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Social change shows up in preteen brain

Posted by / April 24, 2013

teen girl smiling against tree

New research reveals which brain regions are active as kids on the brink of adolescence consider their identity and social status, but it’s different in kids with Autism.

“Neural changes in the social domain were more robust,” says Jennifer H. Pfeifer of the University of Oregon. “Increased responses in this one region of the brain from age 10 to 13 were very evident in social self-evaluations, but not academic ones. This pattern is consistent with the enormous importance that most children entering adolescence place on their peer relationships and social status, compared to the relatively diminished value often associated with academics during this transition.”

Full story at Futurity.

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Photo credit: Jenn Durfey/Flickr

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