Science News: Brain -behavior research out of Leiden University Brain & Cognition Laboratory find differences in learning from positive and negative feedback by children 8 years old and 12 years old. Eveline Crone and colleagues, using fMRI, found that the cerebral cortex brain areas responsible for cognitive control showed different patterns of activation following negative feedback. In 8 year olds, nerve activation in those areas were minimal involving negative feedback (teaching what is wrong, not to do). In 12 year olds and older those areas of the cerebral cortex were responding, and "learning from mistakes" became much more effective. These findings are important to the theoretical applications (compensation and modification) involving the Personality Assessment System (PAS). The PAS describes how environmental impacts upon cognitive factors result in personality development and change over time. These changes are formative in basic and surface personality development. Early, effective and healthy personality development (compensation) is more a function of positive guidance than punishment. This brain-behavior research may also help explain the unusually strong, negative, adolescent adjustments seen in some children.