The adolescent brain : neurocognitive development and subject-related factors

This dissertation studies how the brain functioning develops during thinking functions in adolescents. Adolescents of respectively 13, 17 and 21 years old largely activate the same brain areas when, for example they make decisions. However, the degree to which de brain areas are active increases when the young person grows older. These brain changes occur dispersed in the brains and they are not specific for a certain thinking function. They indicate a general development principle in the functioning of the brains. Moreover, this research shows considerable individual changes between adolescents; gender and the experienced stress in the scanner influence thinking functions and brain activity. These research findings are important for the way we look at adolescents. In the educational system, for example, it is assumed that high-school students are quite capable of independent working, whereas this PhD research shows that this ability is still in development during adolescence.