OWL
details
Date:
Monday 11th March 2013
Time: 1.00-2.00pm (tea/coffee available from 12.40pm)
Location:
Kennedy Lecture Theatre, UCL Institute of Child Health.
About
OWL
Find out more about the Otto Wolff lectures, view details about our upcoming lectures, or read about previous lectures in our archive.
Contact
us
If you would like to suggest someone as a speaker, please contact the OWL Committee Chair, Professor Christine Kinnon.
For any administrative questions, please contact Nicole Hofmans.
The adolescent brain
Part of the Otto Wolff Lecture series 2013
Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Royal Society Research Fellow, UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
Abstract
Adolescence is a period of life characterised by hormonal, physical, psychological and social change. In the past decade or so, neuroscience research has revolutionised our understanding of the human adolescent brain. Brain imaging research has revealed that the cortex develops during adolescence in terms of both its structure and how it functions. Brain regions involved in decision-making, social cognition and self-awareness undergo particularly protracted development in adolescence. This research might contribute to an explanation of behaviours that are typically associated with adolescence, including risk-taking, self-consciousness and peer influence.
Bio
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University (1993-1996) and then did her PhD (1996-2000) at UCL, investigating the self-monitoring of action in healthy individuals and people with schizophrenia with Chris Frith and Daniel Wolpert. After a post-doc in Lyon, France, she came back to UCL where she has been ever since. Sarah-Jayne is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL. She is Leader of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Group at the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and her group focuses on brain development in human adolescence.
