During childhood and adolescence, our brains are especially plastic, which means they are prone to changing dependent on experiences that they face. In adolescence especially, a specific region of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex is especially plastic.
The prefrontal cortex is responsible for enabling us to control our emotion, make good decisions, and control ourselves, especially socially. This article discusses the effects on health and behavior on the teenager caused by the changing of the brain, and indicates the vulnerabilities it exposes the teenager to. It also points out a few other neurological changes, such as the pruning of excess and unnecessary synapses and the progressive myelination of axons during this time, as other factors that make the teenage years to neurodevelopmentally important.
