The Adolescent Brain: Learning, Reasoning, and Decision Making

This multi-authored volume deals with brain development and higher-order cognition in adolescents. The book is a recent release from APA Books, a subsidiary of APA Publications, which is owned and operated by the American Psychological Association (APA). Releases from APA Books span a broad range of topics in psychology and related fields. The vast majority of the books are independent works that do not necessarily represent APA views or policies. Members and affiliates of the organization receive discounts when purchasing books and other publications through the APA. This volume grew out of the Workshop on Higher Cognition in Adolescents and Young Adults: Social, Behavioral, and Biological Influences on Learning, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and held at Cornell University on September 28-30, 2008. The workshop brought together top scholars and scientists with the goal of encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and inspiring new research initiatives in the field. The timely undertaking drew upon the past 30 years’ increasingly active research in developmental neuroscience. Building on the success of the workshop, and going beyond it, the editors of this book set out to combine the work of basic or foundational scientists and applied researchers to promote an integrated, cutting-edge understanding of adolescent brain development and cognition. The purpose was to advance knowledge of groundbreaking basic science discoveries while relating them to real-life problems and developmental tasks important in the lives of adolescents and young adults. Applications range from issues in practical everyday decision making to the requirements to prepare for and compete in an increasingly complex society and economy that depend on advanced cognitive skills. The book consists of an Introduction and 14 chapters organized into 5 sections. Section I, “Foundations,” has a single chapter focusing on anatomic brain development in normal children and adolescents. The nicely presented material draws from an ongoing longitudinal assessment of brain development conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health since 1989. The >2000 participants, aged 3 to 30 years, have been studied with magnetic resonance imaging, genetic analysis, and neuropsychological testing. This chapter focuses on findings reported on roughly half of the participants who were developing normally. One of the authors’ conclusions is that the massive pruning of gray matter during normal adolescence, coupled with the extensive growth of neural connectivity in the brain, disproves the idea that this is a relatively inactive period of brain development. The next 3 sections present the main body of the book. Section II, “Memory, Meaning, and Representation,” covers semantic and associative relations, the representation and transfer of abstract mathematical concepts, the complementary roles of concrete and symbolic instructional materials, and higher-order strategic gist reasoning. Section III, “Learning, Reasoning, and Problem Solving,” extends the application of developmental neuroscience to learning trajectories, differences in reasoning between mathematical and nonmathematical domains, the continuing plasticity in the adolescent brain allowing experience (including adaptive cognitive training) to promote neural changes, and the beneficial versus disruptive effects of emotion, motivation, and other noncognitive influences on higher cognition. Sections II and III emphasize factors affecting mathematical learning, reasoning, and performance. The editors felt that mathematics was an appropriate subject of emphasis, both because of the relative neglect of math in the general literature on learning and learning disabilities and because of the critical importance of the mastery of math skills in a world increasingly dependent on science and technology. Section IV, “Judgment and Decision Making,” is the one that I liked best. It examines factors influencing judgment and decision making during a developmental period that can have a disproportionate impact on a person’s future health and productivity. This is a time of unprecedented risks but also one of great promise and positive change. The chapters in this section address the roles of different brain regions in processing risks and rewards in decision making, mediated especially by frontostriatal circuitry. The topics covered consider not only adolescents’ judgment about common risks such as drinking and smoking, but also factors that can affect adolescents’ judgment about positive behavior patterns that can promote health and prevent disease. Also considered is a distinction that many parents and educators are all too aware of, namely, that intelligence and rationality are not one and the same. While many of an adolescent’s cognitive skills may be peaking, a myriad of other factors influence the rationality of that adolescent’s decisions. Throughout this section, the authors highlight different theoretical models of adolescent decision making. One of these, the imbalance model, posits the asymmetrical interplay between dual processes: the prefrontal cognitive system, which develops slowly through early adulthood, versus the subcortical reward system, which develops more quickly during adolescence. The imbalance, which can be modified by experience or context, can explain why reward-driven decisions often win out over cognition-based decisions. The book’s closing section is an Epilogue that further highlights The reviewer declares no conflicts of interest. BOOK REVIEW