Adolescent-to-adult gains in cognitive flexibility are adaptively supported by reward sensitivity, exploration, and neural variability

Abstract

Cognitive flexibility exhibits dynamic changes throughout development, with different forms of flexibility showing dissociable developmental trajectories. In this review, we propose that an adolescent-specific mode of flexibility in the face of changing environmental contingencies supports the emergence of adolescent-to-adult gains in cognitive shifting efficiency. We first describe how cognitive shifting abilities monotonically improve from childhood to adulthood, accompanied by increases in brain state flexibility, neural variability, and excitatory/inhibitory balance. We next summarize evidence supporting the existence of a dopamine-driven adolescent peak in flexible behavior that results in reward seeking, undirected exploration, and environmental sampling. We propose a neurodevelopmental framework that relates these adolescent behaviors to the refinement of neural phenotypes relevant to mature cognitive flexibility - and thus highlight the importance of the adolescent period in fostering healthy neurocognitive trajectories.