412. Does your frontal lobe ACTUALLY develop at 25?
The Psychology of your 20s
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Where did this myth that our frontal lobe develops at 25 actually come from? What does the death penalty and Leonardo DiCaprio have in common? You've probably seen TikToks, videos, tweets, memes, but what is the truth about brain maturity? That is what we're breaking down today, including:
- Why brain development is a lot more complicated than a number
- The specific role of the frontal lobe
- The early 2000s research that defined how we see brain development
- Why our brain actually develops in spurts
- The good news for 20 somethings
Happy listening!
Watch on Netflix: HERE
Follow Jemma on Instagram: @jemmasbeg
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast
Subscribe on Substack: @thepsychologyofyour20s
For business: psychologyofyour20s@gmail.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:08.5 | Hello everybody. |
| 0:10.0 | I'm Jemma Spike and welcome back to the psychology of your 20s, the podcast where we talk |
| 0:15.4 | through the biggest changes, moments and transitions of our 20s and what they mean for our psychology. |
| 0:27.6 | Hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. It is so great to |
| 0:33.7 | have you here back for another episode. In fact, back for a special little bonus |
| 0:39.3 | episode from me to you just for my OG audio listeners. You guys know the drill with these |
| 0:46.1 | smaller episodes. I feel like there are some topics that are so, so interesting, but also |
| 0:53.2 | deeply understood. |
| 0:55.1 | However, they just don't warrant like a full 30 to 45 minute episode. |
| 0:59.2 | There's like only so much that I can ramble on, only so many tangents that I can go on, |
| 1:04.8 | unfortunately. |
| 1:05.8 | But I still want to talk about them. |
| 1:07.8 | I still want to talk about it. |
| 1:09.0 | I still think a lot of it would be interesting, not just for me to research, but for you guys to talk about them. I still want to talk about it. I still think a lot of it would be |
| 1:10.9 | interesting, not just for me to research, but for you guys to hear. Today's episode is one of |
| 1:17.0 | those topics because we are talking about frontal lobe development. And the recently, |
| 1:24.4 | I would say recently, like insanely popular idea that our frontal lobe only fully |
| 1:30.0 | develops at 25. And kind of the reasoning that therefore, you know, we can't really trust any |
| 1:37.5 | decisions that we make before then. We don't really know who we are until then. And the sense that, |
| 1:43.0 | you know, you wake up at 25 and suddenly like the |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.