Students should evaluate the author's claim that teenagers are more prone to impulsive behavior because they are more likely to be distracted by potential rewards. The author points
to Roper's study as evidence of how teens are more distracted by rewards than adults "even after the
actual payoff is long gone" (Paragraph 2). In the study, two groups (adults and teenagers) were asked to
identify different shapes, some of which had value (such as the red and green circles; however, in the
second round, these values were removed. Unlike the adults, the teens' reaction times did not speed up
and "[t]hey took longer to respond whenever a red or green circle showed up" (Paragraph 10). The author
then quotes Brian Anderson, who said that this study shows teenagers are drawn to "rewarding
information which may help explain why teens engage in risky behavior" (Paragraph 12). It should be
noted, however, that Anderson was not involved with the study" (Paragraph 12). A quote from someone
involved in the study, such as Roper himself, would strengthen the author's argument. Likewise, the
author's conclusion that "[c]learly, the red and green circles were distracting teens from their objective" is
subjective and lacks concise evidence from the study to reach this conclusion. Because the results of the
study are not completely definitive, and because the author only cites one study, the author's original
claim about impulsive teenage behavior is not as strong as it could be.