Editing Adolescence (section)

==Cognitive development==
Adolescence is a time of rapid cognitive development.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s916RMYHgJIC&q=adolescents+rapid+%22cognitive+development%22&pg=PA237 |title=S.R. Smith & L. Handler: ''The clinical assessment of children and adolescents: a practitioner's handbook.'' (2007) |access-date=September 15, 2012|isbn=978-0-8058-6075-7 |year=2007 |last1=Handler |first1=Leonard |publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates }}</ref> [[Jean Piaget|Piaget]] describes adolescence as the stage of life in which the individual's thoughts start taking more of an abstract form and the [[Egocentrism|egocentric]] thoughts decrease, allowing the individual to think and reason in a wider perspective.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etr.org/recapp/theories/AdolescentDevelopment/developmentalTheories.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227022804/http://etr.org/recapp/theories/AdolescentDevelopment/developmentalTheories.htm|archive-date=February 27, 2009 |title=ReCAPP: Theories & Approaches: Adolescent Development |publisher=Etr.org |access-date=August 16, 2013}}</ref> A combination of behavioural and [[functional magnetic resonance imaging|fMRI]] studies have demonstrated development of [[executive functions]], that is, cognitive skills that enable the control and coordination of thoughts and behaviour, which are generally associated with the [[prefrontal cortex]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Choudhury |first1=Suparna |last2=Blakemore |first2=Sarah-Jayne |last3=Charman |first3=Tony |title=Social cognitive development during adolescence |journal=Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience |date=December 2006 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=165–174 |doi=10.1093/scan/nsl024 |pmid=18985103 |pmc=2555426 }}</ref> The thoughts, ideas and concepts developed at this period of life greatly influence one's future life, playing a major role in character and personality formation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pedersen |first1=Stefi |title=Personality formation in adolescence and its impact upon the psycho-analytical treatment of adults |journal=The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis |date=July 1961 |volume=42 |pages=381–388 |id={{ProQuest|1298181998}} |pmid=14484851 |url=https://pep-web.org/browse/document/IJP.042.0381A }}</ref>

Biological changes in brain structure and connectivity within the brain interact with increased experience, knowledge, and changing social demands to produce rapid cognitive growth (see [[#Changes in the brain|Changes in the brain]] above). The age at which particular changes take place varies between individuals, but the changes discussed below begin at puberty or shortly after that and some skills continue to develop as the adolescent ages. The [[dual systems model]] proposes a maturational imbalance between development of the socioemotional system and cognitive control systems in the brain that contribute to impulsivity and other behaviors characteristic of adolescence.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Steinberg |first1=Laurence |title=A dual systems model of adolescent risk-taking |journal=Developmental Psychobiology |date=2010 |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=216–224 |doi=10.1002/dev.20445 |pmid=20213754 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Some studies like the [[ABCD Study]] are researching on the baseline of adolescent cognitive development.

===Theoretical perspectives===
There are at least two major approaches to understanding cognitive change during adolescence. One is the [[constructivism (learning theory)|constructivist view]] of cognitive development. Based on the work of [[Jean Piaget|Piaget]], it takes a quantitative, state-theory approach, hypothesizing that adolescents' cognitive improvement is relatively sudden and drastic. The second is the [[Information processing (psychology)|information-processing perspective]], which derives from the study of artificial intelligence and attempts to explain cognitive development in terms of the growth of specific components of the thinking process.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

===Improvements in cognitive ability===
By the time individuals have reached ages 12–14 or so<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.190772/2015.190772.The-Growth-Of-Logical-Thinking-From-Childhood-To-Adolescence_djvu.txt | title=The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence | year=1958 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203835111/adolescent-rationality-development-david-moshman | doi=10.4324/9780203835111 | title=Adolescent Rationality and Development | date=2011 | last1=Moshman | first1=David | isbn=978-1-136-85420-0 }}</ref> their critical thinking and decision-making competency <ref>{{cite journal | url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7172783/ | title=The Competency of children and adolescents to make informed decisions | year=1982| pmid=7172783 | last1=Weithorn | first1=L. A. | last2=Campbell | first2=S. B. | journal=Child Development | volume=53 | issue=6 | pages=1589–1598 | doi=10.2307/1130087 | jstor=1130087 }}</ref> are comparable to those of adults. These improvements occur in five areas during adolescence:
# Attention: Improvements are seen in [[Attention#Selective attention|selective attention]], the process by which one focuses on one stimulus while tuning out another. [[Attention|Divided attention]], the ability to pay attention to two or more stimuli at the same time, also improves.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Higgins |first1=Anne T. |last2=Turnure |first2=James E. |title=Distractibility and Concentration of Attention in Children's Development |journal=Child Development |date=October 1984 |volume=55 |issue=5 |pages=1799 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8624.1984.tb00422.x }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schiff |first1=Andrew R. |last2=Knopf |first2=Irwin J. |title=The Effect of Task Demands on Attention Allocation in Children of Different Ages |journal=Child Development |date=June 1985 |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=621–630 |doi=10.2307/1129752 |jstor=1129752 }}</ref>
# Memory: Improvements are seen in both [[working memory]] and [[long-term memory]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keating |first=Daniel P. |title=Handbook of Adolescent Psychology |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2004 |isbn=0-471-20948-1 |editor-last=Lerner |editor-first=Richard M. |edition=2nd |location=Hoboken |pages=54 |chapter=Cognitive and Brain Development |editor-last2=Steinberg |editor-first2=Laurence}}</ref>
# Processing speed: Adolescents think more quickly than children. Processing speed improves sharply between age five and middle adolescence; it then begins to level off at age 14/15 and does not appear to change between late adolescence and adulthood.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kail |first1=Robert V. |last2=Ferrer |first2=Emilio |title=Processing Speed in Childhood and Adolescence: Longitudinal Models for Examining Developmental Change |journal=Child Development |date=November 2007 |volume=78 |issue=6 |pages=1760–1770 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01088.x |pmid=17988319 |citeseerx=10.1.1.856.4293 }}</ref>
# Organization: Adolescents are more aware of their thought processes and can use mnemonic devices and other strategies to think more efficiently.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1016/S0065-2407(08)60009-9 |chapter=The Development of Memory: Knowing, Knowing About Knowing, and Knowing How to Know |title=Advances in Child Development and Behavior Volume 10 |year=1975 |last1=Brown |first1=Ann L. |volume=10 |pages=103–152 |pmid=1101659 |isbn=978-0-12-009710-4 }}</ref>
# [[Metacognition]]: Improved knowledge of their own thinking patterns increase self-control and social insight.

Studies newer than 2005 indicate that the brain is changing in efficiency well past its twenties, a 'point of maturity' in the twenties is somewhat arbitrary as many important parts of the brain are noted to be mature by 14 or 15, making 'maturity' hard to define and has often been disagreed with.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Edwards |first1=Lin |title=Brain is not fully mature until 30s and 40s |url=https://medicalxpress.com/news/2010-12-brain-fully-mature-30s-40s.html |work=Medical Xpress |date=22 December 2010 }}</ref>

Prefrontal cortex pruning has been recorded to level off by age 14 or 15,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Benes |first1=Francine M. |author-link1=Francine M. Benes |title=Myelination of a Key Relay Zone in the Hippocampal Formation Occurs in the Human Brain During Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood |journal=Archives of General Psychiatry |date=1 June 1994 |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=477–484 |doi=10.1001/archpsyc.1994.03950060041004 |pmid=8192550 }}</ref> and has been seen to continue as late as into the sixth decade of life.<ref name="Cazard Ricard Facchetti 1992">{{cite journal |last1=Cazard |first1=P |last2=Ricard |first2=F |last3=Facchetti |first3=L |title=Dépression et asymétrie fonctionnelle |trans-title=Depression and functional EEG asymmetry |language=fr |journal=Annales médico-psychologiques |date=1992 |volume=150 |issue=2–3 |pages=230–239 |pmid=1343525 |oclc=118095174 }}</ref> White matter is recorded to increase up until around the age of 45, and then it is lost via progressive aging.

===Hypothetical and abstract thinking===
Adolescents' thinking is less bound to concrete events than that of children: they can contemplate possibilities outside the realm of what currently exists. One manifestation of the adolescent's increased facility with thinking about possibilities is the improvement of skill in [[deductive reasoning]], which leads to the development of hypothetical thinking. This provides the ability to plan ahead, see the future consequences of an action and to provide alternative explanations of events. It also makes adolescents more skilled debaters, as they can reason against a friend's or parent's assumptions. Adolescents also develop a more sophisticated understanding of probability.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The appearance of more systematic, abstract thinking is another notable aspect of cognitive development during adolescence. For example, adolescents find it easier than children to comprehend the sorts of higher-order abstract logic inherent in puns, proverbs, metaphors, and analogies. Their increased facility permits them to appreciate the ways in which language can be used to convey multiple messages, such as satire, metaphor, and [[sarcasm]]. (Children younger than age nine often cannot comprehend sarcasm at all.)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Demorest |first1=Amy |last2=Meyer |first2=Christine |last3=Phelps |first3=Erin |last4=Gardner |first4=Howard |last5=Winner |first5=Ellen |title=Words Speak Louder Than Actions: Understanding Deliberately False Remarks |journal=Child Development |date=August 1984 |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=1527–1534 |doi=10.2307/1130022 |jstor=1130022 }}</ref> This also permits the application of advanced reasoning and logical processes to social and ideological matters such as interpersonal relationships, politics, philosophy, religion, morality, friendship, faith, fairness, and honesty.

===Metacognition===
A third gain in cognitive ability involves thinking about thinking itself, a process referred to as [[metacognition]]. It often involves monitoring one's own cognitive activity during the thinking process. Adolescents' improvements in knowledge of their own thinking patterns lead to better self-control and more effective studying. It is also relevant in social cognition, resulting in increased [[introspection]], [[self-consciousness]], and intellectualization (in the sense of thought about one's own thoughts, rather than the Freudian definition as a defense mechanism). Adolescents are much better able than children to understand that people do not have complete control over their mental activity. Being able to introspect may lead to two forms of adolescent egocentrism, which results in two distinct problems in thinking: the [[imaginary audience]] and the [[personal fable]]. These likely peak at age fifteen, along with self-consciousness in general.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rankin |first1=Jane L. |last2=Lane |first2=David J. |last3=Gibbons |first3=Frederick X. |last4=Gerrard |first4=Meg |title=Adolescent Self-Consciousness: Longitudinal Age Changes and Gender Differences in Two Cohorts |journal=Journal of Research on Adolescence |date=March 2004 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=1–21 |doi=10.1111/j.1532-7795.2004.01401001.x }}</ref>

Related to metacognition and [[abstraction|abstract thought]], perspective-taking involves a more sophisticated [[theory of mind]].<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1002/9780470479193.adlpsy001008 |chapter=Social Cognitive Development in Adolescence |title=Handbook of Adolescent Psychology |year=2009 |last1=Smetana |first1=Judith G. |last2=Villalobos |first2=Myriam |isbn=978-0-470-47919-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HtdwZDroKxQC&pg=PA187 |pages=187–228 |editor1-first=Richard M. |editor1-last=Lerner |editor2-first=Laurence |editor2-last=Steinberg }}</ref> Adolescents reach a stage of social perspective-taking in which they can understand how the thoughts or actions of one person can influence those of another person, even if they personally are not involved.<ref>Selman, R. (1980) ''The growth of interpersonal understanding: Developmental and clinical analyses''. New York: Academic Press.{{page needed|date=October 2022}}</ref>

===Relativistic thinking===
Compared to children, adolescents are more likely to question others' assertions, and less likely to accept facts as absolute truths. Through experience outside the family circle, they learn that rules they were taught as absolute are in fact relativistic. They begin to differentiate between rules instituted out of common sense—not touching a hot stove—and those that are based on culturally relative standards (codes of etiquette, not dating until a certain age), a delineation that younger children do not make. This can lead to a period of questioning authority in all domains.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Chandler M | year = 1987 | title = The Othello effect: Essay on the emergence and eclipse of skeptical doubt | journal = Human Development | volume = 30 | issue = 3| pages = 137–159 | doi=10.1159/000273174}}</ref>

===Risk-taking===
Because most injuries sustained by adolescents are related to risky behavior (alcohol consumption and drug use, reckless or distracted driving, [[unprotected sex]]), a great deal of research has been done on the cognitive and emotional processes underlying adolescent risk-taking. In addressing this question, it is important to distinguish whether adolescents are more likely to engage in risky behaviors (prevalence), whether they make risk-related decisions similarly or differently than adults (cognitive processing perspective), or whether they use the same processes but value different things and thus arrive at different conclusions.

The behavioral decision-making theory proposes that adolescents and adults both weigh the potential rewards and consequences of an action. However, research has shown that adolescents seem to give more weight to rewards, particularly social rewards, than do adults.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Albert |first1=Dustin |last2=Steinberg |first2=Laurence |title=Judgment and Decision Making in Adolescence |journal=Journal of Research on Adolescence |date=March 2011 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=211–224 |doi=10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00724.x |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/psych_pubs/52 }}</ref>

Research seems to favor the hypothesis that adolescents and adults think about risk in similar ways, but hold different values and thus come to different conclusions. Some have argued that there may be evolutionary benefits to an increased propensity for risk-taking in adolescence. For example, without a willingness to take risks, teenagers would not have the motivation or confidence necessary to leave their family of origin. In addition, from a population perspective, there is an advantage to having a group of individuals willing to take more risks and try new methods, counterbalancing the more conservative elements more typical of the received knowledge held by older adults.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Risk-taking may also have reproductive advantages: adolescents have a newfound priority in sexual attraction and dating, and risk-taking is required to impress potential mates. Research also indicates that baseline [[sensation seeking]] may affect risk-taking behavior throughout the lifespan.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=C. Anderson |last2=Xiao |first2=Lin |last3=Palmer |first3=Paula |last4=Sun |first4=Ping |last5=Wang |first5=Qiong |last6=Wei |first6=Yonglan |last7=Jia |first7=Yong |last8=Grenard |first8=Jerry L. |last9=Stacy |first9=Alan W. |last10=Bechara |first10=Antoine |title=Affective decision-making deficits, linked to a dysfunctional ventromedial prefrontal cortex, revealed in 10th grade Chinese adolescent binge drinkers |journal=Neuropsychologia |date=2008 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=714–726 |doi=10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.09.012 |pmid=17996909 |pmc=3498846 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=David C. |last2=Byrnes |first2=James P. |title=The role of contextual and personal factors in children's risk taking. |journal=Developmental Psychology |date=1997 |volume=33 |issue=5 |pages=814–823 |doi=10.1037/0012-1649.33.5.814 |pmid=9300214 }}</ref> Given the potential consequences, engaging in sexual behavior is somewhat risky, particularly for adolescents. Having unprotected sex, using poor birth control methods (e.g., withdrawal), having multiple sexual partners, and poor communication are some aspects of sexual behavior that increase individual or social risk.

Aspects of adolescents' lives that are correlated with [[risky sexual behavior]] include higher rates of parental abuse, and lower rates of parental support and monitoring.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Luster Tom |author2=Small Stephen A | year = 1994 | title = Factors Associated with Sexual Risk-Taking Behaviors Among Adolescents | doi = 10.2307/352873 | journal = Journal of Marriage and Family | volume = 46 | issue = 3| pages = 622–632 |jstor=352873 }}</ref>

=== Inhibition ===
Related to their increased tendency for risk-taking, adolescents show impaired behavioral inhibition, including deficits in [[Extinction (psychology)|extinction learning]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McCallum |first1=Jessica |last2=Kim |first2=Jee Hyun |last3=Richardson |first3=Rick |title=Impaired Extinction Retention in Adolescent Rats: Effects of D-Cycloserine |journal=Neuropsychopharmacology |date=September 2010 |volume=35 |issue=10 |pages=2134–2142 |doi=10.1038/npp.2010.92 |pmid=20592716 |pmc=3055297 }}</ref> This has important implications for engaging in risky behavior such as [[Safe sex|unsafe sex]] or illicit drug use, as adolescents are less likely to inhibit actions that may have negative outcomes in the future.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spear |first1=Linda Patia |title=Adolescent Neurodevelopment |journal=Journal of Adolescent Health |date=February 2013 |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=S7–S13 |doi=10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.05.006 |pmid=23332574 |pmc=3982854 }}</ref> This phenomenon also has consequences for behavioral treatments based on the principle of extinction, such as cue exposure therapy for anxiety or [[drug addiction]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Jee Hyun |last2=Richardson |first2=Rick |title=New Findings on Extinction of Conditioned Fear Early in Development: Theoretical and Clinical Implications |journal=Biological Psychiatry |date=February 2010 |volume=67 |issue=4 |pages=297–303 |doi=10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.09.003 |pmid=19846065 |s2cid=33444381 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Jee Hyun |last2=Ganella |first2=Despina E |title=A Review of Preclinical Studies to Understand Fear During Adolescence |journal=Australian Psychologist |date=1 February 2015 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=25–31 |doi=10.1111/ap.12066 |s2cid=142760996 }}</ref> It has been suggested that impaired inhibition, specifically extinction, may help to explain adolescent propensity to relapse to drug-seeking even following behavioral treatment for addiction.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zbukvic |first1=Isabel C. |last2=Ganella |first2=Despina E. |last3=Perry |first3=Christina J. |last4=Madsen |first4=Heather B. |last5=Bye |first5=Christopher R. |last6=Lawrence |first6=Andrew J. |last7=Kim |first7=Jee Hyun |title=Role of Dopamine 2 Receptor in Impaired Drug-Cue Extinction in Adolescent Rats |journal=Cerebral Cortex |date=June 2016 |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=2895–2904 |doi=10.1093/cercor/bhw051 |pmid=26946126 |pmc=4869820 }}</ref>