Are You Even Listening To Me? Well, Scientifically . . . No

an-experiment-on-a-bird-in-the-air-pump-1768.jpg!BlogNow this is a study that any parent, particularly mothers, can verify with field research. A group of neuroscientists from the Universities of Pittsburgh, California-Berkeley and Harvard, and led by Kyung Hwa Lee have found that pre-teenage and teenage brains actually appear to partially shutdown when hearing criticism from mothers. In the meantime, another set of scientists have discovered a possible way to cut off pain — creating the ultimate possibility for teenagers to hear and feel nothing.

The study of 32 pre-teens and teens (with an average age of 14) included 22 girls. The study examined three areas of the brain associated with processing negative emotion (the limbic system), regulating emotion (the prefrontal cortex), and perspective (temporal and parietal lobes). Not only if the areas with negative emotions show an increase during critical comments from mothers but a reduction in activity in regions involved in emotional control and perspective. There are some questions about the methodology discussed in the article below, but the conclusion seems easily verified by any parent.

If they really want to show the emotional control and perspective readings hit a scientifically immeasurable low, they should monitor the typical husband’s brain while resting on a couch. Yesterday, you could have done dental surgery on me during the Bears-Lions game, though in the end it felt exactly like dental surgery. That is why the other breakthrough on blocking the pain pathway chronic neuropathic pain is so promising for Bears fans this season. The study actually could block pain caused by chemotherapeutic agents and bone cancer, which are very similar in intensity to watching the team this season.

Source: Wired

50 thoughts on “Are You Even Listening To Me? Well, Scientifically . . . No”

  1. Dust Bunny Queen,

    Please – no one is stopping you from giving us the benefits of your opinions … and/or admonishments about anything or anybody.

    “Relax – with Exlax. The candy with the Fluid Drive. Exlax gives you a Run for your Money.”
    From an early ad: “Exlax Presents BIng Crosby. Two Announcements, then BING.”

  2. @ Bill McWilliams

    I always considered a blog and its topics, especially on a law blog, to be likened to the topics of a debate or like a Linda Richman Coffee Talk skit (Mike Meyers) where a topic is introduced and then “discuss”. Like a debate we stick to the topic and come up with pros and cons or just general thoughts about the topic. Discuss and possibly persuade.

    For instance “this” topic is about the scientific findings that our kids don’t listen to us, particularly to their mothers…..(.duh! Who needed a study to figure that out. ) Instead of sticking to THAT topic it seems to be all over the place from personal insults to racism to God knows what else. Typical of these comment threads, but frustrating for those of us who would like to see a more disciplined adherence to the topic proposed.

    Not only is it frustrating for anal retentive types, like myself 🙂 It is disrespectful of the authors of the topics. They put in a great deal of time to come up with interesting and different thoughts for discussion and to completely ignore their work and to go off on personal tangents is just disrespectful and rude. There are other forums for that type of discourse.

    Just my two cents.

  3. Inga,

    You said: “Wow and here I thought this blog was for discussion and debate.”

    It sorta IS, but there are boundaries. Go beyond status quo discussion and a gatekeeper will censor you, citing a “civilty” rule to justify the deletion.

    To be safe, keep your comments within NPRish status quo opinon, and you’ll be viewed as an ok Centrist.

  4. ? Mark snd The Mysterians?

    Res Ipsa Loquitur
    Latin for “the thing speaks for itself.” In tort law, a principle that allows plaintiffs to meet their burden of proof with what is, in effect, circumstantial evidence. The plaintiff can create a rebuttable presumption of negligence by the defendant by proving that the harm would not ordinarily have occurred without negligence, that the object that caused the harm was under the defendant’s control, and that there are no other plausible explanations.

    http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/res_ipsa_loquitur

  5. I think we will always be talking about racism while we have people like Rangel. That means even if a day comes when we have a black president(elected twice), black AG and black head of Homeland Security people like Rangel will still be talking about racism as the major reason for all the problems. Oh wait we already have that day…guess brain shutdown applies here, to put it mildly.

    http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/11/28/Rangel-Darren-Wilsons-Total-Indifference-Polarized-Ferguson

  6. I feel neglected. The woman who likes to sound smart using me has stopped. May I suggest “zero sum game” that’s a liberal favorite. Overcompensating is a sign of deep insecurity.

  7. I think some folks get very frustrated when they feel they are making so much sense, when they have been trying so hard to make other’s see their ‘truth’ and they fail to do so. Perhaps they think others are lacking in “humility” because they aren’t embracing the ‘truth’? People won’t always see things your ‘way’. Most adults by the time they’ve reached adulthood recognize and accept his. Sometimes we are wiser and more mature when we embrace our differences rather than see other’s as arrogant because they don’t/ won’t accept your ‘truth’. Absolutism and authoritative thinking won’t ever convince anyone to see things your way.

  8. DBQ,
    Thank you for sharing that perspective; that is certainly heartfelt. Like my children, I was also raised by my divorced mother (at least till I was 14). From age 5 till 14, I never saw him and then I became curious to know if he was everything my mother had led me to believe. I went to visit him one summer, stayed and never went back. As my children grew into adults, they have allowed facts to adjust their understanding of me in much the same way as I did regarding own father and with the same positive results.

    It’s that experience that taught me truth is not something someone else tells you but rather something that you can independently prove. Paul mentioned above that there are participants in this blog that anger people; I don’t get angry with others so much as I get frustrated by their propensity to ignore facts. I see them lacking the humility necessary for gaining objective truth; an ego that comes from a myopic view of reality. This is something I expect from my 6 year old, but not from adults.

    This blog has provided me so many opportunities to learn; from all sides of the political spectrum. I look forward to what the next year will provide.

  9. @ Olly

    Re: your adult children.

    One of the biggest regrets in my life is that I was never able to interact with my mother on an adult to adult basis. When she was in 30 she was involved in a very serious auto accident and had severe brain damage. Was in a coma for 6 months and not expected to live. I was away in my first year of college and working at full time job as well. When she did recover it took several years of therapy and constant help to get better. I was able to come home on some weekends and holidays to help my family take care of her. After this recovery she was never quite the same and ….long story short…..was killed in another auto accident, eerily the same as the first one, ten years later.

    When you are young your parents are just this….parental figures. As you get older and have some life experiences you can connect on an adult level with your parents. Become friends. I have a great relationship with my father as an adult to adult. … as well as a parent child relationship too.

    As an adult child you get a better understanding of what trials and tribulations your parents went through to raise you. You especially become aware of this when you become a parent yourself. “Wow. My mother did all of THIS for me. My father sacrificed THAT for us. ” You are ready to listen as an adult, instead of tuning out the words and resenting the authority figure, you realize that your parents are actually people with lives, hopes and dreams of their own.

    Since my mother’s life was cut short, by the first accident, while I was still a teenager I never had the opportunity to thank her or to relate to her as an adult and as a parent myself .

    It isn’t too late for you and your children. You just can’t come back into their life as a “Parent” authority figure, though. But, perhaps you could give them some perspective on what your (you and your wife) lives were like (without any acrimony of course….that would be counterproductive). Let them see you as a human being. As a man. A vision of what the young you and your wife were like. Show photos if you have some. Relate as an adult to adult, respecting their individuality as adults ….. and hopefully…..eventually as friend to friend.

    Enough Ann Landers for today.

  10. I did Teli! All my kids but for my daughter and son in law in the military were there. My 6 month old grandson wowed everybody with his lightening fast crawling and his new teeth.

  11. Ingie – sometimes it is not what you say, but how you say it. You have said some things that have angered people.

  12. Squeeky,
    I do like a good fight, but not a fight for no good purpose. If we must “fight”, let it be something worth fighting for. To “destroy” each other should not be the goal.

    1. Inga: well said as usual. Let’s “fight” to learn from each others’ disagreements, not just disagree for the sake of our inflated egos. It makes us demean ourselves and as a result, we become sore losers with bruised egos. 🙂

      I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. 🙂

  13. Perhaps no one can any longer “hear” others who don’t speak their political ‘language’. I thought we all, after all is said and done, speak ‘American’. It’s a sad day in America when we’ve made enemies out of our own countrymen.

  14. I think that the teenagers and even smaller children usually hear the adults speaking AT them as if they were the adults in the Peanuts cartoons. Wah wha whah wha whah. A sort of saxaphone wah wah wah sound. White noise in the background. Very funny and as parents we probably should realize this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss2hULhXf04

    I often think that same thing about some commenters. blah blah blah blah blah…..White noise to skip over.

  15. This is not the blog it used to be and that is NOT a good thing. Sad to see what has happened here.

  16. But seriously Squeeky, is it “stirring up trouble” when one seeks to understand what other’s have said? When one asks for clarification? I don’t see it that way at all. I hope people feel free to ask questions on this blog without being accused of “stirring up trouble”. Squeeky if people meekly accepted and internalized what others say without question, what kind of blog, nay, what kind of world would this be? People should never be afraid to question. I don’t think it’s helpful to paint other’s as “pot stirrers” for asking questions, when there are people who revel in pot stirring for no good reason, I hope you don’t want to be one of those people Squeeky. Is it going to be a feature on this blog now to squelch questions?

  17. Inga,
    For whatever reason; perhaps there’s one for every alias, but you are an attention-seeker. NEWSLFLASH: Not every post is about YOU and yet, you will not stop until you make it so; that’s when you feign victimization and incivility. I find it mildly “fitting” that you of all people are the one to mock any reference I make to the virtue of humility. So, by all means, don’t let me get in the way while you continue padding your post count.

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