Introduction

During adolescence, people are probably the quickest that they will ever be; their crushes will never be better, and their thrills will never quite be the same. That’s the good news. The bad news is that during this time, relative to childhood, their chances of dying from putting themselves in harm’s way will increase by 200% (Dahl, 2001). This article focuses on the challenges of adolescence in the context of self-control— the ability to suppress inappropriate emotions, desires, and actions. We highlight the specific contexts in which adolescents’ self-control is most likely to falter and its underlying neurobiological basis.

Over the past decade, there has been a marked increase in neurobiological research on the behavioral changes that occur during adolescence. Too often, in simplifying the findings for the media or for policymakers, this work is reduced to adolescents having no self-control and no prefrontal cortex, basically being “all gasoline, no brakes, and no steering wheel” (Bell & McBride, 2010, p. 565). Such simple claims can have positive and negative consequences for the treatment of adolescents, given that they can be used to justify both diminished responsibility for criminal acts (see Bonnie & Scott, 2013; this issue) and limited ability to make life choices (e.g., to terminate or continue a pregnancy). Reading popular science magazines that have made such claims led our group to undertake the studies of self-control described in this article. Here, we present our work in the context of three common “myths” or overgeneralizations about adolescence to clarify and temper some of these claims.

The first is that adolescent behavior is irrational or deviant. Such descriptions may be understandable in light of the peak incidence in criminal activity and many psychiatric disorders that arise during this developmental period. Yet this description pathologizes an important phase of normal development that allows individuals to learn how to function relatively independently in society. A second overgeneralization is that adolescents are incapable of making rational decisions because of their immature prefrontal cortex (Yurgelun-Todd, 2007), the so-called rational, vulcanized region of the brain (J. D. Cohen, 2005). Clearly, the prefrontal cortex is not the only part of the brain that changes during this developmental period, and the child’s prefrontal cortex is even less mature than the adolescent’s. Thus, this explanation does not sufficiently explain spikes in risky and emotive behavior during adolescence. We present evidence that underscores the importance of considering brain regions as part of a developing circuitry that is fine-tuned with experience during this time. Third is the century-old claim that all adolescents experience “sturm und drang”—that is, “storm and stress”—a claim originally proposed by G. Stanley Hall (Hall, 1904).

Although adolescents show poor self-control as a group, we provide evidence for when self-control is most likely to break down during adolescence and for striking individual differences in this ability across the life span that may put some teens at greater risk than others. We address each of the preceding overgeneralizations in the context of a neurodevelopmental framework.

Self-Control and the Teenage Brain

Overgeneralization 1: Adolescents are incapable of making optimal decisions

Adolescence, by definition, involves new demands on the individual as she or he moves from dependence on the family unit to relative independence. This developmental period is not specific to humans, as evidenced by the increases in novelty seeking, interactions with peers, and fighting with parents observed in other species (see Romeo, 2013; Spear, 2013; both in this issue). These behaviors are thought to have evolved to serve adaptive functions related to successful mating and obtainment of resources necessary for survival (Spear & Varlinskaya, 2010). A heightened sensitivity to socially relevant cues (e.g., peers, monetary gain) would seem to be an ideal mechanism for meeting some of these developmental challenges. However, such a system may appear less than optimal when the pull by these socially relevant cues comes at the expense of long-term goals and the overall well-being of the adolescent.

To suggest that this period of development is one of no brakes or steering wheel (Bell & McBride, 2010) is to greatly oversimplify it. In a series of recent experiments in our laboratory (Somerville, Hare, & Casey, 2011), we measured self-control using a variant of a go/no-go paradigm that contained social cues (positive, negative, or neutral facial expressions). By using socially relevant and emotionally salient stimuli together with neutral stimuli, we could test how well adolescents regulated their impulses in both emotional and nonemotional contexts (Hare et al., 2008; Somerville et al., 2011).

Self-control—in this case, suppressing a compelling action—showed a different developmental pattern in the context of emotional information than in its absence, especially for males (Tottenham, Hare, & Casey, 2011). As illustrated in Figure 1 (also see Fig. 1 in Hare et al., 2008; National Research Council, 2011), when no emotional information is present, not only do many adolescents perform as well as adults, some perform even better. However, when decisions are required in the heat of the moment (i.e., in the presence of emotional cues; Fig. 2a), performance falters (Fig. 2b). Specifically, adolescents have difficulty suppressing a response to appetitive social cues relative to neutral ones. This diminished ability is not observed in children and adults, who show equal difficulty in suppressing responses regardless of the emotional content of the nontarget. Thus, the description of teens as “all gasoline, no brakes, and no steering wheel” more accurately reflects their behavior in heated situations than in cool, less immediate, and less emotional ones. In these cool situations, the teen appears to be capable of acting rationally and making optimal decisions.

Overgeneralization 2: Adolescents have no prefrontal cortex

Saying that one studies the adolescent brain is often met with comic skepticism and feigned relief that adolescents do indeed have a brain. There is no hole in the head or absence of parts to suggest a lesion-related impairment during this period. Moreover, the prefrontal cortex, a region important in self-control and rational decision making, is clearly present even from birth. What is changing during this period of development is the strength of connections within prefrontal circuitry as individuals learn to adapt to changing environmental demands (Liston et al., 2006). This development reflects a combination of evolutionarily shaped biological constraints and experiential history, which interact to shape the brain and behavior.

Evidence from human imaging and animal studies of regional neurochemical, structural, and functional brain changes over the course of development have led to a theoretical account of adolescence referred to as the imbalance model of brain development (Somerville & Casey, 2010). According to this view, reward-related subcortical regions and prefrontal control regions interact differently across development. Specifically, motivational and emotional subcortical connections develop earlier than do connections supporting prefrontal control. This developmental imbalance results in a relatively greater reliance on motivational subcortical regions than on prefrontal regions during adolescence (i.e., an imbalance in reliance on different systems), as compared with adulthood, when this circuitry is fully mature, and also as compared with childhood, when this circuitry is still developing. With age and experience, the connectivity between these regions is strengthened and provides a mechanism for top-down modulation of the subcortically driven emotional behavior that increases the capacity for self-control.

Recently, a number of human imaging studies have attempted to evaluate this model and test for unique patterns of brain activity in adolescents during stereotypical risky behavior in the context of incentives (Chein, Albert, O’Brien, Uckert, & Steinberg, 2011; J. R. Cohen et al., 2010; Geier, Terwilliger, Teslovich, Velanova, & Luna, 2010; Van Leijenhorst et al., 2010). This work has challenged the view that diminished self-control in adolescents is due to a less mature prefrontal cortex that leads to less successful exertion of regulatory control on behavior (Bell & McBride, 2010). In contrast, these studies have revealed a unique sensitivity to motivational cues during adolescence that appears to challenge the less mature cognitive control systems when called upon simultaneously in tasks that involve inhibiting attention or actions toward potential incentives. Accordingly, developmental differences in self-control arise because of maturational constraints of developing brain circuitry and the strengthening of the connectivity between these interacting brain systems with experience (Liston et al., 2006).

To better understand changes in self-control during adolescence, we used functional brain imaging together with our previously described go/no-go task. Specifically, we examined the neural correlates of self-control in the face of emotional and nonemotional cues. We found that the ability to suppress a habitual response, regardless of emotional content, relied on the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Fig. 3). Activity in this region showed a monotonic increase with age for correct trials that was correlated with behavioral performance. In contrast, the ability to suppress a response to emotional cues revealed a different pattern of brain activity. Specifically, diminished behavioral performance by adolescents in suppressing responses to positive emotional cues was paralleled by enhanced activity in the ventral striatum (Fig. 2d and 2e), a region critical for detecting and learning about novel and rewarding cues in the environment. These findings suggest an exaggerated ventral-striatal representation of appetitive cues in adolescents that may serve to “hijack” a less fully mature prefrontal control response. Thus, adolescents’ decisions and actions are not due solely to a less mature prefrontal cortex but, rather, to a tension within neural circuitry involving the ventral striatum, implicated in reward processing, and the prefrontal cortex, implicated in control processing.

Overgeneralization 3: All adolescents experience similar degrees of storm and stress

Nearly everyone reading this article survived adolescence reasonably well. Clearly, we are not all doomed during adolescence, as was suggested by G. Stanley Hall’s theory of adolescence (Hall, 1904). Rather, adolescence falls somewhere between the extreme views of Hall’s storm-and-stress theory of adolescence and Margaret Mead’s cultural–not-biological account of adolescence (Mead, 1928). Basically, our behavior is a reflection of environmental and genetic factors that impact our brain’s ability to adapt to changing environmental demands. Some environmental demands are universally expected, and some are specific to an individual’s experiences. How well we adapt to these changing environmental demands is a function of biological constraints and experiential history. Thus, even as adults, we may differ in our ability to face new challenges and to adequately regulate our behavior accordingly.

A hallmark of self-regulation is the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward in favor of a larger reward later, known as delay of gratification. A classic paradigm for assessing this ability was developed by Mischel (Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989) for use with young children. He examined whether children would choose a small reward (one marshmallow) sooner over a larger reward (two marshmallows) later. Children’s behavior fell into two clusters: (a) they ate the treat almost immediately (low delayers), or (b) they waited for some amount of time in an attempt to gain two treats (high delayers). These two different patterns of behavior provide an example of individual differences in self-control that can be detected and measured in early childhood (Mischel et al., 1989). However, how did these individuals fare in their self-control ability later in life?

To address this question, we recently examined self-control in a 40-year follow-up of the original cohort of children Mischel tested on the delay-of-gratification task. Using both neutral (“cool”) and emotional (“hot”) cues in a go/no-go task, we examined the ability of these individuals, now in their mid-40s, to suppress habitual responses to emotional or neutral cues. Because marshmallows do not have quite the same appeal for adults as they do for children, we used social cues (e.g., happy faces relative to neutral and fearful faces) rather than marshmallows as nontargets in a go/no-go task.

The results indicated that even 40 years later, the same individuals who could not stop themselves from immediately eating the marshmallow and thus kept themselves from getting two marshmallows also had difficulty suppressing their responses when a positive social cue was present, even when they were instructed not to respond (Fig. 2c). However, they had no problem suppressing habitual responses to neutral cues (Casey et al., 2011). Thus, individuals who, as a group, had more difficulty delaying gratification at 4 years of age continued to show reduced self-control 40 years later. These findings highlight individual differences in self-control that are independent of age and can persist throughout the life span. However, a remaining question is whether the neural correlates underlying individual differences in self-control are similar to those observed in adolescents in our previously described study.

To address this question, high- and low-delaying individuals were imaged during performance of the “hot” go/no-go task (Casey et al., 2011). The findings showed that whereas prefrontal activity was associated with accurately withholding a response, activity in the ventral striatum mapped onto the behavioral finding of poorer performance when specifically suppressing a response to an appetitive social cue (Fig. 2f).

These findings underscore the importance of the stimulus qualities a person has to resist in an act of self-control. Sensitivity to characteristics of environmental cues (e.g., salience, reward value) can significantly influence an individual’s ability to suppress inappropriate actions in favor of appropriate ones. This tension between regulation of behavior and sensitivity to positive environmental cues in many ways parallels observations from our adolescent study (Somerville et al., 2011). Perhaps unsurprisingly, children’s ability to delay gratification at 4 years of age predicts parental ratings of these individuals’ self-control during adolescence, too (Mischel, Shoda, & Peake, 1988). Both examples show how stimulus qualities such as rare, positive social cues can compromise an individual’s self-control and suggest that both developmental and individual differences affect this ability. Thus, individuals who have diminished self-control may be especially vulnerable during adolescence, when a heightened sensitivity to emotional environmental cues can further hinder this ability.

Discussion

Our findings suggest that adolescents can show remarkable restraint in controlling habitual responses but tend to fail when attempting to control habitual responses to salient positive cues in the environment. Specifically, we showed that adolescents have impulse control that is comparable to or even better than that of some adults in neutral contexts (Fig. 1). However, in emotional contexts, adolescents’ impulse-control ability is severely taxed relative to that of children and adults (Fig. 3). This behavioral pattern is paralleled by exaggerated responses in reward-related circuitry that presumably are difficult to regulate because of less top-down control from still-developing prefrontal connections in teenagers. This tension between motivational and control processes during adolescence can vary by individual, leading to enhanced or diminished self-control. To say that the adolescent is “all gasoline, no brakes, and no steering wheel” is to do a disservice to this essential phase of typical development. Indeed, if the objective of adolescence is to gain independence from the family unit, then providing opportunities for adolescents to engage in new responsibilities is essential. Without opportunities and experiences to help optimally shape the adolescent’s brain and behavior, the objectives of this developmental phase will not easily be met.

Link to Article

Introduction

Adolescence is characterized by a significant increase in mortality risk compared to childhood, primarily due to engagement in risky behaviors. This heightened risk-taking during adolescence has often been attributed to deficiencies in self-control, often simplified as an immature prefrontal cortex. However, this simplistic view fails to acknowledge the complexity of adolescent neurodevelopment and the nuanced interplay between cognitive control and heightened sensitivity to social and emotional cues. This article aims to deconstruct three prevalent overgeneralizations regarding adolescent behavior and present empirical evidence supporting a more nuanced understanding of self-control development during this period.

Self-Control and the Teenage Brain

Overgeneralization 1: Adolescents are incapable of making optimal decisions

Adolescence is a transitional period marked by increased independence and novel social demands, prompting behaviors like novelty seeking and peer interactions (Romeo, 2013; Spear, 2013). While these behaviors serve an adaptive function in navigating evolving social hierarchies and securing resources, they can be misconstrued as irrational when prioritized over long-term goals.

Our research, employing a modified go/no-go paradigm with emotional and neutral cues (Somerville, Hare, & Casey, 2011), demonstrates that adolescent self-control is context-dependent. Adolescents exhibit adult-like or even superior impulse control in neutral contexts (Figure 1). However, their performance deteriorates in emotionally charged situations, particularly when suppressing responses to appetitive social cues (Figure 2a, 2b). This suggests that the "all gas, no brakes" analogy is overly simplistic and fails to account for the context-specificity of adolescent self-control.

Overgeneralization 2: Adolescents have no prefrontal cortex

Attributing adolescent risk-taking solely to an immature prefrontal cortex disregards the dynamic interplay within developing neural circuitry. While the prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive function, is present from birth, its connections are strengthened through experience and maturation (Liston et al., 2006). The imbalance model posits that during adolescence, subcortical regions associated with reward processing mature faster than prefrontal control regions, resulting in a transient imbalance favoring reward-driven behavior (Somerville & Casey, 2010).

Our neuroimaging studies using the go/no-go task reveal distinct neural patterns underlying successful and unsuccessful impulse control in adolescents. While successful inhibition in both emotional and neutral contexts recruits the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Figure 3), failure to suppress responses to positive social cues is associated with heightened activity in the ventral striatum, a key reward-processing region (Figure 2d, 2e). This suggests that heightened sensitivity to rewarding social cues may overwhelm still-developing prefrontal control mechanisms, leading to impulsive choices.

Overgeneralization 3: All adolescents experience similar degrees of storm and stress

Adolescence is not a monolithic experience characterized by universal turmoil. Instead, individual differences in self-control, evident from early childhood, can significantly influence an individual's susceptibility to risk-taking during adolescence.

In a 40-year follow-up of Mischel's delay-of-gratification study (Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989), we found that individuals who exhibited low delay of gratification at age 4 continued to display diminished self-control in adulthood, particularly when required to inhibit responses to positive social cues (Figure 2c; Casey et al., 2011). This suggests that individual differences in self-control, influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, can persist throughout the lifespan. Importantly, these individual differences in behavioral self-control were mirrored in neural activity patterns, with low delayers exhibiting greater ventral striatum activation when attempting to suppress responses to appetitive social cues (Figure 2f).

Discussion

Our research underscores the need for a nuanced perspective on adolescent risk-taking. Adolescents are not inherently incapable of rational decision-making, but rather exhibit heightened sensitivity to social and emotional cues that can, at times, supersede developing cognitive control mechanisms. This interplay between heightened reward sensitivity and developing cognitive control can be further modulated by individual differences in self-control, highlighting the heterogeneity of adolescent experiences. Understanding these complexities is crucial for developing effective interventions and policies that support healthy development during this critical period.

Link to Article

Introduction

Adolescence is a time of rapid physical and emotional growth. While teens might be at their physical peak and experience intense emotions and excitement, it's also a period when risky behaviors increase their chances of dying by 200% compared to childhood. This article examines the challenges of adolescence through the lens of self-control, which is the capacity to manage impulsive emotions, desires, and actions. We'll explore scenarios where adolescents' self-control is most likely to falter and delve into the neurological underpinnings of these behaviors.

Recent years have seen a surge in research on adolescent brain development and behavior. However, simplified explanations in media and policy discussions often portray teenagers as lacking self-control and having underdeveloped prefrontal cortexes, likening them to vehicles with "all gasoline, no brakes, and no steering wheel". Such oversimplifications can have far-reaching implications on how adolescents are treated, potentially influencing legal accountability for criminal behavior and their capacity to make life-altering choices. Driven by these concerns, our research team investigated self-control in adolescents, addressing common myths surrounding this developmental stage.

This article aims to debunk three common overgeneralizations about adolescence. First, it challenges the notion that adolescent behavior is inherently irrational or abnormal. While this period sees an increase in criminal activity and mental health issues, it's crucial to recognize adolescence as a vital phase for developing independence. Second, we refute the idea that adolescents lack rational decision-making abilities solely due to an "immature" prefrontal cortex. This explanation fails to acknowledge other brain regions that mature during this time. Lastly, we challenge the century-old belief that all adolescents experience "sturm und drang" – a period of intense emotional turmoil – as proposed by G. Stanley Hall.

While adolescents, as a group, might exhibit lower self-control, we present evidence highlighting specific situations where self-control is compromised and individual differences in this ability. Our discussion unfolds within a neurodevelopmental framework, shedding light on the intricate workings of the teenage brain.

Self-Control and the Teenage Brain

Overgeneralization 1: Adolescents are incapable of making optimal decisions

Adolescence is marked by a transition from dependence on family to greater independence. This shift is mirrored in other species, suggesting an evolutionary basis for behaviors like novelty-seeking, peer interactions, and conflicts with parents. These behaviors likely evolved to help young individuals navigate social challenges, find mates, and secure resources. However, this heightened sensitivity to social cues might seem counterproductive when it undermines long-term goals and well-being.

The "no brakes, no steering wheel" analogy paints an incomplete picture of adolescence. Our research using a modified go/no-go task with social cues (positive, negative, neutral facial expressions) revealed nuanced findings. We examined how well adolescents controlled impulses in both emotional and non-emotional situations.

Surprisingly, adolescents displayed self-control comparable to or even surpassing adults when emotional cues were absent. However, their performance declined when decisions needed to be made in emotionally charged situations. This difficulty in resisting appealing social cues wasn't observed in children or adults. Therefore, the "no brakes" metaphor holds true in emotionally charged scenarios but not in calmer, less immediate situations. This suggests that teens are capable of rational decision-making and self-control in certain contexts.

Overgeneralization 2: Adolescents have no prefrontal cortex

The prefrontal cortex, vital for self-control and rational thinking, is present from birth. During adolescence, it's not about the presence or absence of this brain region but rather the strengthening of connections within its circuitry as individuals adapt to environmental demands. This development is influenced by both biological factors and personal experiences.

The imbalance model of brain development provides a framework for understanding these changes. This model proposes that reward-related subcortical brain regions mature earlier than prefrontal control regions, leading to a temporary imbalance during adolescence. This means teenagers might rely more on immediate gratification centers than on higher-order control mechanisms compared to adults with fully mature circuitry.

Brain imaging studies have challenged the simplistic view of an "immature" prefrontal cortex solely responsible for poor adolescent self-control (Bell & McBride, 2010). Instead, these studies highlight the significant influence of motivational cues during adolescence, which can overwhelm developing control systems when presented simultaneously with tasks requiring inhibition of attention or actions toward rewards. These findings indicate that developmental differences in self-control stem from both the maturation of brain circuitry and the strengthening of connections between brain systems through experience.

Our own research using brain imaging alongside the go/no-go task revealed that successful response inhibition, regardless of emotional content, depended on the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. This region showed increased activity with age, correlating with improved performance. However, when suppressing responses to emotional cues, a different pattern emerged. Adolescents struggled to resist positive emotional cues, and this difficulty was mirrored by heightened activity in the ventral striatum, a brain region linked to processing rewards. This suggests that the ventral striatum might overreact to appealing cues in adolescents, overwhelming the still-developing prefrontal control mechanisms. This emphasizes that it's not solely about a "less mature" prefrontal cortex, but rather the interplay between reward-sensitive and control-related brain regions that contributes to adolescent behavior.

Overgeneralization 3: All adolescents experience similar degrees of storm and stress

The fact that most individuals successfully navigate adolescence disproves the notion of a universally tumultuous experience, as suggested by G. Stanley Hall. A more balanced perspective acknowledges the interplay of environmental and genetic factors that influence the brain's capacity to adapt.

A key aspect of self-regulation is the ability to delay gratification – choosing a larger reward later over a smaller immediate reward. Mischel's classic marshmallow experiment demonstrated individual differences in this ability among young children. Some children ate the marshmallow right away (low delayers), while others waited for a larger reward (high delayers).

Intriguingly, a 40-year follow-up study on these individuals revealed that those who struggled to delay gratification as children also showed difficulties controlling their responses to positive social cues as adults, even when instructed otherwise, highlighting the persistence of individual differences in self-control across the lifespan. However, they had no difficulty suppressing responses to neutral cues.

Brain imaging during the "hot" go/no-go task in this follow-up study showed a familiar pattern: prefrontal activity correlated with successful response inhibition, while ventral striatum activity reflected the difficulty in resisting appealing social cues. This suggests that the brain regions involved in regulating behavior in response to rewarding stimuli remain consistent across development and individual differences.

These findings underscore the influence of environmental cues on self-control. Sensitivity to factors like reward value can significantly affect an individual's ability to make appropriate choices. Importantly, children who struggled to delay gratification at age 4 also received lower self-control ratings from their parents during adolescence, highlighting the enduring impact of early self-control tendencies. Therefore, individuals with inherently lower self-control might be particularly vulnerable during adolescence when heightened sensitivity to emotional cues further challenges this ability.

Discussion

Our research paints a nuanced picture of self-control during adolescence. While capable of remarkable restraint in neutral contexts, adolescents tend to falter when presented with enticing environmental cues. This vulnerability stems from an imbalance between still-developing prefrontal control mechanisms and heightened sensitivity in reward-related brain regions. However, it's crucial to remember that this is a period of dynamic development, influenced by individual differences and experiences. Portraying all adolescents as impulsive and lacking control undermines the crucial role this phase plays in shaping independent, well-rounded individuals. Providing opportunities for responsibility and learning through experience is crucial for supporting healthy brain development and optimizing self-control abilities during this critical period.

Link to Article

Introduction

This article is all about the challenges of being a teen, especially when it comes to self-control. We're talking about the ability to control emotions, resist impulses, and think before acting. We'll break down the situations where teens' self-control is most likely to fail and what's going on in the brain that causes this.

Lately, scientists have been studying the teenage brain to understand why teenagers act the way they do. But a lot of times, the media oversimplifies these studies, making it sound like teens have zero self-control and their brains aren't fully formed – basically, like they’re a "car with a gas pedal but no brakes or steering wheel". This kind of oversimplification can be harmful because it might make people think teens aren't responsible for their actions, even serious ones. It can also lead to adults limiting teens' choices and freedom. Because of these misleading claims, our team of scientists decided to study self-control in teens. In this article, we'll debunk three common myths about teenagers:

Myth 1: Teenagers are irrational and don't make sense. Sure, teens can be impulsive, and some experiment with risky behavior. But it's not because they're crazy! Adolescence is a normal part of growing up where one learns to become more independent.

Myth 2: Teenagers can't make good decisions because the "smart" part of their brain (the prefrontal cortex) isn't fully developed yet. The thing is, the prefrontal cortex isn't the only part of the brain that changes during the teen years. Plus, a child's prefrontal cortex is even less developed than a teenager's. So, blaming everything on the prefrontal cortex is a bit simplistic.

Myth 3: All teenagers experience extreme emotional ups and downs, also known as "sturm und drang" (storm and stress), an idea from way back in the day. This just isn't true. Not all teens go through the same level of emotional turmoil.

While it's true that, as a group, teenagers might not have the best self-control, we'll show when they're most likely to slip up and highlight the fact that everyone is different. Some people are naturally better at self-control than others, regardless of their age. We'll use what we know about how the brain develops to explain all of this.

Self-Control And The Teenage Brain

Myth 1 Busted: Teenagers Are Incapable of Making Good Choices

Adolescence is all about facing new challenges as a kid transitions from depending on family to becoming their own person. And guess what? Humans aren't the only ones who go through this! Animals experience similar changes, becoming more adventurous, hanging out with their peers more, and even arguing with their parents. These behaviors seem to be nature's way of preparing young beings for finding a mate and surviving on their own.

Think about it: being extra sensitive to social cues (like what friends are doing or the possibility of earning money) can be really helpful when a person is trying to figure out their place in the world. But this same sensitivity can backfire if it makes a person prioritize immediate rewards over long-term goals.

It's way too simplistic to say that teenagers have zero impulse control. In the lab, scientists did experiments where we tested teenagers' self-control using a task where they had to hit a button or hold back from hitting it. To make things more interesting, they sometimes showed the teens pictures of faces with different emotions (happy, sad, or neutral) during the task. This showed how well teens controlled their impulses in both emotional and non-emotional situations.

Here's what we found: when emotions weren't involved, teens were just as good at controlling themselves as adults – sometimes even better! But when we added emotional cues into the mix, suddenly, their self-control took a nosedive. They had a really hard time resisting the urge to respond to positive social cues, like those happy faces. Interestingly, children and adults didn't have this problem; they were equally good (or bad) at controlling their impulses regardless of the emotion shown on the faces.

So, saying that teenagers have zero control over their impulses might be true in the heat of the moment when emotions run high. But in calmer, less emotional situations, teens can definitely think things through and make smart decisions!

Myth 2 Busted: Teenagers Have No Prefrontal Cortex

It's pretty funny when people joke about teenagers' brains not being fully formed. Obviously, teens have brains! They're not missing any parts. The prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that helps with self-control and making good decisions, is definitely there, even from birth.

What's actually happening during the teenage years is that the connections within the prefrontal cortex are still getting stronger as a person encounters new experiences and learns to navigate the world (Liston et al., 2006).

Based on studies that looked at how the brain's structure, chemistry, and activity change over time, scientists came up with a theory called the imbalance model of brain development. Here's the gist: the parts of the brain that deal with rewards and emotions (the "feel-good" parts) develop faster than the prefrontal cortex (the "control" part) during adolescence. This creates an imbalance, kind of like a seesaw that's heavier on one side. So, teenagers might be more likely to act impulsively because their "feel-good" brain regions are calling the shots.

As a person grow olders and gains more experience, the connections between the "feel-good" and "control" parts of the brain become stronger. This lets the prefrontal cortex "talk" to the rest of the brain more effectively, which helps a person resist temptations and make better decisions. Think of it like building a bridge between the two sides of a river – the stronger the bridge, the easier it is to get across.

Recent studies have used brain imaging to see what happens in teenagers' brains when they're making risky decisions, especially when rewards are involved. These studies showed that it's not just about the prefrontal cortex being "immature." Teenagers' brains are actually wired to be very sensitive to things that seem rewarding, which can sometimes overpower their self-control. It's like having a superpower (being sensitive to rewards) that a person hasn't learned to fully control yet.

Brain imaging also shows how teens' brains worked during our self-control task. It found that a part of the brain called the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was super important for successfully stopping themselves from hitting the button. And as one might expect, the older the teen, the more active this brain area was.

But here's the interesting part: when teenagers had to resist responding to positive social cues (like those happy faces), a different brain area lit up: the ventral striatum. This area is all about seeking out rewards. Basically, the teens who struggled with self-control in these emotional situations had their ventral striatum working overtime, hijacking their prefrontal cortex's attempt to keep things under control.

The takeaway here is that teenagers' decisions aren't solely because of an immature prefrontal cortex. It's more about the ongoing battle between the "feel-good" part of their brain (ventral striatum) and the "control" part (prefrontal cortex).

Myth 3 Busted: All Adolescents Experience the Same Level of "Storm and Stress"

How a person handles the challenges of being a teenager depends on a mix of things, including genes and life experiences, which all affect the brain's ability to adapt.

One way to measure self-control is to see how well someone can resist a small, immediate reward in favor of a bigger, delayed reward. This is called delay of gratification. A famous experiment by Walter Mischel tested this in young children using marshmallows. He gave kids a choice: eat one marshmallow now, or wait and get two marshmallows later. Some kids couldn't resist the temptation and ate the marshmallow right away ("low delayers"), while others found ways to distract themselves and successfully waited for the bigger reward ("high delayers").

But the real question is: does being a "low delayer" or a "high delayer" as a kid predict anything about self-control as an adult?

To find out, scientists tracked down those same kids from the marshmallow experiment, who were now in their 40s. They wanted to see if their ability to delay gratification at age 4 had any impact on their self-control later in life. Since marshmallows aren't as exciting for adults, scientists used social cues (happy, neutral, and fearful faces) instead of marshmallows in this self-control task.

The results were pretty striking: those who caved and ate the marshmallow as kids were still more likely to struggle with self-control as adults, especially when happy faces were involved. However, they had no problem resisting the urge to respond when the faces were neutral.

This shows that self-control is a pretty stable trait throughout life. But why were some adults still more easily tempted by those happy faces?

We used brain imaging again to figure this out. The results showed that when it came to successfully resisting a tempting response, the prefrontal cortex was the star player. But when people struggled to control their impulses, especially when those happy faces were around, their ventral striatum was working overtime. Remember, this is that reward-seeking part of the brain.

These findings highlight something really important: the thing a person is trying to resist plays a huge role in how successful they'll be at self-control. Things that are exciting, rewarding, or socially important can make it a lot harder to resist temptation. This is true for everyone, but it's especially true for teenagers, who are already more sensitive to these kinds of cues. And if a person naturally struggles with self-control, adolescence can be an especially tricky time.

So, What Does It All Mean?

This research suggests that teenagers are fully capable of self-control, but they're more likely to slip up when they're faced with exciting or rewarding situations. It's not because they're deliberately trying to be difficult – it's just how their brains are wired during this time of life.

Here's the bottom line: calling teenagers impulsive and irresponsible ignores the amazing changes happening in their brains. Adolescence is all about learning to navigate the world, and that involves taking risks, testing boundaries, and figuring out who they are. Instead of assuming the worst, we need to support teenagers as they go through these changes, providing them with opportunities to learn, grow, and develop their self-control skills.

Link to Article

Introduction

When people are teenagers, they are probably at their fastest and strongest. They will never have crushes as exciting or thrills as intense. That's the good news. The bad news is that, compared to when they were children, teenagers are much more likely to get hurt doing risky things, and some even die. This article is about the challenges of being a teenager, especially when it comes to self-control. Self-control means being able to stop oneself from doing something they shouldn't do, even if they want to. We will talk about the specific situations where teenagers have the hardest time controlling themselves and what's going on in their brains that makes it hard.

Scientists have learned a lot about how teenagers' brains work in the last several years, but sometimes this information gets simplified too much. Often people say that teenagers make bad decisions because they don't have self-control. It's like their brains are "all gas, no brakes, and no steering wheel". While this might seem true sometimes, it's not the whole story. Yes, teenagers sometimes do risky things and make bad choices, but it's not because they are incapable of making good decisions. In this article, scientists talk about what is really happening in the brains of teenagers and why it's important to understand that this is a normal part of growing up.

Here are three common myths about teenagers: First, some people think teenagers are crazy or bad just because they make bad decisions. It's true that teenagers sometimes do things that are dangerous or get into trouble with their parents and teachers. But it's important to remember that teenagers are going through a lot of changes, and they are still learning how to make good choices. Second, some people think teenagers can't make good decisions because the part of their brain that controls decision-making isn't fully developed yet. That's not entirely true, either. The truth is that lots of parts of the brain are still developing during the teenage years, and they all work together. Third, some people believe that all teenagers experience "sturm und drang," which is German for "storm and stress," an idea that's over 100 years old!

While it's true that teenagers, as a group, are still learning self-control, we'll show that they don't always make bad decisions. This article talks about when they are most likely to mess up and when they are more likely to make good choices. It also talks about how the brains of teenagers are different from the brains of children and adults, and why that's important for understanding their behavior.

Self-Control and the Teenage Brain

Overgeneralization 1: Adolescents are incapable of making good choices

Growing up means learning new things, and teenagers have a lot to learn! They are figuring out how to be independent and make their own decisions, which means they don't always get things right. This is true for young animals, too, not just humans! Young animals explore new places, play with other animals their age, and sometimes even fight with their parents. Scientists believe that these behaviors are important for survival because they help young animals learn how to find food, mates, and shelter when they are on their own.

As a teenager, the things that are important, like friends, feel really important! Sometimes, this can lead teenagers to make decisions that aren't good for them in the long run, like choosing to hang out with friends instead of studying for a test. It's not that they don't understand that studying is important, it's just that being with their friends feels more important in the moment.

To say that teenagers' brains have "no brakes or steering wheel" is an exaggeration. For this study, self-control is studied. One of the ways we study self-control is by having people do a task where they have to press a button when they see certain pictures and not press the button when they see other pictures. We use pictures of faces that show different emotions because we know that our brains pay close attention to faces. This lets us see how well people can control themselves when they see something that makes them feel happy, sad, or angry.

What scientists found is that when teenagers are asked to control themselves in situations where there are no emotions involved, they are just as good at it as adults are. In fact, some teenagers are even better than adults! But when they see something that makes them feel happy or excited, they have a much harder time controlling their impulses. This is different from children and adults, who are usually able to control their impulses regardless of whether they are feeling happy, sad, or angry. So, while it might seem like teenagers don't have any self-control, the truth is that they are much better at controlling themselves in some situations than others.

Overgeneralization 2: Adolescents don't have a prefrontal cortex

Sometimes people joke that teenagers don't have brains. Of course, that's not true. Teenagers' brains have all the same parts as children's and adults' brains. But, just like the rest of their bodies, their brains are still growing and changing.

The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain right behind the forehead. It helps a person make decisions, plan for the future, and control impulses. While this part of the brain is present at birth, the connections between the cells in the prefrontal cortex are still developing during adolescence. Imagine the prefrontal cortex is like a road under construction. The road can still be driven on, but it's a little bumpy and there are some detours. As a person gets older, the road crews finish their work and the road becomes smoother and easier to drive on. The same thing happens with the connections in the prefrontal cortex as a person gets older.

Scientists have learned a lot about how the brain develops during adolescence by studying both humans and animals. What they have found is that the part of the brain that controls emotions and motivation develops faster than the prefrontal cortex. This means that teenagers are more likely to act on their emotions without thinking about the consequences.

Brain imaging studies have shown that teenagers' brains react more strongly to rewards than adults' brains do. In other words, teenagers get more excited about things that are rewarding, like spending time with friends or trying new things. This is because the part of their brain that processes rewards is working really well, but the part of their brain that controls impulses isn't quite as developed yet.

When we looked at the brains of teenagers while they were doing our go/no-go task, we found something interesting. We found that the prefrontal cortex was most active when the teenagers were successfully able to control themselves, but a different part of the brain, the ventral striatum, was most active when they weren't able to control themselves. The ventral striatum is part of the brain's reward system, so it makes sense that it would be more active when teenagers are struggling to resist something that is rewarding. This tells us that it's not just about the prefrontal cortex being "immature" but rather a complex interplay between different brain regions during this period of development.

Overgeneralization 3: All teenagers experience the same level of "storm and stress"

Not all teenagers are the same. Some teenagers seem to breeze through adolescence without any major problems, while others have a much harder time. Just like adults, teenagers have different personalities and different life experiences that shape who they are.

One way to measure self-control is to see how well people can resist a small reward now in order to get a bigger reward later. This is called delay of gratification. A scientist named Mischel did a famous experiment where he gave children a choice between eating one marshmallow right away or waiting a few minutes to get two marshmallows. Some kids couldn't wait and ate the marshmallow right away, while other kids were able to wait and get two marshmallows.

What's really interesting is that the kids who were able to wait for the bigger reward when they were little kids grew up to be adults who were better at controlling their impulses, making plans, and achieving their goals. This tells us that self-control is something that develops early on, and it can have a big impact on our lives as we get older.

When looking at the brains of the adults who were in Mischel's original marshmallow study, scientists found that those who had a hard time delaying gratification as children also showed greater activity in the ventral striatum (that reward center) as adults when they were trying to resist a rewarding social cue. This suggests that some people's brains are simply more responsive to rewards, which can make it harder for them to resist temptation.

What does all of this mean? Basically, it means that teenagers are going through a time of great change and development, both physically and mentally. Their brains are still maturing, and they are still learning how to control their impulses and make good decisions. This can be a challenging time for both teenagers and the adults in their lives, but it's important to remember that it's a normal part of growing up.

Discussion

In this research, scientists discovered that teens are really good at controlling themselves when they're not dealing with exciting or emotional situations. They can be even better at it than some adults. However, when they encounter something that makes them feel good or excited, it becomes much harder for them to resist temptation, even more so than for kids and adults. This is because the reward center in their brains is highly active, and the part that helps them control their impulses is still developing. This struggle between motivation and self-control is different for each teen, meaning some have better self-control than others. It's important to remember that adolescence is an important stage of development. Instead of saying teenagers have no control over themselves, we need to understand this is a time of learning and growing. Providing opportunities for teens to take on responsibilities and learn from their experiences can help their brains develop in a healthy way.

Link to Article