I don't know, it remains a bit of a mystery... certainly if it [the broadcaster] was somebody who knew me, it might be easier to explain. Instead, I'm left to consider changes in adolescent brain development, and the sudden changes in spatial patterns created by physical structures in the brain (like those little green things in my Avatar).
Jay Giedd's work on childhood brain development is very interesting, particularly his longitudinal studies, where he shows substantial non-linear grey matter changes in brain development peaking at around age 12 for the frontal and parietal lobes, 16 for the temporal lobe, and grey matter continuing to increase in the occipital lobe through to age 20.
http://www.math.tau.ac.il/~dms/Longitudinal/brain_MRI.pdf
"If these increases are related to a second wave of overproduction of synapses, it may herald a critical stage of development when the environment or activities of the teenager may guide selective synapse elimination during adolescence. The relative prominence of the role of the environment in shaping late synaptogenesis is supported by rat studies"
The part I'm interested in, is the idea of periods in a child's brain development where there are massive peaks of over-production of synapses. A bit like a sculptor being given a raw block of stone, and then carving away a block of stone to reveal a pattern. In much the same way, the sudden over production of new structures in the child's brain are eliminated over time - if they remain unused.
What happens at the peak periods of over-production of these structures...? I'm suggesting that these peaks in over production, may be partly responsible for increased reports of odd phenomena which seem centered around children of similar ages.