Alcohol and Adolescent Brain Development Adolescence is a time
of transition, physically, socially, and emotionally. The
adolescent brain is in transition as well. Although important
structural and functional changes take place in the brain from
childhood to adulthood (Giedd et al., 1999), during adolescence
such changes are widespread. During adolescence, the brain
undergoes a major remodeling involving the formation of new
connections between nerve cells, as well as the pruning of
existing synaptic connections. These changes affect the
processes involved in planning and decisionmaking, impulse
control, voluntary movement, memory, and speech production,
among others (Rubia et al., 2000). Similar changes occur in
those parts of the brain that seem to affect how a person
responds to alcohol and other drugs (Spear, 2000; Teicher et
al., 1995). As a result, alcohol appears to have different
effects on adolescents than adults (Spear, 2000). Animal studies
suggest that alcohol may have a greater impact on adolesce