A Lecture in Psychology: Is Adolescence a Sensitive Period for Sociocultural Processing?

Kathryn L. Mills, of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University College of London (UCL), talks about her article "Is Adolescence a Sensitive Period for Sociocultural Processing?" which she wrote with Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, also of UCL, for the 2014 Annual Review of Psychology. In this lecture, Ms. Mills argues that "studies about adolescence should include measures of social influence" as social context drives many of the decisions made by adolescents. She describes how the structure and function of the social brain continue to develop during the second decade of life, and explains these changes must be taken into account. Read the associated article online: http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202