The following is an essay written several years ago by a poster here that went by the user name "Lion" (if memory serves me correctly!). He was a member of Bob Enyart's congregation at the time and may still be a member of that church. The point being that I am not the author of what follows but submit it here for your consideration and comment. Also, I copied this from a Word document so I'm not sure whether the formatting will be correct. I'll correct formatting errors as I find them....
The ONLY Biblical answer to The Age of Accountability
This is a bit long, but I believe it answers most of the questions. My wife, Becky, is the one who first pointed out this theory and then we worked together to research it.
I have battled Bob Enyart, as well as most of Denver Bible Church on this topic for over two years now. Bob, agreed that if the age of accountability was twenty in the Old Testament, that it would not change in the New Testament. However, he doesn't believe in the twenty-year age of accountability, opting instead for the varied age of accountability. When I debated him on this topic, his only response was that he believes that when God is stating twenty to be the age where one acquires the knowledge of good and evil that it is just a figure of speech. He had no biblical material to back up his statement, other than showing other figures of speech in the Bible. I found it to be a very weak argument, especially in light of the numerous times God uses twenty as the age of responsibility in the Bible. As well as the scientific data, which shows, the human body (and more importantly-the brain) does not fully develop until around twenty. However the subject is not closed and we continue to debate.
The biggest problem I see people having with this theory is that they became Christians before the age of twenty, or they know of people that became Christians before they were twenty. However, the Age of Accountability doesn't limit to someone becoming a Christian before the age of twenty (IE Christian means a follower of Christ), but rather that they are just not sealed before the age of twenty, when they are required to make a decision. A boy may fall in love with a girl when he is twelve but can't get married until he is eighteen. A boy may learn how to drive a car at age nine, but isn't legally allowed to drive until he is sixteen. A child loves God when he is very little, but God does not allow him to make an eternal decision until he is twenty.
I'm sure there will be numerous questions beyond this, so let's get started.
Oh, and if it turns out to be wrong, I can always use the Adam Defense-"It was my wife's idea".
What is meant by the term “age of accountability”?
Most Christians who believe in an age of accountability would state that it is an age at which one becomes accountable for ones’ actions before God.
What is the basis for this belief?
One of the strongest Biblical passages in support of this argument is Paul’s statement in Romans 7:
Rom. 7:9-11 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
Here Paul explains that he was alive once, meaning that he was alive to God, before he understood sin and its full ramifications. He further states that when sin revived in him with the knowledge of the law he fell under its power and died to God.
So, what then, is the age at which one becomes accountable to God?
Most Christians would state that they believe that this age varies from individual to individual, ranging from very young (I know of at least one pastor who believes his son was saved, meaning eternally sealed, at the age of five) to around twelve or thirteen years of age.
However there is an opposing viewpoint that believes God has decreed twenty years as the age when one becomes accountable to Him.
In support of varied age theory
…chirp—chirp—chirp…(sound of crickets chirping alone in the scary night)
There is no biblical evidence that we know of in support of a varied age of accountability.
The evidence most commonly cited for this view is that it “seems right.”
In support of twenty year age theory
Num. 14:29-32 ‘The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.
Num. 32:11-12 ‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.’
Deut. 1:390 ‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
Notice that God is stating that the little ones and children are those below the age of twenty. God states that these do not yet have the knowledge of good and evil.
Verses that demonstrate the age at which a person is accountable for making atonement to the LORD:
THE HOLY HALF SHEKEL (We will get into the great importance of this later in the argument-but not in this post)
Ex. 30:13-16 “This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the LORD. Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves. And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.”
Notice that this is a personal offering for atonement (a ransom), which applies only to those twenty and above.
From Nelson’s study Bible: The term ransom is related to the words for atonement and propitiation. The idea is to pay a price for one’s life. The Israelites had to acknowledge that their lives were from God and governed by Him by giving Him an offering of money. Every male (twenty and above) was to provide a half-shekel ransom.
Other Verses that show twenty as being the age of responsibility
WAR: Num. 1:3 “from twenty years old and above — all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. (one of sixteen verses stating the age of twenty as being suitable for going to war)
SERVICE: 2Chr. 31:17 and to the priests who were written in the genealogy according to their father’s house, and to the Levites from twenty years old and up according to their work, by their divisions
Ezra 3:8 Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the LORD.
ANCESTRY: Num. 1:18 and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually
(thirty two verses support the idea of twenty being the age of responsibility in one way or another)
World Book Encyclopedia
Most human beings reach full maturity only between 18 and 25 years of age.
Strictly speaking, a child is anyone who is not yet an adult. According to this definition, childhood extends from birth until sometime past the age of 20--the age at which most people reach their full adult physical growth.
Teenage Brain: A work in progress (NIHM)
While this work suggests a wave of brain white matter development that flows from front to back, animal, functional brain imaging and postmortem studies have suggested that gray matter maturation flows in the opposite direction, with the frontal lobes not fully maturing until young adulthood. To confirm this in living humans, the UCLA researchers compared MRI scans of young adults, 23-30, with those of teens, 12-16.4 They looked for signs of myelin, which would imply more mature, efficient connections, within gray matter. As expected, areas of the frontal lobe showed the largest differences between young adults and teens. This increased myelination in the adult frontal cortex likely relates to the maturation of cognitive processing and other "executive" functions. Parietal and temporal areas mediating spatial, sensory, auditory and language functions appeared largely mature in the teen brain. The observed late maturation of the frontal lobe conspicuously coincides with the typical age-of-onset of schizophrenia—late teens, early twenties—which, as noted earlier, is characterized by impaired "executive" functioning.
As teens grow older, their brain activity during this task tends to shift to the frontal lobe, leading to more reasoned perceptions and improved performance. Similarly, the researchers saw a shift in activation from the temporal lobe to the frontal lobe during a language skills task, as teens got older. These functional changes paralleled structural changes in temporal lobe white matter.
EEG maturation in monozygotic and dizygotic twins. A longitudinal study of 200 twin pairs
Regardless of the many similarities to brain wave patterns of adults, the immature EEG nonetheless exhibits unique characteristics during infancy, childhood and adolescence. These characteristics show distinct inter-individual differences, change continuously over time, and by the age of 20 years they achieve their final form.
The Facts About 16-Year-Old Drivers
They're more likely to be single vehicle crashes. Such crashes account for 44 percent of fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers compared with 37 percent among 17-19 year-old drivers and 29 percent among drivers 20-49 years old.
WHAT ARE WISDOM TEETH?
Wisdom teeth, or third molars, are the last teeth to develop and appear in the mouth. They are called "wisdom teeth" because they usually appear during a person’s late teens or early twenties, which has been called the "age of wisdom." The normal position of wisdom teeth is behind the upper and lower second, or 12-year, molars.
Argument: Christian dogma (traditional Christian thought of varied age theory).
Response: Traditional view is often in error, IE mixing of law and grace/knowledge of God etc. Evidence outweighs tradition.
Argument: Supposed common sense.
Response: Traditional view states that some children as young as five are capable of making a decision in regards to their eternal destiny, even though no responsible adult would allow them to enter a binding legal contract of any sort.
Argument: Criminals such as Klebold and Harris could be in heaven.
Response: (1) Where children that have not reached the age of accountability go after physical death is a separate issue.
(2) Christians that think that God is not capable of deciding righteously where these children should go should refer to 1Cor 4:6/1Tim 3:6
Argument: Biblical statements in support of twenty-year age theory are an exaggeration to make the point that only those without the knowledge of good and evil will enter the Promised Land.
Response: (1) This argument proves the point that those under twenty did not yet have the knowledge of good and evil.
(2) This argument has no biblical support and is defeated by other biblical passages showing the age of twenty as a sign of maturity, (war, service, atonement, etc.)
Responsibility of Parents toward their children:
Prov. 22:4-6 By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards his soul will be far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Deut.6:5-7 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Parents have an awesome responsibility to their children. That is to teach them in the ways of the Lord. Without a correct knowledge concerning the age of accountability many parents might relax their teaching and control on a child before it is right to do so. As a police officer I see many parents who allow their teenage children far greater control of their lives than they are ready for. The results are usually disastrous. Sometimes deadly. If a parent believes that his child was saved at the age of five and then later in his teenage years he becomes rebellious, the parent could always say (and I’ve heard it said), “well at least he’s a Christian”. The results of this type of thinking may well be eternally fatal.
Often a child that grows up as a Christian turns against God when he reaches his later teens and early twenties, (I did), perhaps due in part to parents that thought their children were safe and had accepted the gift of salvation. If we, as parents, realize that our children cannot make such an important and eternal commitment until they are fully mature, then it is natural to take greater measures in teaching and instructing them in the ways of the Lord.
2Tim3:14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
We must be diligent in raising our children in a Godly atmosphere. Armed with the truth of God and the knowledge of His Book and loving personality, our children will have the correct instruction in making their choice to humble themselves and say “I do” to God when they reach maturity.
Attachments:
World Book Encyclopedia
Human beings live longer and develop more slowly than other primates. The human life span varies from an average of about 40 years in many developing countries to more than 70 years in most industrial nations. A human infant is born completely helpless and depends on its parents for many years. Most human beings reach full maturity only between 18 and 25 years of age. Slow growth and development allow for a much longer period of learning and brain growth than exists in any other species.
Strictly speaking, a child is anyone who is not yet an adult. According to this definition, childhood extends from birth until sometime past the age of 20--the age at which most people reach their full adult physical growth. However, childhood is usually considered to be a much shorter period. In most developed countries, it is regarded as one of three stages that people pass through from birth to adulthood. The other stages are infancy and adolescence. Infancy extends from birth to about 18 months of age. Adolescence begins between the ages of about 10 and 13 and lasts to adulthood. Childhood is the period between infancy and adolescence. In some developing countries, people are considered to be adults after they reach the age of 12 or 13, and adolescence is not regarded as a distinct stage of development.
New imaging studies are revealing—for the first time—patterns of brain development that extend into the teenage years. Although scientists don't know yet what accounts for the observed changes, they may parallel a pruning process that occurs early in life that appears to follow the principle of "use-it-or-lose-it:" neural connections, or synapses, that get exercised are retained, while those that don't are lost. At least, this is what studies of animals' developing visual systems suggest. While it's known that both genes and environment play major roles in shaping early brain development, science still has much to learn about the relative influence of experience versus genes on the later maturation of the brain. Animal studies support a role for experience in late development, but no animal species undergoes anything comparable to humans' protracted childhood and adolescence. Nor is it yet clear whether experience actually creates new neurons and synapses, or merely establishes transitory functional changes. Nonetheless, it's tempting to interpret the new findings as empowering teens to protect and nurture their brain as a work in progress.
The newfound appreciation of the dynamic nature of the teen brain is emerging from MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) studies that scan a child's brain every two years, as he or she grows up. Individual brains differ enough that only broad generalizations can be made from comparisons of different individuals at different ages. But following the same brains as they mature allows scientists a much finer-grained view into developmental changes. In the first such longitudinal study of 145 children and adolescents, reported in l999, NIMH's Dr. Judith Rapoport and colleagues were surprised to discover a second wave of overproduction of gray matter, the thinking part of the brain—neurons and their branch-like extensions—just prior to puberty.1 Possibly related to the influence of surging sex hormones, this thickening peaks at around age 11 in girls, 12 in boys, after which the gray matter actually thins some.
Prior to this study, research had shown that the brain overproduced gray matter for a brief period in early development—in the womb and for about the first 18 months of life—and then underwent just one bout of pruning. Researchers are now confronted with structural changes that occur much later in adolescence. The teen's gray matter waxes and wanes in different functional brain areas at different times in development. For example, the gray matter growth spurt just prior to puberty predominates in the frontal lobe, the seat of "executive functions"—planning, impulse control and reasoning. In teens affected by a rare, childhood onset form of schizophrenia that impairs these functions, the MRI scans revealed four times as much gray matter loss in the frontal lobe as normally occurs.2 Unlike gray matter, the brain's white matter—wire-like fibers that establish neurons' long-distance connections between brain regions—thickens progressively from birth in humans. A layer of insulation called myelin progressively envelops these nerve fibers, making them more efficient, just like insulation on electric wires improves their conductivity.
Advancements in MRI image analysis are providing new insights into how the brain develops. UCLA's Dr. Arthur Toga and colleagues turned the NIMH team's MRI scan data into 4-D time-lapse animations of children's brains morphing as they grow up—the 4th dimension being rate-of-change.3 Researchers report a wave of white matter growth that begins at the front of the brain in early childhood, moves rearward, and then subsides after puberty. Striking growth spurts can be seen from ages 6 to 13 in areas connecting brain regions specialized for language and understanding spatial relations, the temporal and parietal lobes. This growth drops off sharply after age 12, coinciding with the end of a critical period for learning languages.
While this work suggests a wave of brain white matter development that flows from front to back, animal, functional brain imaging and postmortem studies have suggested that gray matter maturation flows in the opposite direction, with the frontal lobes not fully maturing until young adulthood. To confirm this in living humans, the UCLA researchers compared MRI scans of young adults, 23-30, with those of teens, 12-16.4 They looked for signs of myelin, which would imply more mature, efficient connections, within gray matter. As expected, areas of the frontal lobe showed the largest differences between young adults and teens. This increased myelination in the adult frontal cortex likely relates to the maturation of cognitive processing and other "executive" functions. Parietal and temporal areas mediating spatial, sensory, auditory and language functions appeared largely mature in the teen brain. The observed late maturation of the frontal lobe conspicuously coincides with the typical age-of-onset of schizophrenia—late teens, early twenties—which, as noted earlier, is characterized by impaired "executive" functioning.
Another series of MRI studies is shedding light on how teens may process emotions differently than adults. Using functional MRI (fMRI), a team led by Dr. Deborah Yurgelun-Todd at Harvard's McLean Hospital scanned subjects' brain activity while they identified emotions on pictures of faces displayed on a computer screen.5 Young teens, who characteristically perform poorly on the task, activated the amygdala, a brain center that mediates fear and other "gut" reactions, more than the frontal lobe. As teens grow older, their brain activity during this task tends to shift to the frontal lobe, leading to more reasoned perceptions and improved performance. Similarly, the researchers saw a shift in activation from the temporal lobe to the frontal lobe during a language skills task, as teens got older. These functional changes paralleled structural changes in temporal lobe white matter.
While these studies have shown remarkable changes that occur in the brain during the teen years, they also demonstrate what every parent can confirm: the teenage brain is a very complicated and dynamic arena, one that is not easily understood.
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For More Information
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
Public Inquiries: (301) 443-4513
Media Inquiries: (301) 443-4536
E-mail: nimhinfo@nih.gov
Web site: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
Child and adolescent mental health information:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/childmenu.cfm
-----------------------------------
All material in this fact sheet is in the public domain and may be copied or reproduced without permission from the Institute. Citation of the source is appreciated.
NIH Publication No. 01-4929
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References
1 Giedd JN, Blumenthal J, Jeffries NO, et al. Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 1999; 2(10): 861-3.
2 Rapoport JL, Giedd JN, Blumenthal J, et al. Progressive cortical change during adolescence in childhood-onset schizophrenia. A longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1999; 56(7): 649-54.
3 Thompson PM, Giedd JN, Woods RP, et al. Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps. Nature, 2000; 404(6774): 190-3.
4 Sowell ER, Thompson PM, Holmes CJ, et al. In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regions. Nature Neuroscience, 1999; 2(10): 859-61.
5 Baird AA, Gruber SA, Fein DA, et al. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of facial affect recognition in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1999; 38(2): 195-9.
Updated: January 01, 2001
When a myelinated nerve fiber is stimulated to threshold, an action potential occurs at the trigger zone. This causes an electrical current to flow away from the trigger zone through the cytoplasm of the axon. As this local current reaches the first node, it stimulates the membrane to its threshold level. An action potential occurs there sending an electric current to the next node. Consequently, a nerve impulse traveling along a myelinated nerve fiber appears to jump from node to node. This type of impulse conduction, called saltatory conduction, is many times faster than conduction on an un-myelinated nerve fiber.
EEG maturation in monozygotic and dizygotic twins.
A longitudinal study of 200 twin pairs
Stassen H.H., Katsanis J., Malone S., Iacono W.G., Propping P. and Hell D.
In a large twin-family study comprising EEG recordings of 919 subjects, we applied methods of quantitative genetics to explore the trait-like qualities of EEG parameters, and to quantify the proportions of phentotypic variance that can be attributed to genetic and environmental influences. Our study confirmed previous findings regarding the existence of strong heritable factors that contribute a major proportion to the inter- individual variance in human brain wave patterns. Quantitatively, we found for major EEG parameters a heritability estimate of h^2=0.75 independently derived using two different methods; through an analysis of (a) the parent-offspring EEG similarity and (b) the difference in within-pair EEG similarity between monozygotic and dizygotic twins. The heritability estimates were consistent across the lateral EEG channels, whereas the central channel did not fully fit this picture of overall consistency.
Regardless of the many similarities to brain wave patterns of adults, the immature EEG nonetheless exhibits unique characteristics during infancy, childhood and adolescence. These characteristics show distinct inter-individual differences, change continuously over time, and by the age of 20 years they achieve their final form. Since the rhythm of EEG maturation is determined by genetic factors, developmental EEG changes appear to proceed at the same rate for identical twins, whereas the developmental synchronies are much lower within pairs of fraternal twins. Given these empirical findings, we expected that the parent-offspring EEG similarity will continuously increase during adolescence, and that at each stage of development the within-pair EEG similarity of MZ and DZ twins will be in magnitude identical to that of adult twins.
Our results did not uniformly support these hypotheses. While the within-pair MZ similarity of all EEG parameters under investigation was as high as that of adult twins and the within- pair DZ similarities varied, as expected, from complete similarity (to the extent of being identical twins) to complete dissimilarity (no familial resemblance at all), the parent- offspring EEG similarities were, yet unexpectedly, for the frequency-related EEG parameters as high as those of adult offsprings. Only for the power-related EEG parameters the parent-offspring similarity was found to be significantly lower in the adolescent-offspring sample than in the adult-offspring sample. These findings suggest that the development of brain wave patterns during brain maturation does not uniformly involve all EEG characteristics. For example, the central pacemaker system of alpha frequency, which is hypothesized to be located in the thalamus, does not appear to change its function during adolescence as indicated by the fact that the parent-offspring similarity was identical in the adolescent- offspring and the adult-offspring samples.
When we attempted to analyse the birth-cohorts separately in order to quantify developmental changes of EEG parameters during adolescence, our sample turned out to be not large enough to conclusively address this issue. This lack of sensitivity, however, was mostly due to the chosen method of approach in which the large inter-individual variation is likely to obscure subtle changes over time. We hope to overcome this problem by using repeated assessments on the same subjects at 3-year intervals so that each individual can be used as his or her own reference. The present study was not suited to examine non-shared environmental impacts that have recently been reported to be the most important environmental influences on normal and pathologic development. Nonetheless, we think that the EEG paradigm could represent a sound basis not only for developing the methodological framework in this field but also for investigating the extent to which twins treated differently by their parents may differ in their development.
Key words: EEG, genetics, maturation, twins, high risk cases
Feedback
If you have questions or comments concerning the research projects listed above send e-mail to one of the following addresses:
* k454910@bli.unizh.ch -General information relevant to this research project.
Until recently, researchers have usually studied 16-year-old drivers' crashes along with those of 17-19 year-olds. A special report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety focused specifically on problems associated with 16-year-olds getting behind the wheel. The facts show that the per-mile crash rate is much higher among 16-year-olds than any other age -- higher even than among 17, 18 or 19-year-olds.
How do fatal crashes involving 16-year-olds differ?
They're more likely to be single vehicle crashes. Such crashes account for 44 percent of fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers compared with 37 percent among 17-19 year-old drivers and 29 percent among drivers 20-49 years old.
Speeding is a common factor. Police reports indicate that 37 percent of all 16-year-old drivers in fatal crashes were reportedly speeding or, if not exceeding the limit, going too fast for road conditions. This proportion drops steadily with age. Thirty three percent of drivers 17-19 years old and 23 percent of drivers 20-49 years old were reportedly speeding when their fatal crashes occurred.
Crashes involving 16-year-old drivers kill more teen passengers than crashes involving 17, 18 or 19-year-old drivers. This is true even though 16-year-olds don't drive as many miles as older teenagers.
One positive distinction of fatal crashes involving 16- year-olds is the use of alcohol. Only 5 percent of 16-year-old drivers killed in crashes had blood alcohol concentrations of 0.10 percent or more. This compares with 28 percent for older teenagers and 48 percent for drivers 20-49 years old.
Are 16-year-olds getting too much freedom too soon? If so, what is the answer?
Although drivers education courses are important, research shows no crash reductions because of high school driver education. One effective approach is to deny driving privileges to 16-year-olds. Many European countries and three Canadian provinces make teens wait to get licenses.
Another approach is Graduated Licensing. This involves limiting or restricting 16-year-olds driving, and lifting controls one by one until a young driver "graduates" to full driving privileges. Sixteen year-olds can't learn it all overnight. It takes time to develop the maturity and experience to make responsible decisions behind the wheel.
So far, not one U.S. state has a full-fledged graduated program, but interest in the idea is on the increase. According to Allan Williams, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety senior vice president, "Research clearly shows graduated licensing should be seriously considered by policymakers as a way to save the lives of 16-year-old drivers and the teen passengers they transport."
WISDOM TEETH
Wisdom teeth, or third molars, are the last teeth to develop and appear in the mouth. They are called "wisdom teeth" because they usually appear during a person's late teens or early twenties, which has been called the "age of wisdom". The normal position of wisdom teeth is behind the upper and lower second, or 12-year, molars. Many times the jaws of modern humans are not normally large enough to accommodate the four wisdom teeth. This is why wisdom teeth cause more problems than any other teeth in the mouth. In fact, for nine out of ten people at least one wisdom tooth remains underneath the gum due to lack of space in the mouth.
Dictionary Information: Definition Wisdom
Thesaurus: Wisdom
Description and Meaning: Wisdom, Noble Wisdom, Transcendental Wisdom
Wisdom (Wis"dom) (-ducr/m), n.
[AS. wi¯sdo¯m. See Wise, a., and -dom.]
1. The quality of being wise; knowledge, and the capacity to make due use of it; knowledge of the best ends and the best means; discernment and judgment; discretion; sagacity; skill; dexterity. "We speak also not in wise words of man's wisdom, but in the doctrine of the spirit." Wyclif (1 Cor. ii. 13). " Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job xxviii. 28. "It is hoped that our rulers will act with dignity and wisdom that they will yield everything to reason, and refuse everything to force." Ames. "Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom." Coleridge.
2. The results of wise judgments; scientific or practical truth; acquired knowledge; erudition. "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." Acts vii. 22.
Synonyms -- Prudence; knowledge. Wisdom, Prudence, Knowledge. Wisdom has been defined to be "the use of the best means for attaining the best ends." "We conceive," says Whewell, " prudence as the virtue by which we select right means for given ends, while wisdom implies the selection of right ends as well as of right means." Hence, wisdom implies the union of high mental and moral excellence. Prudence (that is, providence, or forecast) is of a more negative character; it rather consists in avoiding danger than in taking decisive measures for the accomplishment of an object. Sir Robert Walpole was in many respects a prudent statesman, but he was far from being a wise one. Burke has said that prudence, when carried too far, degenerates into a "reptile virtue," which is the more dangerous for its plausible appearance. Knowledge, a more comprehensive term, signifies the simple apprehension of facts or relations. "In strictness of language," says Paley, " there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom; wisdom always supposing action, and action directed by it." "Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude, unprofitable mass, The mere materials with which wisdom builds, Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place, Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more." Cowper.
-- Wisdom tooth, the last, or back, tooth of the full set on each half of each jaw in man; -- familiarly so called, because appearing comparatively late, after the person may be supposed to have arrived at the age of wisdom. See the Note under Tooth, 1.
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The ONLY Biblical answer to The Age of Accountability
This is a bit long, but I believe it answers most of the questions. My wife, Becky, is the one who first pointed out this theory and then we worked together to research it.
I have battled Bob Enyart, as well as most of Denver Bible Church on this topic for over two years now. Bob, agreed that if the age of accountability was twenty in the Old Testament, that it would not change in the New Testament. However, he doesn't believe in the twenty-year age of accountability, opting instead for the varied age of accountability. When I debated him on this topic, his only response was that he believes that when God is stating twenty to be the age where one acquires the knowledge of good and evil that it is just a figure of speech. He had no biblical material to back up his statement, other than showing other figures of speech in the Bible. I found it to be a very weak argument, especially in light of the numerous times God uses twenty as the age of responsibility in the Bible. As well as the scientific data, which shows, the human body (and more importantly-the brain) does not fully develop until around twenty. However the subject is not closed and we continue to debate.
The biggest problem I see people having with this theory is that they became Christians before the age of twenty, or they know of people that became Christians before they were twenty. However, the Age of Accountability doesn't limit to someone becoming a Christian before the age of twenty (IE Christian means a follower of Christ), but rather that they are just not sealed before the age of twenty, when they are required to make a decision. A boy may fall in love with a girl when he is twelve but can't get married until he is eighteen. A boy may learn how to drive a car at age nine, but isn't legally allowed to drive until he is sixteen. A child loves God when he is very little, but God does not allow him to make an eternal decision until he is twenty.
I'm sure there will be numerous questions beyond this, so let's get started.
Oh, and if it turns out to be wrong, I can always use the Adam Defense-"It was my wife's idea".
Thesis on Biblical Age of Accountability
What is meant by the term “age of accountability”?
Most Christians who believe in an age of accountability would state that it is an age at which one becomes accountable for ones’ actions before God.
What is the basis for this belief?
One of the strongest Biblical passages in support of this argument is Paul’s statement in Romans 7:
Rom. 7:9-11 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
Here Paul explains that he was alive once, meaning that he was alive to God, before he understood sin and its full ramifications. He further states that when sin revived in him with the knowledge of the law he fell under its power and died to God.
So, what then, is the age at which one becomes accountable to God?
Most Christians would state that they believe that this age varies from individual to individual, ranging from very young (I know of at least one pastor who believes his son was saved, meaning eternally sealed, at the age of five) to around twelve or thirteen years of age.
However there is an opposing viewpoint that believes God has decreed twenty years as the age when one becomes accountable to Him.
Biblical Evidence
In support of varied age theory
…chirp—chirp—chirp…(sound of crickets chirping alone in the scary night)
There is no biblical evidence that we know of in support of a varied age of accountability.
The evidence most commonly cited for this view is that it “seems right.”
In support of twenty year age theory
Num. 14:29-32 ‘The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness.
Num. 32:11-12 ‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.’
Deut. 1:390 ‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
Notice that God is stating that the little ones and children are those below the age of twenty. God states that these do not yet have the knowledge of good and evil.
Verses that demonstrate the age at which a person is accountable for making atonement to the LORD:
THE HOLY HALF SHEKEL (We will get into the great importance of this later in the argument-but not in this post)
Ex. 30:13-16 “This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the LORD. Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves. And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.”
Notice that this is a personal offering for atonement (a ransom), which applies only to those twenty and above.
From Nelson’s study Bible: The term ransom is related to the words for atonement and propitiation. The idea is to pay a price for one’s life. The Israelites had to acknowledge that their lives were from God and governed by Him by giving Him an offering of money. Every male (twenty and above) was to provide a half-shekel ransom.
Other Verses that show twenty as being the age of responsibility
WAR: Num. 1:3 “from twenty years old and above — all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. (one of sixteen verses stating the age of twenty as being suitable for going to war)
SERVICE: 2Chr. 31:17 and to the priests who were written in the genealogy according to their father’s house, and to the Levites from twenty years old and up according to their work, by their divisions
Ezra 3:8 Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the LORD.
ANCESTRY: Num. 1:18 and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually
(thirty two verses support the idea of twenty being the age of responsibility in one way or another)
Extra-biblical evidence for twenty year age theory
(these are excerpts - see attachments for further information on these studies.)
(these are excerpts - see attachments for further information on these studies.)
World Book Encyclopedia
Most human beings reach full maturity only between 18 and 25 years of age.
Strictly speaking, a child is anyone who is not yet an adult. According to this definition, childhood extends from birth until sometime past the age of 20--the age at which most people reach their full adult physical growth.
Teenage Brain: A work in progress (NIHM)
While this work suggests a wave of brain white matter development that flows from front to back, animal, functional brain imaging and postmortem studies have suggested that gray matter maturation flows in the opposite direction, with the frontal lobes not fully maturing until young adulthood. To confirm this in living humans, the UCLA researchers compared MRI scans of young adults, 23-30, with those of teens, 12-16.4 They looked for signs of myelin, which would imply more mature, efficient connections, within gray matter. As expected, areas of the frontal lobe showed the largest differences between young adults and teens. This increased myelination in the adult frontal cortex likely relates to the maturation of cognitive processing and other "executive" functions. Parietal and temporal areas mediating spatial, sensory, auditory and language functions appeared largely mature in the teen brain. The observed late maturation of the frontal lobe conspicuously coincides with the typical age-of-onset of schizophrenia—late teens, early twenties—which, as noted earlier, is characterized by impaired "executive" functioning.
As teens grow older, their brain activity during this task tends to shift to the frontal lobe, leading to more reasoned perceptions and improved performance. Similarly, the researchers saw a shift in activation from the temporal lobe to the frontal lobe during a language skills task, as teens got older. These functional changes paralleled structural changes in temporal lobe white matter.
EEG maturation in monozygotic and dizygotic twins. A longitudinal study of 200 twin pairs
Regardless of the many similarities to brain wave patterns of adults, the immature EEG nonetheless exhibits unique characteristics during infancy, childhood and adolescence. These characteristics show distinct inter-individual differences, change continuously over time, and by the age of 20 years they achieve their final form.
The Facts About 16-Year-Old Drivers
They're more likely to be single vehicle crashes. Such crashes account for 44 percent of fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers compared with 37 percent among 17-19 year-old drivers and 29 percent among drivers 20-49 years old.
WHAT ARE WISDOM TEETH?
Wisdom teeth, or third molars, are the last teeth to develop and appear in the mouth. They are called "wisdom teeth" because they usually appear during a person’s late teens or early twenties, which has been called the "age of wisdom." The normal position of wisdom teeth is behind the upper and lower second, or 12-year, molars.
Arguments against twenty year age theory:
Argument: Christian dogma (traditional Christian thought of varied age theory).
Response: Traditional view is often in error, IE mixing of law and grace/knowledge of God etc. Evidence outweighs tradition.
Argument: Supposed common sense.
Response: Traditional view states that some children as young as five are capable of making a decision in regards to their eternal destiny, even though no responsible adult would allow them to enter a binding legal contract of any sort.
Argument: Criminals such as Klebold and Harris could be in heaven.
Response: (1) Where children that have not reached the age of accountability go after physical death is a separate issue.
(2) Christians that think that God is not capable of deciding righteously where these children should go should refer to 1Cor 4:6/1Tim 3:6
Argument: Biblical statements in support of twenty-year age theory are an exaggeration to make the point that only those without the knowledge of good and evil will enter the Promised Land.
Response: (1) This argument proves the point that those under twenty did not yet have the knowledge of good and evil.
(2) This argument has no biblical support and is defeated by other biblical passages showing the age of twenty as a sign of maturity, (war, service, atonement, etc.)
Importance of age of accountability:
Responsibility of Parents toward their children:
Prov. 22:4-6 By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards his soul will be far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Deut.6:5-7 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Parents have an awesome responsibility to their children. That is to teach them in the ways of the Lord. Without a correct knowledge concerning the age of accountability many parents might relax their teaching and control on a child before it is right to do so. As a police officer I see many parents who allow their teenage children far greater control of their lives than they are ready for. The results are usually disastrous. Sometimes deadly. If a parent believes that his child was saved at the age of five and then later in his teenage years he becomes rebellious, the parent could always say (and I’ve heard it said), “well at least he’s a Christian”. The results of this type of thinking may well be eternally fatal.
Often a child that grows up as a Christian turns against God when he reaches his later teens and early twenties, (I did), perhaps due in part to parents that thought their children were safe and had accepted the gift of salvation. If we, as parents, realize that our children cannot make such an important and eternal commitment until they are fully mature, then it is natural to take greater measures in teaching and instructing them in the ways of the Lord.
2Tim3:14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
We must be diligent in raising our children in a Godly atmosphere. Armed with the truth of God and the knowledge of His Book and loving personality, our children will have the correct instruction in making their choice to humble themselves and say “I do” to God when they reach maturity.
Attachments:
World Book Encyclopedia
Human beings live longer and develop more slowly than other primates. The human life span varies from an average of about 40 years in many developing countries to more than 70 years in most industrial nations. A human infant is born completely helpless and depends on its parents for many years. Most human beings reach full maturity only between 18 and 25 years of age. Slow growth and development allow for a much longer period of learning and brain growth than exists in any other species.
Strictly speaking, a child is anyone who is not yet an adult. According to this definition, childhood extends from birth until sometime past the age of 20--the age at which most people reach their full adult physical growth. However, childhood is usually considered to be a much shorter period. In most developed countries, it is regarded as one of three stages that people pass through from birth to adulthood. The other stages are infancy and adolescence. Infancy extends from birth to about 18 months of age. Adolescence begins between the ages of about 10 and 13 and lasts to adulthood. Childhood is the period between infancy and adolescence. In some developing countries, people are considered to be adults after they reach the age of 12 or 13, and adolescence is not regarded as a distinct stage of development.
Teenage Brain: A work in progress (NIMH)
New imaging studies are revealing—for the first time—patterns of brain development that extend into the teenage years. Although scientists don't know yet what accounts for the observed changes, they may parallel a pruning process that occurs early in life that appears to follow the principle of "use-it-or-lose-it:" neural connections, or synapses, that get exercised are retained, while those that don't are lost. At least, this is what studies of animals' developing visual systems suggest. While it's known that both genes and environment play major roles in shaping early brain development, science still has much to learn about the relative influence of experience versus genes on the later maturation of the brain. Animal studies support a role for experience in late development, but no animal species undergoes anything comparable to humans' protracted childhood and adolescence. Nor is it yet clear whether experience actually creates new neurons and synapses, or merely establishes transitory functional changes. Nonetheless, it's tempting to interpret the new findings as empowering teens to protect and nurture their brain as a work in progress.
The newfound appreciation of the dynamic nature of the teen brain is emerging from MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) studies that scan a child's brain every two years, as he or she grows up. Individual brains differ enough that only broad generalizations can be made from comparisons of different individuals at different ages. But following the same brains as they mature allows scientists a much finer-grained view into developmental changes. In the first such longitudinal study of 145 children and adolescents, reported in l999, NIMH's Dr. Judith Rapoport and colleagues were surprised to discover a second wave of overproduction of gray matter, the thinking part of the brain—neurons and their branch-like extensions—just prior to puberty.1 Possibly related to the influence of surging sex hormones, this thickening peaks at around age 11 in girls, 12 in boys, after which the gray matter actually thins some.
Prior to this study, research had shown that the brain overproduced gray matter for a brief period in early development—in the womb and for about the first 18 months of life—and then underwent just one bout of pruning. Researchers are now confronted with structural changes that occur much later in adolescence. The teen's gray matter waxes and wanes in different functional brain areas at different times in development. For example, the gray matter growth spurt just prior to puberty predominates in the frontal lobe, the seat of "executive functions"—planning, impulse control and reasoning. In teens affected by a rare, childhood onset form of schizophrenia that impairs these functions, the MRI scans revealed four times as much gray matter loss in the frontal lobe as normally occurs.2 Unlike gray matter, the brain's white matter—wire-like fibers that establish neurons' long-distance connections between brain regions—thickens progressively from birth in humans. A layer of insulation called myelin progressively envelops these nerve fibers, making them more efficient, just like insulation on electric wires improves their conductivity.
Advancements in MRI image analysis are providing new insights into how the brain develops. UCLA's Dr. Arthur Toga and colleagues turned the NIMH team's MRI scan data into 4-D time-lapse animations of children's brains morphing as they grow up—the 4th dimension being rate-of-change.3 Researchers report a wave of white matter growth that begins at the front of the brain in early childhood, moves rearward, and then subsides after puberty. Striking growth spurts can be seen from ages 6 to 13 in areas connecting brain regions specialized for language and understanding spatial relations, the temporal and parietal lobes. This growth drops off sharply after age 12, coinciding with the end of a critical period for learning languages.
While this work suggests a wave of brain white matter development that flows from front to back, animal, functional brain imaging and postmortem studies have suggested that gray matter maturation flows in the opposite direction, with the frontal lobes not fully maturing until young adulthood. To confirm this in living humans, the UCLA researchers compared MRI scans of young adults, 23-30, with those of teens, 12-16.4 They looked for signs of myelin, which would imply more mature, efficient connections, within gray matter. As expected, areas of the frontal lobe showed the largest differences between young adults and teens. This increased myelination in the adult frontal cortex likely relates to the maturation of cognitive processing and other "executive" functions. Parietal and temporal areas mediating spatial, sensory, auditory and language functions appeared largely mature in the teen brain. The observed late maturation of the frontal lobe conspicuously coincides with the typical age-of-onset of schizophrenia—late teens, early twenties—which, as noted earlier, is characterized by impaired "executive" functioning.
Another series of MRI studies is shedding light on how teens may process emotions differently than adults. Using functional MRI (fMRI), a team led by Dr. Deborah Yurgelun-Todd at Harvard's McLean Hospital scanned subjects' brain activity while they identified emotions on pictures of faces displayed on a computer screen.5 Young teens, who characteristically perform poorly on the task, activated the amygdala, a brain center that mediates fear and other "gut" reactions, more than the frontal lobe. As teens grow older, their brain activity during this task tends to shift to the frontal lobe, leading to more reasoned perceptions and improved performance. Similarly, the researchers saw a shift in activation from the temporal lobe to the frontal lobe during a language skills task, as teens got older. These functional changes paralleled structural changes in temporal lobe white matter.
While these studies have shown remarkable changes that occur in the brain during the teen years, they also demonstrate what every parent can confirm: the teenage brain is a very complicated and dynamic arena, one that is not easily understood.
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For More Information
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
Public Inquiries: (301) 443-4513
Media Inquiries: (301) 443-4536
E-mail: nimhinfo@nih.gov
Web site: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
Child and adolescent mental health information:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/childmenu.cfm
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All material in this fact sheet is in the public domain and may be copied or reproduced without permission from the Institute. Citation of the source is appreciated.
NIH Publication No. 01-4929
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References
1 Giedd JN, Blumenthal J, Jeffries NO, et al. Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 1999; 2(10): 861-3.
2 Rapoport JL, Giedd JN, Blumenthal J, et al. Progressive cortical change during adolescence in childhood-onset schizophrenia. A longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1999; 56(7): 649-54.
3 Thompson PM, Giedd JN, Woods RP, et al. Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps. Nature, 2000; 404(6774): 190-3.
4 Sowell ER, Thompson PM, Holmes CJ, et al. In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regions. Nature Neuroscience, 1999; 2(10): 859-61.
5 Baird AA, Gruber SA, Fein DA, et al. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of facial affect recognition in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1999; 38(2): 195-9.
Updated: January 01, 2001
Hole’s Human Anatomy & Physiology
When a myelinated nerve fiber is stimulated to threshold, an action potential occurs at the trigger zone. This causes an electrical current to flow away from the trigger zone through the cytoplasm of the axon. As this local current reaches the first node, it stimulates the membrane to its threshold level. An action potential occurs there sending an electric current to the next node. Consequently, a nerve impulse traveling along a myelinated nerve fiber appears to jump from node to node. This type of impulse conduction, called saltatory conduction, is many times faster than conduction on an un-myelinated nerve fiber.
EEG maturation in monozygotic and dizygotic twins.
A longitudinal study of 200 twin pairs
Stassen H.H., Katsanis J., Malone S., Iacono W.G., Propping P. and Hell D.
In a large twin-family study comprising EEG recordings of 919 subjects, we applied methods of quantitative genetics to explore the trait-like qualities of EEG parameters, and to quantify the proportions of phentotypic variance that can be attributed to genetic and environmental influences. Our study confirmed previous findings regarding the existence of strong heritable factors that contribute a major proportion to the inter- individual variance in human brain wave patterns. Quantitatively, we found for major EEG parameters a heritability estimate of h^2=0.75 independently derived using two different methods; through an analysis of (a) the parent-offspring EEG similarity and (b) the difference in within-pair EEG similarity between monozygotic and dizygotic twins. The heritability estimates were consistent across the lateral EEG channels, whereas the central channel did not fully fit this picture of overall consistency.
Regardless of the many similarities to brain wave patterns of adults, the immature EEG nonetheless exhibits unique characteristics during infancy, childhood and adolescence. These characteristics show distinct inter-individual differences, change continuously over time, and by the age of 20 years they achieve their final form. Since the rhythm of EEG maturation is determined by genetic factors, developmental EEG changes appear to proceed at the same rate for identical twins, whereas the developmental synchronies are much lower within pairs of fraternal twins. Given these empirical findings, we expected that the parent-offspring EEG similarity will continuously increase during adolescence, and that at each stage of development the within-pair EEG similarity of MZ and DZ twins will be in magnitude identical to that of adult twins.
Our results did not uniformly support these hypotheses. While the within-pair MZ similarity of all EEG parameters under investigation was as high as that of adult twins and the within- pair DZ similarities varied, as expected, from complete similarity (to the extent of being identical twins) to complete dissimilarity (no familial resemblance at all), the parent- offspring EEG similarities were, yet unexpectedly, for the frequency-related EEG parameters as high as those of adult offsprings. Only for the power-related EEG parameters the parent-offspring similarity was found to be significantly lower in the adolescent-offspring sample than in the adult-offspring sample. These findings suggest that the development of brain wave patterns during brain maturation does not uniformly involve all EEG characteristics. For example, the central pacemaker system of alpha frequency, which is hypothesized to be located in the thalamus, does not appear to change its function during adolescence as indicated by the fact that the parent-offspring similarity was identical in the adolescent- offspring and the adult-offspring samples.
When we attempted to analyse the birth-cohorts separately in order to quantify developmental changes of EEG parameters during adolescence, our sample turned out to be not large enough to conclusively address this issue. This lack of sensitivity, however, was mostly due to the chosen method of approach in which the large inter-individual variation is likely to obscure subtle changes over time. We hope to overcome this problem by using repeated assessments on the same subjects at 3-year intervals so that each individual can be used as his or her own reference. The present study was not suited to examine non-shared environmental impacts that have recently been reported to be the most important environmental influences on normal and pathologic development. Nonetheless, we think that the EEG paradigm could represent a sound basis not only for developing the methodological framework in this field but also for investigating the extent to which twins treated differently by their parents may differ in their development.
Key words: EEG, genetics, maturation, twins, high risk cases
Feedback
If you have questions or comments concerning the research projects listed above send e-mail to one of the following addresses:
* k454910@bli.unizh.ch -General information relevant to this research project.
The Facts About 16-Year-Old Drivers
Until recently, researchers have usually studied 16-year-old drivers' crashes along with those of 17-19 year-olds. A special report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety focused specifically on problems associated with 16-year-olds getting behind the wheel. The facts show that the per-mile crash rate is much higher among 16-year-olds than any other age -- higher even than among 17, 18 or 19-year-olds.
How do fatal crashes involving 16-year-olds differ?
They're more likely to be single vehicle crashes. Such crashes account for 44 percent of fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers compared with 37 percent among 17-19 year-old drivers and 29 percent among drivers 20-49 years old.
Speeding is a common factor. Police reports indicate that 37 percent of all 16-year-old drivers in fatal crashes were reportedly speeding or, if not exceeding the limit, going too fast for road conditions. This proportion drops steadily with age. Thirty three percent of drivers 17-19 years old and 23 percent of drivers 20-49 years old were reportedly speeding when their fatal crashes occurred.
Crashes involving 16-year-old drivers kill more teen passengers than crashes involving 17, 18 or 19-year-old drivers. This is true even though 16-year-olds don't drive as many miles as older teenagers.
One positive distinction of fatal crashes involving 16- year-olds is the use of alcohol. Only 5 percent of 16-year-old drivers killed in crashes had blood alcohol concentrations of 0.10 percent or more. This compares with 28 percent for older teenagers and 48 percent for drivers 20-49 years old.
Are 16-year-olds getting too much freedom too soon? If so, what is the answer?
Although drivers education courses are important, research shows no crash reductions because of high school driver education. One effective approach is to deny driving privileges to 16-year-olds. Many European countries and three Canadian provinces make teens wait to get licenses.
Another approach is Graduated Licensing. This involves limiting or restricting 16-year-olds driving, and lifting controls one by one until a young driver "graduates" to full driving privileges. Sixteen year-olds can't learn it all overnight. It takes time to develop the maturity and experience to make responsible decisions behind the wheel.
So far, not one U.S. state has a full-fledged graduated program, but interest in the idea is on the increase. According to Allan Williams, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety senior vice president, "Research clearly shows graduated licensing should be seriously considered by policymakers as a way to save the lives of 16-year-old drivers and the teen passengers they transport."
WISDOM TEETH
What are Wisdom Teeth?
Wisdom teeth, or third molars, are the last teeth to develop and appear in the mouth. They are called "wisdom teeth" because they usually appear during a person's late teens or early twenties, which has been called the "age of wisdom". The normal position of wisdom teeth is behind the upper and lower second, or 12-year, molars. Many times the jaws of modern humans are not normally large enough to accommodate the four wisdom teeth. This is why wisdom teeth cause more problems than any other teeth in the mouth. In fact, for nine out of ten people at least one wisdom tooth remains underneath the gum due to lack of space in the mouth.
Dictionary Information: Definition Wisdom
Thesaurus: Wisdom
Description and Meaning: Wisdom, Noble Wisdom, Transcendental Wisdom
Wisdom (Wis"dom) (-ducr/m), n.
[AS. wi¯sdo¯m. See Wise, a., and -dom.]
1. The quality of being wise; knowledge, and the capacity to make due use of it; knowledge of the best ends and the best means; discernment and judgment; discretion; sagacity; skill; dexterity. "We speak also not in wise words of man's wisdom, but in the doctrine of the spirit." Wyclif (1 Cor. ii. 13). " Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job xxviii. 28. "It is hoped that our rulers will act with dignity and wisdom that they will yield everything to reason, and refuse everything to force." Ames. "Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom." Coleridge.
2. The results of wise judgments; scientific or practical truth; acquired knowledge; erudition. "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." Acts vii. 22.
Synonyms -- Prudence; knowledge. Wisdom, Prudence, Knowledge. Wisdom has been defined to be "the use of the best means for attaining the best ends." "We conceive," says Whewell, " prudence as the virtue by which we select right means for given ends, while wisdom implies the selection of right ends as well as of right means." Hence, wisdom implies the union of high mental and moral excellence. Prudence (that is, providence, or forecast) is of a more negative character; it rather consists in avoiding danger than in taking decisive measures for the accomplishment of an object. Sir Robert Walpole was in many respects a prudent statesman, but he was far from being a wise one. Burke has said that prudence, when carried too far, degenerates into a "reptile virtue," which is the more dangerous for its plausible appearance. Knowledge, a more comprehensive term, signifies the simple apprehension of facts or relations. "In strictness of language," says Paley, " there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom; wisdom always supposing action, and action directed by it." "Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude, unprofitable mass, The mere materials with which wisdom builds, Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place, Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more." Cowper.
-- Wisdom tooth, the last, or back, tooth of the full set on each half of each jaw in man; -- familiarly so called, because appearing comparatively late, after the person may be supposed to have arrived at the age of wisdom. See the Note under Tooth, 1.
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