Abstract
Excerpt: Adolescence is marked by heightened sensitivity to reward (Braams, van Duijvenvoorde, Peper, & Crone, 2015; Chein, Albert, O’Brien, Uckert, & Steinberg, 2011; Galvan, 2010; Luciana, Wahlstrom, Porter, & Collins, 2012; Van Leijenhorst et al., 2010), and during adolescence peers serve as powerful social reward cues to take risks (Blakemore & Robbins, 2012; Chein et al., 2011; Shulman et al., 2016; Smith, Steinberg, Strang, & Chein, 2015). These trends are evident in both demographic and experimental research, indicating that adolescent drivers with a teen passenger are more likely to drive aggressively, be involved in accidents, and make riskier decisions (Allen & Brown, 2008; Chassin et al., 2004; Chein et al., 2011; Curry, Mirman, Kallan, Winston, & Durbin, 2012). This peer effect extends to increased likelihood of substance use and delinquent behaviors in social situations as well (Brown et al., 2009; Casey & Jones, 2010; Chassin et al., 2004; Samek, Goodman, Erath, McGue, & Iacono, 2016). While the peer effect is a robust and well documented phenomenon, the underlying mechanisms and limiting conditions are still poorly understood. The specific goal of this study is to examine effects of peer and reward contexts on adolescent brain activity and behavior to better understand the neural mechanisms underlying decision making in adolescence.