Executive Function in Adolescence: A Commentary on Regulatory Control and Depression in Adolescents: Findings From Neuroimaging and Neuropsychological Research.

This commentary addresses the manner in which executive control processes and their development is impacted by major depressive episodes during adolescence. Strengths of the articles within this special issue include the breadth of executive functions that were examined, incorporation of biological probes to understand neural mechanisms involved in observed impairments, the use of longitudinal paradigms to assess developmental timing, consideration and modeling of comorbid conditions, and the identification of individual difference factors that may serve as both liabilities and resilience factors. This work is timely; a close examination of negative emotions and how they change during adolescence is needed if we are to fully understand motivation-cognition interactions and how they are impaired by psychopathology.