The importance of sexual and romantic development in understanding the developmental neuroscience of adolescence

In this issue, papers by Shulman and colleaugues (2016); Nelson t al. (2016) present theoretical accounts of developmental changes n risk-taking behavior and in social behavior, respectively. Both apers synthesize a large volume of neuroimaging literature in rder to illuminate mechanisms of developmental change, and hey highlight the incredibly rapid pace of research in developental cognitive neuroscience in advancing our understanding of dolescence. Yet it is crucial that neuroscience-based theories of dolescent development draw not only on neuroimaging studies, ut also on the wealth of psychological, sociological, and anthroological data on adolescent development. In this commentary, e focus on some key aspects of the developmental science of dolescence that we believe warrant considerably more attenion in “dual-process” and “imbalance” models of adolescent brain evelopment. Sex, love, and romance are core dimensions of adoescent development, with implications for adolescents’ motivations, motional experiences, social learning, decision making, and identity ormation.