Inside the adolescent brain with Sarah-Jayne Blakemore

Science & Cocktails is proud to host Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, award-winning Professor of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, and author of the book Inventing Ourselves: the Secret Life of the Teenage Brain, who will tell you everything about the adolescent brain. What is changing in the adolescent brain, and how do these changes shape behaviour and decision-making? Why are adolescents especially sensitive to social feedback, peer influence and peer evaluation? Why do many mental health conditions first emerge during adolescence, and what does neuroscience tell us about vulnerability and opportunity during this period? How do environmental factors, such as family relationships, friendships, academic stress and social media, influence adolescent development and mental health? How should a developmental understanding of adolescence inform policies and practices in education, mental health, public health and the legal system? Adolescence is a period of biological, cognitive and social development, which is shaped by environmental influences such as family, peers, education and culture. It is also the stage of life when many mental health challenges first emerge, making it a crucial window for early support and intervention. In this episode, we will explore how research in developmental cognitive neuroscience has increased our understanding of this period of life, particularly adolescents’ heightened sensitivity to social feedback and increased vulnerability to external stressors. This episode will also examine how scientific insights apply beyond the lab, with implications for education, mental health, public health and the legal system, where a developmental perspective is increasingly informing policy. By connecting scientific evidence with societal relevance, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore will make the case for developmentally informed policies and practices that better support young people across multiple domains of their lives. Professor Blakemore is the Chair of Psychology in the Social Sciences (2000) at the University of Cambridge, where she leads the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Group and serves as Deputy Head of Department for Research. Her group's research focuses on the development of the social brain in adolescence, with a particular emphasis on mental health, social cognition, peer influence and sensitivity to social context. She has served on advisory boards and scientific panels, including at the Royal Society, Academy of Medical Sciences, The Times Education Commission, the UK Department for Education and Singapore’s Ministry of Education and National Research Foundation. Professor Blakemore co-authored The Learning Brain: Lessons for Education with Professor Dame Uta Frith. She was interviewed on The Life Scientific. Other public engagement activities include a play, Brainstorm, written and performed by teenagers and shown at the National Theatre in London, and a TED talk at TEDGlobal 2012. Her first solo book, Inventing Ourselves: the secret life of the teenage brain, was published in 2018 and was awarded the Royal Society Book Prize 2018, the British Psychological Society Book Prize 2020 and the Hay Festival Book of the Year 2018. She has been awarded national and international prizes for her research, including the British Psychological Society Doctoral Award, the British Psychological Society Spearman Medal for early career research, the Swedish Neuropsychology Society Award, the Young Mind & Brain Prize, the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award, the Klaus J. Jacobs Prize, the British Psychological Society Presidents' Award, the International Union of Psychological Science Quadrennial Major Advancement in Psychological Science Prize, the British Cognitive Neuroscience Society Mid-Career Award and the Flux Society Huttenlocher Award. She is a High Table Fellow at Newnham College and Gonville and Caius and a Bye-Fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. She was elected an Honorary Fellow of St John's College Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy, the American Association of Psychological Science, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society. For more science visit: • Website: https://www.scienceandcocktails.org • LinkedIn: LinkedIn: science-&-cocktails • Facebook: Facebook: scienceandcocktailscph • Youtube: sciencecocktails • Instagram: Instagram: scienceandcocktailsglobal