ABSTRACT

Adolescence is a protracted period of development characterized by significant social and cognitive behavioral development. This chapter will present evidence from rodent models and humans that gonadal hormone secretions cause lasting behavioral changes by leaving their marks on the male and female adolescent brain. We will also present evidence that in males, adolescence may be part of a protracted postnatal sensitive period that opens perinatally and closes at the end of adolescence. As such, the perinatal and peripubertal periods of steroid-dependent organization do not appear to represent two distinct sensitive periods in males but instead are the consequence of the developmental timing of normative gonadal hormone secretions. Throughout this review, we will highlight the exciting questions remaining for this field of research, particularly around sex differences.