Abstract
Have you ever heard about executive functions (EFs)? These are skills that you use every single day! They allow you to achieve your goals, resist your impulses, and make wise decisions. During adolescence, your brain is still developing. In particular, the area of your brain responsible for your EFs is still maturing and becoming more efficient. This means that, as an adolescent, you are still getting better at exercising your EFs. This ongoing brain and skill development is probably one of the reasons why adolescents are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, including drug abuse and binge drinking (BD). BD is a pattern of excessive alcohol use that negatively affects EFs and other aspects of brain structure and function. In this article, we describe three important EFs and explain how development of these skills is related to brain maturation. We discuss how BD may impact EFs and potentially disrupt an adolescent’s transition to adult life.
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