New research says your child is biologically programmed to roll her eyes. Here's why -- and why it's really no big deal.

Have you ever started singing a tune in the middle of the grocery store and saw your teen cringe with embarrassment? Or maybe you've picked up your son from school and he suddenly pretended he didn't know you?

You may feel confused -- if not downright insulted when your kid is mortified to be in your presence, but new research says he can't help it -- he's biologically programmed to be embarrassed by you.

Scientists at the University College London studied teen brains and found they process the emotions of embarrassment and guilt very differently from those of adults.

Here's the deal: While both teens and adults use the same parts of the brain when experiencing disgust and fear -- emotions which don't involve the opinions of others -- their scans show pronounced contrasts when they think about embarrassment or guilt.

Another reason teens may experience such shame at the mercy of their parents is because the frontal lobe of their brain is still developing, which makes a kid unable to fully predict the outcome of situations. So if she exasperates, "I'll just die if you show up at school," she doesn't mean it, she's just being a drama queen -- in other words, a teenager.