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Read the following passage and choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the article. Write your answer (A, B, C or D) in the numbered boxes.
Teenage brains Journalist Martin Baines talks to neuroscientist Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore about the development of the brain during adolescence.Until I read Inventing Ourselves by Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, I'd always assumed that what we think of as teenage behaviour is largely an invention of contemporary western society. I hadn't imagined, for example, that 15-year-olds in the Kalahari Desert also complain about having to get up early - but they do. It was for people like me - there are lots of us - that Blakemore wrote her book explaining the science of everything from why teenagers can't get out of bed in the morning to why they sometimes appear to be irresponsible narcissists. “We demonise teenagers more than any other section of society,' she told me. ‘And it's not right. They're going through an essential stage of their development. Most adults don't realise this.'
This is arguably inevitable. Blakemore says that until 20 years ago, it was assumed that teenage behaviour was largely down to hormonal changes in puberty and that children's brains were more or less fully developed. The findings of brain scans and psychological experiments have now revealed that the reality is very different, however. In fact, the brain continues to change all through the teenage years and well into adulthood, and important neurodevelopmental processes enable it to be moulded by the environment. So adolescence is a critical period of neurological change, much of which is responsible for adolescent behaviour.
Blakemore quotes from a teenager's diary dated 20 July 1969: 'I went to arts centre (by myself!) in yellow cords and blouse. Ian was there but didn't speak to me. Got a rhyme put in my handbag from someone who's apparently got a crush on me. It's Nicholas, I think. UGH. Man landed on the moon.' This may look like amazing - even jaw-dropping - selfabsorption. But Blakemore says it's essential neurological development, because the biological function of adolescence, today and in the past, is the creation of a sense of self. Teens achieve this through creating new allegiances, independent of their parents – which is
why their friendships suddenly become extremely important. What is known on social media as FOMO - fear of missing out - may look like an irrational sense of priorities if it means skipping revision to attend a run-of-the-mill get-together, but at that age, nothing matters more than peer approval.
Blakemore designed an experiment to explore this. Adolescents were asked to play an online ball game, with what they believed to be two other players of their own age. In fact, the game was with a computer programmed to ignore the human participants; these found themselves watching the ball being passed between two players on the screen who chose not to include them. She repeated the experiment with adults, and found that, while the game lowered the mood and increased the anxiety levels of all participants, the effect was dramatically greater for the teenagers.
In her book, Blakemore also discusses how the neurologically driven preoccupation with peer approval underlies adolescent risk-taking and acute self-consciousness, and how it determines adolescent sleep patterns. It's fascinating, and I'm curious about the implications. What could be done to accommodate the changes adolescents go through?
Blakemore suggests we might harness the power of peer pressure by getting adolescents to run educational campaigns – for example, on healthy eating. She also mentions schools which have altered their start times to fit in with teenage sleep patterns, though she points out there may be practical issues about implementing this - on a wider scale. But generally, she's wary about putting forward concrete solutions. This seems regrettable, but she insists she's a scientist rather than a consultant. She doesn't even like to be asked for parenting advice, although she admits her work does inform her own parenting. When she recently visited her teenage son's school, he asked her to pretend not to know him. “I could've been so offended by that. But I thought: “That's absolutely normal.”
One thing that makes Blakemore's empathy and affection for teenagers so striking is its rarity. “Yes, I'm a champion of them,' she agrees. But why does she think so many other adults feel differently? She often thinks about why we find it hilarious to 'take the mickey out of teenagers'. She points out that there are whole comedy shows mocking their behaviour. She wonders if adults do it to cope with their rejection; small children obey adults and want to be with them, but teenagers, through necessity, look for independence, and the older generations feel hurt about this. They resent adolescents' desire to rebel and their sense of embarrassment when they're with parents. “Our way of dealing with these changes is to sneer at them.'
56. What is the writer doing in the first paragraph?
A. outlining how he feels about the way teenagers are generally perceived
B. giving his reasons for writing a profile of Professor Blakemore
C. pointing out international variations in teenage behaviour
D. acknowledging his relative ignorance about teenagers
57. What does the writer suggest is “jaw-dropping about the teenager’s diary entry?
A. the strong desire for independence that comes across
B. the similarity with what young people talk about today
C. the negative comments about two acquaintances
D. the focus on personal rather than wider events
58. The experiment described in the fourth paragraph was designed to provide evidence of
A. how competitive teenagers tend to be.
B. how easily teenagers can be deceived.
C. how sensitive teenagers are to social exclusion.
D. how immersed teenagers can become in video games.
59. In the sixth paragraph, the writer expresses
A. disappointment at Blakemore's reluctance to advocate specific policies.
B. enthusiasm for the idea of giving teenagers more responsibility.
C. amusement at Blakemore's difficulties with her own children.
D. doubt regarding the feasibility of changing school hours.
60. Which words in the final paragraph echo the phrase 'take the mickey out of”?
A. cope with
B. feel hurt about
C. resent
D. sneer at
