Journal
YEAR IN COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE 2008
Volume 1124, Issue -, Pages 111-126Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1196/annals.1440.010
Keywords
adolescence; prefrontal cortex; nucleus accumbens; amygdala; limbic; impulsivity; reward; development; risk taking; emotion
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Funding
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH [P50MH062196, R01MH073175] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE [R01DA018879] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by suboptimal decisions and actions that are associated with an increased incidence of unintentional injuries, violence, substance 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 both childhood and adulthood. This review provides a biologically plausible model of the neural mechanisms underlying these nonlinear changes in behavior. We provide evidence from recent human brain imaging and animal studies that there is a heightened responsiveness to incentives and socioemotional. contexts during this time, when impulse control is still relatively immature. These findings suggest differential development of bottom-up limbic systems, implicated in incentive and emotional processing, to top-down control systems during adolescence as compared to childhood and adulthood. This developmental pattern may be exacerbated in those adolescents prone to emotional reactivity, increasing the likelihood of poor outcomes.
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