**Please note that unlike our usual research seminar programme which generally takes place on a Friday, this event is scheduled for a Wednesday (9^th March).

Subject: Neurological identities, neuropolicies and the adolescent

Dear Colleagues,

The Department of Psychology and the Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease are delighted to invite you to a seminar given by Dr Suparna Choudhury (Max Planck Society, Institute for the History of Science, Berlin)

The seminar will be held on:

Wednesday 9^th March 2011

at

Wolfson Research Institute, Seminar Room (F009), Queen’s Campus

 from

12pm - 2 pm

(Buffet will be provided)

Abstract

The adolescent brain has become a flourishing project for cognitive neuroscience. In the mid 1990s, MRI studies mapped out the extended development in several cortical regions beyond childhood, and during adolescence. In the last ten years, numerous functional MRI studies have suggested that functions associated with these brain regions, such as cognitive control and social cognition undergo a period of development. These changes have been anecdotally and clinically used to account for behavioural changes during adolescence. The interpretation of these data that the “teen brain” is different has gained increasing visibility outside the neuroscience community, among policy makers and in the media, resonating strongly with current cultural conceptions of teenagers in Western societies. This paper presents recent findings from an ethnographic study with teenagers in the UK about adolescent identities in the context of current knowledge of – and representations about – the developing brain from imaging neuroscience. The implications for burgeoning “neuropolicies” focused on adolescent behaviour and mental health are discussed from a critical neuroscience (www.critical-neuroscience.org) perspective. 

I very much hope you will be able to join us and would be grateful if you could please let me know by Wednesday 2nd March 2011 if you will be attending for catering purposes.

Best wishes,

Rachel Simpson

Administrator/Outreach Officer

Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease
Wolfson Research Institute
University of Durham
Queen's Campus
University Boulevard
Stockton-on-Tees

TS17 6BH

Tel: 0191 3340700

Email: [log in to unmask]

Office hours:

Monday 9.00 am - 2.30 pm

Tuesday 9.00 am - 2.30 pm

Wednesday 10.00 am - 2.30 pm