Question

Michael, a two-year-old, yells all day. He yells if someone gets near him. He yells if his train falls off the wooden track. He is angry, seemingly, all day. Given his developmental stage, his continuous anger probably comes from a fully developed _________ and an underdeveloped ___________.

Answer 1

Answer:

His amygdala is fully developed and his prefrontal cortex is underdeveloped.

Explanation:

Let's break both structures down:

• Amygdala: the nuclei in charge of emotion regulation. It controls reactions of satisfaction and fear as well.
• Prefrontal cortex: it is the structure in charge of the executive functions, such as planning, organizing, decision making, problem solving, etc. It regulates an individual's social control as well as motivation. It is one of the structures which takes longer to develop.

We can see Michael's amygdala is fully developed since he displays a lot of emotions, mostly anger. Since he is only 2 years old, it can be deduced that his prefrontal cortex is not yet fully developed since he doesn't have much self-control and problem solving, amongst others.