Simulation Lab
Brain in Motion
The feelings alarm and reward centre are very active, and their links to the planning centre are still being built. Big feelings, fast decisions.
Tap a part of the brain
Each coloured area has a job. Drag the age dial to watch the wiring grow from the back of the brain to the front.
Friends watching
On your own, the reward centre is calmer, and it's easier for the planning centre to weigh things up.
Sleep clock
In the teens the body clock shifts: melatonin starts later, often by an hour or two. You may not feel sleepy until late, but you still need 8 to 10 hours. Dim screens an hour before bed, and get morning light.
Using your growing brain
Pause and plan
Big feelings arrive fast. Counting to ten, or deciding your answer to a risky moment in advance, gives the planning centre time to catch up.
Use it or keep it
Connections you use get stronger and ones you don't use get pruned. What you practise now, from music to kindness, sticks.
Protect your sleep
The brain does much of its rewiring and memory-making while you sleep. A regular bedtime helps more than catching up at weekends.
Quick check
About this simulation
About 6 minAwaiting clinical review
Based on:
- NIMH: The Teen Brain: 7 Things to Know
- Carskadon MA: adolescent sleep and the shift in circadian timing
- Gardner M, Steinberg L (2005): peer influence on risk taking in adolescence