In adolescence, our brain is programmed not to listen to our mother anymore.

American researchers revealed that this change appears in the activity of neurons from the age of 13 years.

On April 28, the magazine Neuroscience Journal Transferring the results of a study conducted by researchers at Stanford University in California. First of all, they remind us, and a lot of parents have little experience with this, that The social world of children changes during adolescence. Whereas the socialization of young children revolves around the parents and caregivers, adolescence is characterized by a shift in social orientation towards members outside the family..

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain

This change was observed by scientists at a neurological level: When young children hear their mother’s voice, certain areas of their mother’s voice are brain Shows more activity than when hearing unfamiliar and unfamiliar sounds. It is remarkable that teens Older children show the opposite effect, with family members’ voices more active than their mothers’..

How did they come to this conclusion? From a technological point of view, functional MRI of the brain was used with volunteers aged 7 to 16 years. The mothers had to utter nonsensical words while their voices were being recorded. The MRI revealed which areas of the brain interacted when the volunteers listened to the recordings.

The distinctive voice of strangers

The researchers also retransmitted other recordings in which participants heard the voices of unknown people.

What is the conclusion? If adolescents are naturally always able to recognize the mother’s voice without ambiguity, at about the age of 13 or 14 their brain begins to react less strongly to this sound, and, conversely, more intensely to the voice of unfamiliar people.

For the study authors, this phenomenon “It is rooted in neurobiological changes. When teens seem to rebel by not listening to their parents, it is because they are more attached to paying attention to the voices of strangers.”. Armed with a great excuse, it couldn’t be more scientific!