Before I approached anyone with this “new” idea on the age of accountability, I was curious to see if science would be able to back me up. I had studied psychology in college, so I was familiar with research techniques and modern medical equipments that could give us a deeper understanding of what goes on inside the brain. What I found shocked me. Not only did science back up my theory, it gave me insight into why God would chose twenty as the age of accountability.
Here in America, we can’t seem to decide when adulthood actually starts. Our children start driving at sixteen, they can enter into contracts, are no longer considered minors, and can vote at 18, and at 21 they are allowed to drink alcohol and gamble. These ages have changed over the years and they also vary from state to state. But what does the research say? At what age should children be considered mature enough to make serious decisions about their lives?
In l999, NIMH's Dr. Judith Rapoport conducted a longitudinal study of 145 children and adolescents. This study showed an overproduction of grey matter right before children reach puberty. After this, the grey matter begins to thin. MRI analysis is giving researchers even more insight to other changes that take place in adolescent brains. Through the use of MRI scans, the NIMH team has been able to study production of white matter that begins at the front of the brain in early childhood. They have found that this white matter increases from front to back and then subsides when a child reaches 12 or 13.
While white matter flows from front to back, the maturation of grey matter flows from back to front. Researchers compared MRI scans of young adults (23-30) with those of children (12-16) and they found that the largest differences were found in the frontal lobe. They were looking for myelin, the insulation that surrounds mature nerves enabling them to make more efficient connections. While the parietal and temporal areas that mediate spatial, sensory, auditory and language functions are fairly developed in the teen brain, the frontal lobe has not yet reached a mature state. In fact, most brains do not reach full maturation until closer to 25.
The UCLA Laboratory of Neuroimaging put together a time lapse video of MRI scans from healthy children ranging from 5 to 20 years old. In the video, researchers were able to see the “pruning” of grey matter as it progressed in waves from back to front. This correlates with another study conducted by Susan Andersen, PhD, of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. She and her colleagues were studying the effects stressful events have on adolescent brain development. They found that under normal conditions, synaptophysin peaks at about 18 – 20 years old. Synaptophysin is a protein that is present in nearly all neurons in the brain and spinal cord that participate in synaptic transmission. Measuring synaptophysin can help determine the number of neuronal connections or synapses in an individual’s brain. Again, we find that maturation occurs much later than previously thought.
In another study that consisted of 919 subjects, similar results were discovered. This study set out to understand “trait-like” qualities of EEG parameters in families of twins. The researchers where hoping to “quantify the proportions of phentotypic variance that can be attributed to genetic and environmental influences.” While this study was not specifically aimed at understanding the specific age of maturation through brain wave patterns, it did conclude that, “Regardless of the many similarities to brain wave patterns of adults, the immature EEG nonetheless exhibits unique characteristics during infancy, childhood and adolescence. These characteristics show distinct inter-individual differences, change continuously over time, and by the age of 20 years they achieve their final form.”
These are extremely important discoveries and can help explain why adolescents and teens sometimes make “stupid” decisions. The frontal lobe is responsible for executive thinking. It is with this part of the brain that we evaluate our circumstances and are able to recognize the future consequences of our actions. It is the frontal lobe the helps us to make socially responsible decisions rather than “stupid” ones. There is no question that God, by Whom we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” is the best judge of when we are mature enough to make decisions concerning our eternal life. It is no wonder that the Israelites were not commanded to make atonement for their sin until they were able to fully understand the consequences of that sin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_lobe
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/teenage-brain-a-work-in-progress.shtml
http://www.bli.uzh.ch/BLI/Projects/EEG/K232.html
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=news_11082003a
Here in America, we can’t seem to decide when adulthood actually starts. Our children start driving at sixteen, they can enter into contracts, are no longer considered minors, and can vote at 18, and at 21 they are allowed to drink alcohol and gamble. These ages have changed over the years and they also vary from state to state. But what does the research say? At what age should children be considered mature enough to make serious decisions about their lives?
In l999, NIMH's Dr. Judith Rapoport conducted a longitudinal study of 145 children and adolescents. This study showed an overproduction of grey matter right before children reach puberty. After this, the grey matter begins to thin. MRI analysis is giving researchers even more insight to other changes that take place in adolescent brains. Through the use of MRI scans, the NIMH team has been able to study production of white matter that begins at the front of the brain in early childhood. They have found that this white matter increases from front to back and then subsides when a child reaches 12 or 13.
While white matter flows from front to back, the maturation of grey matter flows from back to front. Researchers compared MRI scans of young adults (23-30) with those of children (12-16) and they found that the largest differences were found in the frontal lobe. They were looking for myelin, the insulation that surrounds mature nerves enabling them to make more efficient connections. While the parietal and temporal areas that mediate spatial, sensory, auditory and language functions are fairly developed in the teen brain, the frontal lobe has not yet reached a mature state. In fact, most brains do not reach full maturation until closer to 25.
The UCLA Laboratory of Neuroimaging put together a time lapse video of MRI scans from healthy children ranging from 5 to 20 years old. In the video, researchers were able to see the “pruning” of grey matter as it progressed in waves from back to front. This correlates with another study conducted by Susan Andersen, PhD, of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. She and her colleagues were studying the effects stressful events have on adolescent brain development. They found that under normal conditions, synaptophysin peaks at about 18 – 20 years old. Synaptophysin is a protein that is present in nearly all neurons in the brain and spinal cord that participate in synaptic transmission. Measuring synaptophysin can help determine the number of neuronal connections or synapses in an individual’s brain. Again, we find that maturation occurs much later than previously thought.
In another study that consisted of 919 subjects, similar results were discovered. This study set out to understand “trait-like” qualities of EEG parameters in families of twins. The researchers where hoping to “quantify the proportions of phentotypic variance that can be attributed to genetic and environmental influences.” While this study was not specifically aimed at understanding the specific age of maturation through brain wave patterns, it did conclude that, “Regardless of the many similarities to brain wave patterns of adults, the immature EEG nonetheless exhibits unique characteristics during infancy, childhood and adolescence. These characteristics show distinct inter-individual differences, change continuously over time, and by the age of 20 years they achieve their final form.”
These are extremely important discoveries and can help explain why adolescents and teens sometimes make “stupid” decisions. The frontal lobe is responsible for executive thinking. It is with this part of the brain that we evaluate our circumstances and are able to recognize the future consequences of our actions. It is the frontal lobe the helps us to make socially responsible decisions rather than “stupid” ones. There is no question that God, by Whom we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” is the best judge of when we are mature enough to make decisions concerning our eternal life. It is no wonder that the Israelites were not commanded to make atonement for their sin until they were able to fully understand the consequences of that sin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_lobe
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/teenage-brain-a-work-in-progress.shtml
http://www.bli.uzh.ch/BLI/Projects/EEG/K232.html
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=news_11082003a