No sooner do the kids enter in adolescence, than their learning ability decreases. The main culprit behind learning deficits that comes with the onset of puberty is a new brain receptor called alpha4-beta-delta.

Everybody is aware of the fact that the optimal period for learning language and certain spatial skills is before a child attains puberty. But the very reason behind this could not be dug out until recently.

Dr. Sheryl Smith, Professor of physiology and pharmacology, and colleagues at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, conducted a study, and concluded that a brain receptor alpha4-beta-delta appears at puberty in the hippocampus, the very part of the brain that controls learning as well as memory.

In the post-puberty period, the expression of this receptor is low, consequently the learning is optimal. But, when a child enters into puberty, this receptor renders the brain less excitable and also damages spatial learning.

A stress steroid can tackle the learning deficit which can even reduce the harmful effects of the alpha4-beta-delta receptors, consequently facilitates learning.

Smith said, “It's useful to understand that there are brain mechanisms that are specific to learning that are changing at puberty and making it hard to learn certain things”.