AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Under most laws, young people are recognized as adults at age 18. But emerging science about brain development suggests that most people don’t reach full maturity until the age 25.

Detailed explanation-2: -The fact that brain development is not complete until near the age of 25 years refers specifically to the development of the prefrontal cortex.

Detailed explanation-3: -According to recent findings, the human brain does not reach full maturity until at least the mid-20s. (See J. Giedd in References.) The specific changes that follow young adulthood are not yet well studied, but it is known that they involve increased myelination and continued adding and pruning of neurons.

Detailed explanation-4: -Although it was once thought that the brain is fully mature around birth this hypothesis has been disproven; now there is clear evidence that the brain does not mature fully until about age 24.

Detailed explanation-5: -Once we reach adulthood at around 25 our brain stops naturally forming new neural pathways and our habits, biases and attitudes become more set in stone and much harder to change. Nevertheless, it isn’t impossible to train our brains to changing later in life and throughout adulthood.