
New brain networks come ‘online’ during adolescence - hhs
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/brain-networks-come-online-during-adolescence-to-prepare-teenagers-for-adult-life
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bitwize
I remember very strongly fancying a girl when I was in high school, and that's
exactly how I described it at the time: it was as if a new subsystem had "come
online" enabling me to feel more complex emotions. I compared it to Lt.
Commander Data's emotion chip.

Interesting to see empirical neurological grounds for what I subjectively
_felt_ happening at the time.

~~~
senectus1
I had this experience with having a kid (I'm male btw). I could _feel_ what i
can only describe it as a "gear change" in my head.

I very suddenly thought differently and re-evaluated everything in a different
way.

It was a very odd experience.

~~~
Angostura
Definately an odd rewiring of some kind immediately followinuv birth. I
remember distinctly, carrying the baby downstairs and visualising me tripping,
falling and killing her - or crossing the road and getting a strong
visualisation of a car knocking us down. Luckily that seemed to fade after
about 6 months.

I still cry a _lot_ at movies now though, not something that I really did
before. The kids think their father emptying out his spectacles is hilarious.

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mudcrab
Interesting article. Any new emotion or new emotional state creates a new
space for new memories, and adolescence provides new emotions. Particular
memories are easier to retrieve when in the emotional state they were formed.
Maybe this explains why it can be hard to beat depression - pleasant memories
are more difficult to retrieve and negative emotions easily surface.

First few times trying weed it felt like micro-tarzan swinging from a familiar
branch of neurons to a whole new area of neurons.

Possibly why magic mushrooms and the like are being investigated as a legit
therapy.

~~~
Pete_D
Depression has quite a few weird effects on memory, e.g.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overgeneral_Autobiographical_M...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overgeneral_Autobiographical_Memory)

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Hydraulix989
I remember suddenly really liking listening to music when I became an
adolescent. I wonder if my then new-found emotional appreciation for music was
related.

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jvm_
I've heard the theory that the music you like/hear/is new to you at 14 is the
music that you stick with for life.

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agumonkey
I'm also very curious at what makes young kids stick to "new" genre. And could
you make an old song (one that doesn't age much if possible) stick to them as
if it was the new hotness. Or maybe it's reinforced by society reacting to it
as a new fad too.

~~~
flycaliguy
Oh for sure, young kids get hooked into all sorts of stuff. Old stuff, foreign
stuff. You don’t see it in the culture but interview a class of kids and there
are always odd balls.

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jfax
I know a lot of people are going to talk about their experience of fancying
the other sex, etc.

I would like to say however that for a while now, I've repeatedly reminded my
friends that 'gained sentience' when I first watched WALL-E. It made me feel
emotions I never had before, I couldn't put words to what a novel experience
it was. It's where I firmly demarcate my 'pre-sentient' and 'post-sentient'
life.

This actually sparked a discussion among my group of friends, some identifying
a moment when someone in their life died, other putting it down to a single
panic attack. So yeah, something biologically 'coming online' seems legit.

~~~
Angostura
Fascinating, would you mind me asking at what age you watch Wall-E?

My teenage daughter simply won't watch it again - too 'totes emoshe'.

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thrwaway69
When everyone's talking about how something improved, I feel like my brain
degraded on the other hand, lol. I don't have a sharp memory or energy
anymore. I get lost often in thoughts and can't think more clearly if
something needs an immediate black-white response. I have gotten worse at
communication.

I would trade being asexual for increased brain efficiency, too.

~~~
jcims
How old are you? Have you ever sought a diagnosis for anything? You sound like
me, 46yo with basically lifelong ADD that wasn't diagnosed until a couple of
years ago.

Haven't found any silver bullets yet but your baseline can improve if you're
in this club.

~~~
thrwaway69
16.

I am diagnosed with that and few other issues but haven't received much help
outside of that (family not educated enough and kind of eh). I feel very
sacrificial because I have to resist the urge to focus on things ignoring
clear health problems and self care. I think that's the biggest problem I have
right now. I can't consistently stick to anything in the slightest.

I can manage it by sheer self control but that isn't fun and backfires with
bipolar/anxiety because you need to have motivation in order to incentivise
yourself.

~~~
Jaruzel
It _will_ get better. My teens were exactly the same. If your family isn't
being supportive, trying seeing your GP directly (local doctor; I don't know
what country you are in) and see if they will help you. Find some people who
you can safely share your experience with. Remember that you are not alone,
and that most of this is probably temporary. Modern opinion is that it's not
until about about age 24 that your brain chemistry settles down.

Disclaimer: I also suffer from anxiety (and depression) and live on pills to
stabilise me out, so I'm not talking out of my arse here :)

~~~
thrwaway69
Yeah, I asked for a crowd source list for good mental health practitioners
before since the place I live in doesn't have any even in the state. There is
a lot of fraud and my bad experience combined with personal history has made
me quite skeptical of doctors and hospitals. I am planning to give call to
some of them, hopefully they might agree to see over face time as a temporary
solution so I can again build trust in the falling apart healthcare situation
here and due to other issues, it's hard to travel hundreds sometimes thousands
kilometres to a different place to end up disappointed.

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Erlich_Bachman
So we already know that brain forms new neuron connections all the time (or
during sleep), so of course if there are new connections, there will
technically be new networks? So the brain forms new networks each time we
learn anything new... So how is this any different?

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pgt
Louis CK has a bit about his earliest memory as he was 'coming online':
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q10C5Zp1_Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q10C5Zp1_Q)

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type-2
I never experienced this...

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yters
Teen used to be the old adult. Today's 'teens' used to be admirals and
generals.

~~~
learc83
The age of majority was traditionally 21 for men in the US and the UK. There
were many rights and privileges that were restricted until then. You couldn't
vote in most of the US until 21, for instance.

The only generals I can think of who were teenagers were nobility who
inherited positions or people like Lafayette who managed to use his nobility
to convince Washington to make him an honorary general when he was I believe
19.

Teenagers as a whole weren't respected members of adults society in the pre-
modern time, even if they did usually have jobs.

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SimbaOnSteroids
Also Alexander was a teenager if i remember correctly.

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learc83
I assume you're talking about Alexander Hamilton. He never rose past the rank
of colonel. He did use connections to form a militia of college students that
he led as captain. I believe he was either 18 or 20 at the time (there's a
debate over when he was actually born). And he was later elevated to a colonel
in the continental army, but he wasn't a teenager when that happened.

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checkyoursudo
I rather suspect the reference was to Alexander the Great.

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learc83
I thought that could be the case, but since I'd mentioned Washington and
Lafayette I leaned towards Hamilton being the intended reference.

As for Alexander the Great he was probably a general as a teenager, but he
falls squarely in the "nobility who inherited positions" camp. So much about
Alexander is wrapped up in legends and comes from much later sources that we
really have no idea how fantastic a "general" he was as a teenager.

