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The Adolescent Brain: Insights from Neuroimaging

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Brain Crosstalk in Puberty and Adolescence

Part of the book series: Research and Perspectives in Endocrine Interactions ((RPEI,volume 13))

Abstract

Adolescence is a time of dramatic changes in body, behavior, and brain. Although the adolescent brain has different features than those of a child or mature adult, it is not broken or defective. The changes in the teen brain have been exquisitely forged by evolution to facilitate the survival of our species. During the second decade of life the brain does not mature by becoming larger; it matures by becoming more specialized and its subcomponents becoming more “inter-connected.” Recent advances in neuroimaging and the application of graph theoretical methods of analysis are enabling scientists to characterize these changes in connectivity and how they vary by age, sex, health/illness, and other cognitive or behavioral measures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jay N. Giedd & Alexander H. Denker

Authors
  1. Jay N. Giedd
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  2. Alexander H. Denker
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Correspondence to Jay N. Giedd .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Developmental Neuroendocrinology Unit, G GIGA Neurosciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

  2. Serv. d'endocrinologie diabetol. pédiatr, Hopital Robert Debre, Paris, Paris, France

    Jean-Claude Carel

  3. Fondation Ipsen, Boulogne-Billancourt, France

    Yves Christen

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Giedd, J.N., Denker, A.H. (2015). The Adolescent Brain: Insights from Neuroimaging. In: Bourguignon, JP., Carel, JC., Christen, Y. (eds) Brain Crosstalk in Puberty and Adolescence. Research and Perspectives in Endocrine Interactions, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09168-6_7

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