The adolescent brain: insights from functional neuroimaging research

With the development of functional neuroimaging tools, the past two decades have witnessed an explosion of work examining functional brain maps, mostly in the adult brain. Against this backdrop of work in adults, developmental research begins to gather a substantial body of knowledge about brain maturation. The purpose of this review is to present some of these findings from the perspective of functional neuroimaging. First, a brief survey of available neuroimaging techniques (i.e., fMRI, MRS, MEG, PET, SPECT, and infrared techniques) is provided. Next, the key cognitive, emotional, and social changes taking place during adolescence are outlined. The third section gives examples of how these behavioral changes can be understood from a neuroscience perspective. The conclusion places this functional neuroimaging research in relation to clinical and molecular work, and shows how answers will ultimately come from the combined efforts of these disciplines.