Self-Consciousness as a Rite of Passage

This article discusses a new study on self-consciousness, and goes into some neurological and evolutionary reasons that we become more self-aware around the age of puberty.  The study specifically focused on teenagers, and suggests that this shift in brain patterns could help explain the intense power of peer pressure.  Snip from the SciAm report:

Cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore of University College London and her colleagues found that when compared with scenarios describing basic emotions that did not involve the opinions of others, such as fear and disgust, girls who thought about onlookers’ opinions engaged a brain region known as the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) more during social emotional scenarios than adult women did. This area is one of the last regions to develop before adulthood....It makes evolutionary sense for teenagers to be highly concerned about what others think, Blakemore suggests. Adolescence requires becoming more independent because one’s parents might not be around much longer....

Pfeifer also explains that in adults more activity is seen in brain regions linked with storing knowledge about oneself. “Instead of deciding who they are over and over again, adults may just retrieve what they already know about themselves,” she says. “But while these areas related to self-reflection might be more active in adolescence, it is something that goes on throughout your whole life—you’ll see the same kinds of processes going on in the brain in adults if they enter stages in their lives that are new to them, such as parenthood.”

I think that people of all ages probably experience this to different degrees throughout their lives, not everyone's brain matures at exactly the same rate.  It would be interesting to see a similar study on a cohort of ED patients as they go through treatment and weight restoration.

(P.S. SciAm has another interesting article up today about neurological/developmental factors contributing to depression and suicide, called The Origins of Suicidal Brains.  The report discusses evidence that biological imbalances (not just "classically" genetic but epigenetic as well) are at the root of many of these cases--supporting mental illnesses as true diseases rather than just personality defects, as some people erroneously assume.  Definitely worth a read.)