Modernizing Conceptions of Valuation and Cognitive-Control Deployment in Adolescent Risk Taking

Heightened risk taking in adolescence has long been attributed to valuation systems overwhelming the deployment of cognitive control. However, this explanation of why adolescents engage in risk taking is insufficient given increasing evidence that risk-taking behavior can be strategic and involve elevated cognitive control. We argue that applying the Expected Value of Control (EVC; Shenhav, Botvinick, & Cohen, 2013) computational model to adolescent risk taking can clarify under what conditions control is elevated or diminished during risky decision making. Through this lens, we review research examining when adolescent risk taking might be due to-rather than a failure of-effective cognitive control and suggest compelling ways to test such hypotheses. This effort can not only resolve when risk taking arises from an immaturity of the control system itself versus differences in what adolescents value relative to adults, but also identify promising avenues for channeling cognitive control towards adaptive outcomes in adolescence.