The article, “The Teenage Brain,” written by Amanda Leigh Mascarelli, was published on a website for adolescents. Its purpose is to inform the reader the reasons why teens make so many impulsive or unpredictable decisions. Mascarelli asserts that dopamine is a huge reason why teens give in to their impulsive desires. She also states that the adolescent brain is constantly in a “tug-of-war” between the logical pull of the prefrontal cortex (a part of the brain that acts as the instructor/decision maker) and the impulsive pull of the ventral striatum (the reward center which makes us repeat behaviors that provide us a reward). …show more content…
She has a masters in journalism and an undergraduate in biology. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Nature, Science, New Scientist, Audubon, and many other publications. She is honored of the “Best American Science & Nature Writing “Notable” Readings of 2013 Achievement, 2014.” Mascarelli, a professional and suitable writer for this topic, wrote this article on a reliable and academic website, ScienceNews for Students. This article is sufficiently current because it was published on October 17, 2012 and is a topic of ongoing research, requiring more recent and non-outdated data. It is relevant and helpful in researching teenage decision making because it gives us an explanation of how the teenage brain works. The purpose of “The Teenage Brain”, is to inform the reader in a non-objective or biased way. The author makes her purpose clear by supporting her evidence with data/statistics, large studies, and interviews which have been reviewed by experts in the field of neuroscience, while never giving her opinion on the topic. The article includes a list of cited references that are verifiable. There are no spelling, grammar, or typographical errors. The article is not lacking in any important