Welcome to the DSN Lab!
In the Developmental Social Neuroscience Lab, we study the interconnected trajectories of biological and social development throughout adolescence, and their ongoing reciprocal relationships with well-being, mental health, and behavior.
Click here to learn more about the work we do!
Watch our lab leader, Dr. Jennifer Pfeifer, give a TEDx talk on reframing adolescence – from problem, to potential. Young people’s ability to adapt to our changing world is a superpower!
Listen to our lab leader, Dr. Jennifer Pfeifer, talk about the complexity of adolescent development in this illustrated video.
“Your Brain on Puberty”
Puberty is a normal part of development, but it is also different for everyone. For some teenagers, puberty comes earlier than for others, and for some it goes faster than for others. Because of this, kids of the same age can look very different from each other—their bodies are growing at different rates. However, researchers have discovered that puberty not only changes your body, but also your brain. This is because puberty involves changes in hormones that also attach to your brain cells and change how the brain learns and grows. These changes are useful because they help shape the brain for new forms of learning. They might also lead to some “bumps in the road”—for example, you might take some risks that do not quite work out. In this article we explain what puberty does to the brain, and why these brain changes are important to prepare you for adulthood.
Click on the photo above to go to a science article in Frontiers for Young Minds, an open-access scientific journal that publishes articles by leading researchers that were reviewed and edited by young people aged 8-15 to ensure they are clear and accessible to a younger audience!