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The Secret of the Adolescent Brain: Reflections from David Bueno's Interview

 

 

I’d like to begin this post by expressing my deep admiration for David Bueno—not only for his career as a researcher and science communicator, but also for his ability to explain complex concepts with moving clarity. His humility, warmth, and commitment to education make listening to him a true learning experience. His book The Adolescent Brain is a must-read, and the interview he gave on the podcast Vidas Ajenas struck me as especially insightful. Below, I share some of the key points that resonated with me, hoping they’ll inspire you too.

 

 

Why is adolescence such an intense stage?

David Bueno reminds us that adolescence has an evolutionary and biological purpose. It's a phase of brain development that fulfills two essential functions:

• Learning to socialize in a complex adult world.
• Preserving lifelong curiosity, channeling it from sub-adulthood.

 

The adolescent brain triangle

During adolescence, three brain regions undergo significant changes:

• The amygdala becomes hyperreactive, generating faster and more intense emotional responses. This is healthy and necessary, since adolescents face new situations without the experience adults have.
• The prefrontal cortex, responsible for decision-making and emotional regulation, undergoes asynchronous neural pruning. It sheds unnecessary childhood connections and builds new ones, temporarily reducing its efficiency.
• The striatum, linked to pleasure and reward anticipation, doesn’t change much structurally. However, adolescents begin discovering which adult activities activate it—through trial and error. Hence their impulse to push boundaries: “If they don’t look beyond the limit, how will they know if it’s rewarding or not?” says Bueno.

This process explains why adult and childlike behaviors can coexist in the same moment, often without logical order.

 

Stress and communication with adolescents

Adolescents have the highest baseline stress levels of any life stage. The brain prepares to face perceived threats by narrowing focus and reducing reflective capacity. That's why, when adults demand explanations for unacceptable behavior and raise their tone, teens shut down. It's not that they don't want to respond—they simply can't.

What they need is emotional support without overprotection. To feel accompanied, yet empowered. To have us close, but not invasive. Bueno offers a simple example: knocking before entering their room, just as we would with an adult. Respect builds trust.

 

Fear, belonging, and big questions

One of the emotional challenges of adolescence is managing fear. Phrases like “your future depends on high school” only increase it. Instead, we should accompany them with realism, without dramatizing, and remind them we’re there to support them.

Social integration is another major concern. Feeling excluded from their peer group raises stress. Even if they seem to push us away, they need to know we're nearby.

And amid all this, the big philosophical questions emerge: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? We don't need to answer them, but we should create spaces where they can reflect and share—within a framework of values based on respect and democratic coexistence.

 

Why do they lose motivation at school?

If motivation is innate, why does it fade? Bueno points out that schools often value grades more than effort, which discourages students. Also, the adolescent brain is curious about its environment. If we speak from distant or abstract contexts, they disconnect. We must contextualize, work in collaborative environments, and leverage their need for social interaction.

A powerful way to connect is through curiosity and storytelling. Instead of speaking directly about them, we can share similar stories that invite reflection. “You know what a friend’s mom told me about her teenage son…?”

In short, adolescence isn't just a transitional phase—it's an opportunity to cultivate curiosity, respect, and autonomy. Thank you, David Bueno, for helping us understand it with such depth and humanity.

 

🎧 You can listen to the full interview on Vidas Ajenas