Adolescent risk taking : the influence of pubertal development, neural responses to rewards and social context
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Adolescence, defined as the \ntransition phase between childhood and adulthood, is a time of many \nphysical, cognitive and social-emotional changes. It is a natural time \nof exploring, thrill seeking, and for eventually setting long-term goals\n and aspirations. One of the most prominent findings is that adolescents\n take more risks than children or adults. The focus of this thesis is on\n adolescent risk taking behavior. The goal is to identify individual \ndifference factors that are related to risk taking behavior and assess \nhow these variables change over development. Adolescence is associated \nwith major changes in hormonal levels, brain function and social \nenvironment. In this thesis it is tested how changes in pubertal \ndevelopment, brain function and social environment together influence \nreal life risk taking. \n\n\n\nThe studies in this thesis show that neural responses to rewards in the \nstriatum are elevated during adolescence. This response is influenced by\n chronological age, pubertal development, personality and the social \ncontext. Importantly, the striatum response to rewards is related to \nreal life risk taking behavior and therefore has functional relevance. \nThe results of this thesis provide vital insight in the complex \nrelationship between reward processing and real life risk taking \nbehavior.
Author: Barbara R. Braams
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3125622304