Teen brains no longer find moms’ voices uniquely rewarding starting around age 13, and start to tune into unfamiliar voices more, according to new research.
For the study in the Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers used functional MRI brain scans to give the first detailed neurobiological explanation for how teens begin to separate from their parents.
“Just as an infant knows to tune into her mother’s voice, an adolescent knows to tune into novel voices,” says lead author Daniel Abrams, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
“As a teen, you don’t know you’re doing this. You’re just being you: You’ve got your friends and new companions and you want to spend time with them. Your mind is increasingly sensitive to and attracted to these unfamiliar voices.”…