{"id":180671,"date":"2025-08-13T13:23:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=180671"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:53","slug":"de-eurekaweek-is-perfect-getimed-voor-het-puberbrein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/08\/13\/de-eurekaweek-is-perfect-getimed-voor-het-puberbrein\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eurekaweek is timed perfectly for the adolescent brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professor Eveline Crone sees introductory weeks not only as a sociable start to student life, but also as a crucial moment in young people’s development. “Society has actually \u2013 without us realising it \u2013 adapted to those biological changes in our brains.”<\/p>\n

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Eurekaweek participants in 2023.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHilde Speet<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

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Eveline Crone.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

What was your own introductory week like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI started studying at the University of Amsterdam in 1999, where they have the Intreeweek<\/em>. But after one day of partying I became ill, probably a combination of poor food and one drink too many. So I missed the rest of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Eveline Crone is professor of Developmental neuroscience in society at the ESSB and lead researcher of the SYNC-lab, which investigates how young people develop into active members of society. Her book Generatie zelfvertrouwen. De ontwikkeling van een gezond zelfbeeld bij jongeren<\/i> (Generation self-confidence: The development of a healthy self-image in young people<\/em>) was recently published.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

Why is 18 years \u2013 the average age of a Eurekaweek participant \u2013 such an important phase for the brain?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if I compare what science knew at the time of my own Intreeweek with what we now know about the brains of 18-year-olds, we\u2019ve learned a tremendous amount. Back then virtually every scientist still thought the brain was fully developed by the age of 12, because by then the brain is roughly the same size as an adult\u2019s. And people thought that all subsequent behaviour was just awkward teenage stuff driven by hormones. Now we know that brains develop for much longer, up to around 25 years. From 10 to 16 there is a major reconstruction taking place, after which the changes are smaller and it\u2019s mainly specialisation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018If you never take risks, you would always live with your parents\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Why does an introductory week suit this age so well?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are changes in your brain that make you want to go out. In adolescence you take more risks, so you try out more things: you take health risks, like drinking and vaping, and do dangerous things without immediately thinking about the consequences. Many young people have a positivity bias<\/em>: they know that drinking is bad and driving fast is dangerous, but they have the feeling: \u2018nothing will happen to me\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cRisk-taking increases between the ages of 10 and 20 and peaks around 18 to 20. After that it declines. I view risk-taking as something positive, because it has all kinds of evolutionary advantages. If you never take risks, you would always live with your parents. Also when you want to make new friends, raise your hand in class or try new sports, you have to take a bit of a risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you see risk-taking only as something positive?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, only to a certain extent. All forms of risk-taking that go too far are negative for the person themselves and the people around them, such as causing accidents or going too far along with group activities, like drinking and causing nuisance, just because you feel you won\u2019t belong otherwise. These are the excesses you want to try to prevent, and most young people actually want that too. But a little risk-taking within limits is part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Sometimes inclusion goes a bit too far in the direction that everyone always has to do everything together in the same way\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Some young people don\u2019t feel at home at all with all that drinking and dancing. With the arrival of many international students, for example, students\u2019 norms and preferences have only grown further apart. There are already alternative programmes during the Eurekaweek, but that may isolate a group of participants. How can the university best deal with that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about other cultures; there are also young people who are highly sensitive or socially shy. They are sometimes forgotten, because they just stay at home in their \u00a0room. On the one hand you naturally want everyone to mix with everyone. On the other hand I think it\u2019s fine that there are subgroups. So suppose you come from abroad and you have very different norms and values, then the university can also create groups for that to carry out activities together. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes inclusion goes a bit too far in the direction that everyone always has to do everything together in the same way. But differences may exist too. Because if you have to conform too much to a minority, the majority will at some point form a counter-movement. We already see that a little in reactions to the acceptance of minority groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt school parties you see that there is sometimes a school disco and a quiet room, where pupils want to play chess with headphones on. I think it\u2019s really good if there is also a place where someone can retreat. As long as you also have those shared moments and a shared feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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