The Adolescent Brain: Learning, Reasoning, and Decision Making

by Reyna, Valerie F.

• ISBN13: 9781433810701
• ISBN10: 1433810700
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-01
• Publisher: AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Summary

The period from adolescence through young adulthood is one of great promise and vulnerability. As teenagers approach maturity, they must develop and apply the skills and habits necessary to navigate adulthood and compete in an ever more technological and globalized world. But as parents and researchers have long known, there is a crucial dichotomy between adolescents' cognitive competence and their frequent inability to utilize that competence in everyday decision-making. This volume brings together an interdisciplinary group of leading scientists to examine how the adolescent brain develops, and how this development impacts various aspects of reasoning and decision-making, from the use and function of memory and representation, to judgment, mathematical problem-solving, and the construction of meaning. The contributors ask questions that seek to uncover the basic mechanisms underlying brain development in adolescence, such as: How do the concepts of proof and reasoning emerge? What is the relationship between cognitive and procedural understanding in problem-solving? How can researchers build assessments to capture and describe learning over time? The Adolescent Brainraises questions relevant to young people's educational and health outcomes, as well as to neuroscience research.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Introduction to The Adolescent Brain: Learning, Reasoning, and Decision Making	p. 3
Foundations	p. 13
Anatomic Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Developing Child and Adolescent Brain	p. 15
Memory, Meaning, and Representation	p. 37
Semantic and Associative Relations in Adolescents and Young Adults: Examining a Tenuous Dichotomy	p. 39
Representation and Transfer of Abstract Mathematical Concepts in Adolescence and Young Adulthood	p. 67
A Value of Concrete Learning Materials in Adolescence	p. 95
Higher Order Strategic Gist Reasoning in Adolescence	p. 123
Learning, Reasoning, and Problem Solving	p. 153
Better Measurement of Higher Cognitive Processes Through Learning Trajectories and Diagnostic Assessments in Mathematics: The Challenge in Adolescence	p. 155
Adolescent Reasoning in Mathematical and Nonmathematical Domains: Exploring the Paradox	p. 183
Training the Adolescent Brain: Neural Plasticity and the Acquisition of Cognitive Abilities	p. 211
Higher Cognition is Altered by Noncognitive Factors: How Affect Enhances and Disrupts Mathematics Performance in Adolescence and Young Adulthood	p. 243
Judgment and Decision Making	p. 265
Risky Behavior in Adolescents: The Role of the Developing Brain	p. 267
Affective Motivators and Experience in Adolescents' Development of Health-Related Behavior Patterns	p. 291
Judgment and Decision Making in Adolescence: Separating Intelligence From Rationality	p. 337
A Fuzzy Trace Theory of Adolescent Risk Taking: Beyond Self-Control and Sensation Seeking	p. 379
Epilogue	p. 429
Paradoxes of the Adolescent Brain in Cognition, Emotion, and Rationality	p. 431
Index	p. 437
About the Editors	p. 455
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.