Teens seemed to turn out mom’s voices. A new study might show us the secret of why.
The study shows that young kids like their mom’s voice very much, but when they become teens, everything changes, “Adolescents have this whole other class of sounds and voices that they need to tune into,” explains Daniel Abrams. He’s a neuroscientist at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. He and his team shared their findings on April 28 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The scientists scanned the brains of 7–16-year-old kids as the kids listened to their moms and unfamiliar woman saying words that don’t have any meaning, like “teebudieshawlt” so they can prevent word meaning interference during the examination. As the kids listened, certain parts of their brains became active. This was especially true in brain regions that help us to detect rewards and pay attention.
The research team found out that in childhood, kids’ brains light up more strongly when they hear their mothers compared to hearing strangers. However, when they are teens, the opposite thing happens. This shift in what voice piques children’s interest more seems to happen between ages 13 and 14. That’s when teenagers are in the midst of puberty, a roughly decade-long transition into adulthood.
These areas in the adolescent brain stop don’t stop responding to mom, Abrams says. It’s just that unfamiliar voices become more rewarding and worthy of attention. As kids grow up, they expand their social connections beyond their family, so their brains need to begin paying more attention to that wider world. That’s exactly as it should be, Abrams adds, “What we’re seeing here is just purely a reflection of this.”
Mothers’ voices still have a special power, especially in times of stress. One 2011 study in girls showed that levels of stress hormones dropped when these girls experiencing stress heard their moms’ voices on the phone. The same wasn’t true for texts from the moms. The brain seems to adapt to new needs that come with adolescence.
“As we mature, our survival depends less and less on maternal support,” says Leslie Seltzer. She’s a biological anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She was part of the team that carried out that 2011 study. Instead, she says, we rely more and more on our peers — friends and others closer to our own age.
While both teens and their parents may sometimes feel frustrated by missed messages, that’s okay, Abrams says. “This is the way the brain is wired, and there’s a good reason for it.”
The study shows that young kids like their mom’s voice very much, but when they become teens, everything changes, “Adolescents have this whole other class of sounds and voices that they need to tune into,” explains Daniel Abrams. He’s a neuroscientist at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. He and his team shared their findings on April 28 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The scientists scanned the brains of 7–16-year-old kids as the kids listened to their moms and unfamiliar woman saying words that don’t have any meaning, like “teebudieshawlt” so they can prevent word meaning interference during the examination. As the kids listened, certain parts of their brains became active. This was especially true in brain regions that help us to detect rewards and pay attention.
The research team found out that in childhood, kids’ brains light up more strongly when they hear their mothers compared to hearing strangers. However, when they are teens, the opposite thing happens. This shift in what voice piques children’s interest more seems to happen between ages 13 and 14. That’s when teenagers are in the midst of puberty, a roughly decade-long transition into adulthood.
These areas in the adolescent brain stop don’t stop responding to mom, Abrams says. It’s just that unfamiliar voices become more rewarding and worthy of attention. As kids grow up, they expand their social connections beyond their family, so their brains need to begin paying more attention to that wider world. That’s exactly as it should be, Abrams adds, “What we’re seeing here is just purely a reflection of this.”
Mothers’ voices still have a special power, especially in times of stress. One 2011 study in girls showed that levels of stress hormones dropped when these girls experiencing stress heard their moms’ voices on the phone. The same wasn’t true for texts from the moms. The brain seems to adapt to new needs that come with adolescence.
“As we mature, our survival depends less and less on maternal support,” says Leslie Seltzer. She’s a biological anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She was part of the team that carried out that 2011 study. Instead, she says, we rely more and more on our peers — friends and others closer to our own age.
While both teens and their parents may sometimes feel frustrated by missed messages, that’s okay, Abrams says. “This is the way the brain is wired, and there’s a good reason for it.”
