SGA-SoL Seminar Series: Sensitive Periods of Social Brain Development in Adolescence

28 Aug 2023 03.00 PM - 04.00 PM Public
Organised by:
Science of Learning in Education Centre

Register here: https://survey.ntu.edu.sg/EFM/se/3B8716405DDC1AF5



Adolescence, defined as the period of life between 10 and 24 years, is characterised by heightened social sensitivity, increased importance of peer interactions and hypersensitivity to social exclusion. Adolescence is also typified by behaviours that can seem irrational, such as excessive risk-taking and impulsivity. However, these behaviours can be interpreted as adaptive if one considers that a key developmental goal of this period is to mature into an independent adult, in the context of a social world that is unstable and changing. Neuroscience research has shown that the brain, induding the social brain, undergoes substantial development during adolescence. As such, adolescence can be considered a sensitive period of development underpinned heightened neuroplasticity, which confers both opportunity and vulnerability.

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore FBA FMedSci is Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, and leader of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Group. Her group's research focuses on the development of social cognition and decision making in the human adolescent brain, and adolescent mental health.

Professor Blakemore has been awarded several national and international prizes for her research. She is an Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the British Academy, the American Association of Psychological Science and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Professor Blakemore co-authored a book with Professor Uta Frith called The Learning Brain: Lessons for Education. Her first solo book, Inventing Ourselves: the secret life of the teenage brain, was published in 2018 and was awarded the Royal Society Book Prize 2018, the British Psychological Society Book Prize 2020 and the Hay Festival Book of the Year 2018.

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