Study: College students’ brains maturing

Although many 18-year-olds leave home for college, get the right to vote and begin living their own lives, a new study shows that the parts of their brains responsible for cognitive and emotional thought may not be ready.

A recent study conducted by Dartmouth University researchers found that the brain of an 18-year-old college freshman is not as developed as older students, a finding that has some Boston University students questioning whether they are as mature as they think.

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Mara Osher said she finds the study intriguing, but does not completely believe it.

“I think this study is very interesting, yet unsettling,” she said. “I am wondering why, if my brain is not yet developed, we receive so many important privileges such as voting, driving, joining the Army, et cetera. I think it has more to do with each individual rather than categorizing all 18-year-olds together.”

CAS psychology professor Chantal Stern said maturity is different for everyone. She spent six years as a house tutor in a Harvard dorm and found that in many instances, freshmen were less mature than seniors, but she said maturity is an ongoing process influenced by multiple factors.

“Maturation occurs at different rates for different individuals,” she said in an email. “This rate is likely to be influenced by both physiology and also by the environment. It’s very easy to notice these variations in maturation rates in young children, and these individual differences in maturation persist through the teenage years, and according to the Dartmouth study and other studies of brain development, continue to develop though the mid-twenties.”

Some BU professors said freshmen are rarely ready to handle the responsibilities of college life, but suggest that maturity and readiness are two separate issues.

College of Communication professor James McQuivey said even if freshmen are not mentally prepared to deal with college, to wait until they are would defeat the purpose of a higher education.

“In fact,” he said, “the best time to start advanced education is before the brain has finished forming itself. This allows the maximum opportunity for the student to shape his or her thinking for the long haul.”

The study suggests that the brain can develop far into adulthood but that younger brains go through significantly more changes than those of older students.

The research also showed the changes in the brains occurred in “areas of the brain that control emotions and thoughts. The scientists hypothesize that the changes translate to an increased awareness of students’ feelings as well as better organization. They also believe the students have improved ability to integrate incoming sensory information.”

Stern said the study was carried out using a new neuroimaging technique called Diffusion Tensor Imaging that can be used to create “white matter ‘maps’ of the brain.” Stern said these neuroimaging methods allow psychologists to “non-invasively study the normal human brain and ask and answer questions that we were unable to address 15 to 20 years ago.”

Office of Housing Director Marc Robillard said the department does not keep track of how many phone calls they get from parents as opposed to students, but he said there has been an increase in, what he called “helicopter” — protective — parents, and they can stunt students’ cognitive growth.

“Helicopter parenting” occurs when the parents of college students remain overly involved in their children’s lives and continue to participate in their daily tasks even after they have left the house.

Even in the presence of a helicopter parent, Stern said, brain maturation has an impact on the individual’s ability to engage cognitive strategies.

“The frontal lobes are the slowest part of the brain to develop,” she said, “and the frontal lobes are critical for ‘executive functioning’ such as planning ahead, developing a strategy and working memory.”