The adolescent brain

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Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by suboptimal decisions and actions that give rise to an increased incidence of unintentional injuries and violence, alcohol and drug abuse, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Traditional neurobiological and cognitive explanations for adolescent behavior have failed to account for the nonlinear changes in behavior observed during adolescence, relative to childhood and adulthood. This review provides a biologically plausible conceptualization of the neural mechanisms underlying these nonlinear changes in behavior, as a heightened responsiveness to incentives while impulse control is still relatively immature during this period. Recent human imaging and animal studies provide a biological basis for this view, suggesting differential development of limbic reward systems relative to top-down control systems during adolescence relative to childhood and adulthood. This developmental pattern may be exacerbated in those adolescents with a predisposition toward risk-taking, increasing the risk for poor outcomes.

Section snippets

Development of goal-directed behavior

A cornerstone of cognitive development is the ability to suppress inappropriate thoughts and actions in favor of goal-directed ones, especially in the presence of compelling incentives (Casey, Galvan et al., 2005, Casey et al., 2000b, Casey et al., 2002a, Casey et al., 2002b). A number of classic developmental studies have shown that this ability develops throughout childhood and adolescence (Case, 1972; Flavell et al., 1966, Keating and Bobbitt, 1978, Pascual-Leone, 1970). Several theorists

Evidence from neuroimaging studies of human brain development

Recent investigations of adolescent brain development have been based on advances in neuroimaging methodologies that can be easily used with developing human populations. These methods rely on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods (see Fig. 2) and include: structural MRI, which is used to measure the size and shape of structures; functional MRI which is used to measure patterns of brain activity; and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) which is used to index connectivity of white matter fiber

Why would the brain be programmed to develop this way?

Adolescence is the transitional period between childhood and adulthood often co-occurring with puberty. Puberty marks the beginnings of sexual maturation (Graber & Brooks-Gunn, 1998) and can be defined by biological markers. Adolescence can be described as a progressive transition into adulthood with a nebulous ontogenetic time course (Spear, 2000). Evolutionarily speaking, adolescence is the period in which independence skills are acquired to increase success upon separation from the

Biological predispositions, development, and risk

Individual differences in impulse control and taking risks has been recognized in psychology for some time (Benthin, Slovic, & Severson, 1993). Perhaps one of the classic examples of individual differences reported in these abilities in the social, cognitive and developmental psychology literature is delay of gratification (Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989). Delay of gratification is typically assessed in 3- to 4-year-old toddlers. The toddler is asked whether they would prefer a small reward

Conclusions

Human imaging studies show structural and functional changes in frontostriatal regions (Giedd et al., 1996, Giedd et al., 1999, Jernigan et al., 1991, Sowell et al., 1999; for review, Casey, Galvan et al., 2005) that seem to parallel increases in cognitive control and self-regulation (Casey, Trainor et al., 1997, Luna and Sweeney, 2004, Luna et al., 2001, Rubia et al., 2000, Steinberg, 2004; see also Steinberg, 2008, this issue). These changes appear to show a shift in activation of prefrontal

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse R01 DA18879 and the National Institute of Mental Health 1P50 MH62196.

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