Adolescence is an important window of development for cognitive/executive functions, especially in areas of the prefrontal cortex which mediate executive functions. Some people refer to these functions as ‘meta-cognition’ or ‘mentalizing’ or, in other words, the ability to think about or represent one’s own and others’ internal states. Simply put, adolescents, compared to young children, are better able to think about their thinking as well as about how others may be thinking. The long period of growth, starting in early adolescence, continuing through mid-adolescence, late adolescence and even into emerging adulthood is a period of important cognitive refinement that will have implications for adulthood.

Contrary to older views of the brain as fixed in early childhood, scientists now know that the brain is plastic and responsive to environmental events, but this is especially the case during developmental periods of rapid and expansive neural reorganization, like adolescence.

Adolescents get better at executive skills like rational thinking, impulse control, and planning. They can begin to understand themselves and others’ perspectives more accurately, and the normative push toward exploring their environment, especially the social environment, prepares them to take their place, eventually, in the world of adults.

Such cognitive and social-emotional advances usher in gains but also some risks. Among these are social comparison or the increased tendency to compare oneself to others, often in punishingly self-critical ways, increased rumination and risky risk taking. These are some reasons why adolescence has been called a period of opportunity and risk. But what do these cognitive changes have to do with mindfulness.