Due to scans within the brains of developing adolescents, studies have shown that the brain goes through several steps to reorganize itself between the ages of 12 and 25 years old. Our brains have matured almost fully by size as teens; however, the brain adheres to remodeling and reassembling in order to make for improved thinking processes.

Elaborating on this concept will take some explanation. To begin, during the remodeling of the brain, the axons (fibers that neurons use to send signals to other neurons) become more insulated. In turn, the myelin sheath that insulates the axon causes axon transmission to speed up. Also, synaptic pruning takes place. In simple terms, synaptic pruning is when unnecessary neural connections disappear if they are not resourceful or used often. Furthermore, dendrites (the end of neurons that receive signals from other axons) thin out; the synapses (spaces between dendrites and axons) that are frequently used become stronger; and the synapses that are not used as frequently become weaker.

These changes of maturation go from the back of the brain to the front of the brain. Therefore, they cause the prefrontal cortex, a brain center highly involved in higher order thinking and decision making, to be one of the last parts to fully mature. Moreover, the questionable decisions that teens sometimes make relate directly to the fact that their prefrontal cortex is not at the right stage in its development to work as completely as a fully developed adult’s would.

To support this research, an experiment was set up by researches. In this experiment, the participant plays a video game in which he or she tries to drive across a town in as little amount of time as possible. The traffic lights change color, like in real life, and if the participant drives through the light before it turns red, it is indicator of a higher likelihood to take risks. In essence, participants may take more risks by driving as fast as they can, in order to finish quickly and thus earn more points in the game.

The conclusions that came from this experiment were that when a teen drove the simulation alone, he or she took about the same amount of risks as adults do. However, when the teen’s friends were in the room, the teen took twice as many risks. This shows that teens’ decisions are based strongly on social rewards. Not only is a typical teenager’s brain still developing, but the response that they get from peers increases the likelihood of them taking risks.