Firstly, the whole 'your brain stops developing at age 25' thing is spurious anyway. The original studies that came up with this figure, they just didn't include any subjects over 25. So that's when the data... stopped.

But that doesn't really mean anything.

/2

Saying 'the brain stops developing at age 25' because you didn't study anyone older is like saying "Olympic sprinters are only capable of running for 100m".

I mean, they *clearly* can go for longer. That's just when the race ends. It's not the same thing.

/3

But the 'Your brain stops developing at 25' thing is one of those mainstream claims that's out there now, like 'we only use 10% of our brain'.

I'm guilty of it, I accepted it as established fact many times. Some people on here steered me right, so I'm not pointing fingers

/4

In truth, your brain likely never stops 'developing'. We're learning things, updating our neural connections and networks, for as long as we live. If we didn't, we'd just be frozen in place. A non-developing brain is basically static. Which means, dead.

/5

But even if we did accept that the brain is 'done' at age 25, what we're actually saying is it's finished *maturing*. But that doesn't in any way mean that it's underpowered or non-functioning before then. Far from it.

/6

E.g. your lungs are still developing/growing, until your early twenties. But last I checked, everyone under 20 is still capable of breathing just fine. Better than most people, if anything

Because 'not fully mature' is in no way the same thing as 'doesn't work properly'.

/7

There seems to be this idea that an 'underdeveloped' brain is like a half-built house: not fit for purpose until completed

In reality, it's more like evolution. Every step on the evolutionary ladder is a fully functioning species, they just change over time

/8

Teens in particular get a lot of stick for this. Their rebelliousness, they're highly-emotional nature, it's seen as proof they have something 'wrong' with their brains, because they're immature

The opposite is true. Their brains are doing exactly what they evolved to do

/9

The risk-taking, emotive, exploratory, parent-rejecting tendencies of adolescents are seen in many social species, not just human. Unless it's the mother and father of all wild coincidences, this shows that teen brains are *meant* to do what they do.

/10