The Distracted Teenage Brain

Psychologists worked with two groups of volunteers： teens and young adults. Each volunteer had to play a game of sorts. During a training phase， a computer displayed six circles， each a different color. The players had to find the red or green circle. These targets had either a horizontal or vertical line inside. The remaining circles had lines at other angles. When the participant found the correct target， they had to press one of two keys on a keyboard. One key would report they had found the vertical line. The other reported finding a horizontal line.

When a volunteer hit the right key， the screen flashed the amount of the reward they had earned. For some volunteers， green circles provided a large （10-cent） reward and red circles provided a small （2-cent） reward. For other volunteers， the amounts were reversed， with red circles worth more. All other colors had no reward.

By the end of this training， volunteers had learned the value of each color. But they weren't aware that they had， notes Iowa's Jatin Vaidya. When the scientists asked the players about the value of red versus green circles， both teens and adults had no awareness that a circle's color had any effect on how much they had earned during any given trial.

After this training ended， it was time to begin testing in earnest. The scientists informed the volunteers they had a new target. Each had to report the orientation of the line inside a blue diamond. Again， groups of six symbols appeared on a computer screen. Only one was a diamond. The other five were still circles. In some trials， one of those circles was red or green. In other trials， there were no red or green circles.

The recruits were told to answer as quickly as possible. And for this phase of the experiment， no additional money would be earned.

When no red or green circles were among the onscreen options， both adults and teens responded quickly. But when a red or green circle showed up， both groups initially took a bit longer. Adults， though， quickly stopped paying attention to the colored circles. Their response times sped up.

Teens reacted differently. They took longer to respond whenever a red or green circle showed up. Their response times never sped up. Their attention still was drawn to the previously valued circles - even though the shapes no longer brought any reward. Clearly， the red and green circles were distracting teens from their objective.

1. What is the target of the report in the testing part？ ____.

A. the orientation of the line inside red circles

B. the orientation of the line inside yellow diamonds

C. the orientation of the line inside green circles

D. the orientation of the line inside blue diamonds

2. What does "initially" in paragraph 6 mean？ ____.

A. at first B. after all C. instantly D. really

3. Which of the following is true according to the passage？ ____.

A. Immaturity of prefrontal cortex is the leading cause of teens poor decision making

B. After the training， adults were aware of the value of red versus green circles

C. In the test phase， adults were slow at the beginning but later sped up

D. In the test phase， a volunteer could get some money reward when he hit the right key