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 …