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...bited enhanced sensitivity to appetitive cues as measured by differential activation in the ventral striatum compared to prefrontal cortical regions, and this sensitivity varied with appetitive load (=-=Somerville, Hare, & Casey, 2011-=-) Research in the field of information processing also provides insight in to how pictorial stimuli such as pornography may be encoded in cortical regions in a more indelible manner when compared to o...

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...adolescent. To suggest that this period of development is one of nosbrakes or steering wheel (Bell & McBride, 2010) is to greatlysoversimplify it. In a series of recent experiments in our laboratory (=-=Somerville, Hare, & Casey, 2011-=-), we measured selfcontrol using a variant of a go/no-go paradigm that containedssocial cues (positive, negative, or neutral facial expressions).sBy using socially relevant and emotionally salient sti...

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...is processed consciously (Nelson et al., 2010; Wheeler et al., 2008). Moreover, the aIns has been associated with processing information about risk (Burke and Tobler, 2011; Ishii et al., 2012; Paulus et al., 2003; Preuschoff et al., 2008). Differences in aIns activity have often been found in the developmental literature. Previous studies found developmental effects during tasks of cognitive flexibility (e.g., Christakou et al., 2009; Rubia et al., 2006; Smith et al., 2011) and in other cognitive domains (Christakou et al., 2011; Jarcho et al., 2012; Keulers et al., 2011; Masten et al., 2009; Somerville et al., 2011; Van Leijenhorst et al., 2010). However, the developmental importance of this area has largely been neglected. Given the wealth of information about aIns functioning, one could speculate about how the increased activity in adolescents might be related to their increased learning rate. It is well known that aIns activity often coincides with activation in the dmPFC (cf. Hauser et al., 2014a, 2014b; Nelson et al., 2010; Seymour et al., 2004). However, it is assumed that the dmPFC is mainly involved in processing cognitive aspects, whereas the aIns rather processes visceral and emotional informa...

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...sitivity. However, there are other, equally important changes in the developing brain that directly and indirectly interact with an individual’s own experience and personality traits to influence proclivity toward reward. For example, the relationship between striatal and prefrontal regions needs closer examination, given the protracted development of the prefrontal cortex (Sowell, Thompson, Holmes, Jernigan, & Toga, 1999) and its critical role in behavior regulation. Numerous investigations have begun to apply functional-connectivity techniques to study the cross-talk between this circuitry (Somerville, Hare, & Casey, 2011), but much more work in this area is needed. In addition, it will be important for future research to delve more deeply into the contextual factors that can have significant sway on an individual’s reward-related decision making. Preliminary studies show that factors such as stress (Galván & McGlennen, 2012; Porcelli & Delgado, 2009), peers (Chein, Albert, O’Brien, Uckert, & Steinberg, 2011), and psychopathology (Morgan, Olino, McMakin, Ryan, & Forbes, 2012) can have consequential effects on reward sensitivity and behavior. Finally, the studies reviewed here provide clear evidence of how rewa...

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...ter. The neurobiological and psychological immaturity of adolescents may render them more vulnerable to making poor decisions in such contexts. However, this diminished selfcontrol is transient and will continue to develop as underlying circuitry becomes fine-tuned with experience and time. Recent studies examining the development of this circuitry and behavior in the context of emotionally charged and social situations are reviewed below. The influence of emotion The inflection in violence and criminal behavior during adolescence has been suggested to be due to a proclivity toward incentives [5] and risk taking [6]. Yet, criminal behaviors often involve highly charged emotional or threatening situations. Emerging evidence suggests that adolescents have difficulty suppressing attention and actions toward emotional stimuli, even when irrelevant to the task at hand [7,8]. Some adolescents appear to be drawn to cues that signal potential threat (e.g., frightened faces) as evidenced by adolescents, especially males,64impulsively reacting to threat cues (Figure 1B). This pattern of behavior is not observed in adults or children. In a recent study examining brain circuitry implicated in imp...

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...l prefrontal regionss(i.e., the inferior frontal gyrus, or IFG) involved in cognitive control and self-regulation (Berkman, Falk, &sLieberman, 2011; Hare, Camerer, & Rangel, 2009; Koberset al., 2010; =-=Somerville, Hare, & Casey, 2011-=-). Method Participants Thirty-three healthy, right-handed female chronic dietersswere recruited from a larger pool of participants whoscompleted the Revised Restraint Scale (Heatherton,sHerman, Polivy...