can be vital.

Motorlab, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Are humans ever used for research? Yes, they are!

Why do teenagers seem so much more impulsive, so much less self-aware than grown-ups? Cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore compares the prefrontal cortex in adolescents to that of adults, to show us how typically “teenage” behavior is caused by the growing and developing brain.

About the Author

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore is a Royal Society research fellow and professor in cognitive neuroscience at University College London, where she leads the developmental group at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.