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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016 Jul 28;70:46–58. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.07.034

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Proposed Model of Experience-Driven Maturation. Developmental trajectories within an across prefrontal, hippocampal, and mesolimbic dopamine systems contribute to the refinement of using prior experiences to guide task-related behaviors. Within the prefrontal cortex (blue), there is an early maturation of executive functions including cognitive control, working memory, and task-relevant behaviors prior to adolescence. In parallel within the hippocampus (teal), there is a maturation of memory-related processes that emerge prior to adolescence and are refined throughout adolescence. Critically, increased dopaminergic signaling in the VTA (orange) support both integration and plasticity within and across the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (red), which results in the ability to distribute information processing across these regions. Together, this developmental trajectory results in the ability to use prior episodes to reliably guide task-relevant behavior. Individual plots summarize the proposed neurodevelopmental trajectories of discrete components of the model (adolescence highlighted in light blue).