The Teenage Brain: Sensitivity to Rewards

Adolescence is characterized by heightened reward sensitivity. Accumulating evidence suggests that this behavior is associated with neurodevelopmental changes in reward-related neural circuitry. In this article, I review recent studies in animal models and humans that highlight the unique adolescent response to reward in the striatum, a reward-sensitive brain region. This work helps the field understand characteristic adolescent behavior and will be important in addressing policy questions related to this period of development.