"This book brings together the work of scientists with basic or foundational research expertise (e.g., cognitive, developmental, and social psychologists; neuroscientists) and those with an applied emphasis (e.g., on education; public health; applied economics and decision research; and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the so-called STEM fields) to address a critically understudied area in life-course learning: higher order cognition in adolescence and young adulthood. The purpose of integrating these scientific communities is twofold: (a) to advance the basic science of the developing brain by focusing scientists on key problems that are ripe for groundbreaking discoveries and (b) to apply cutting-edge theory and high-quality research methods to real-world problems of learning, cognition, and development, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of research and its immediate relevance to pressing societal needs"--Preface.