Casey Flashcards
What was the aim of Casey’s?
Researchers considered the extent to which the ability to resist temptation at preschool age affected the same ps in adulthood. Control over impulses and sensitivity to social cues at the behavioural and neural level were examined.
What was the method and IV for Casey’s study?
The study was longitudinal, tracking the same ps from age 4 until they reached their forties. It’s was composed of two natural or quasi- experiments, as the IV was naturally occurring. The individual ps ability to delay gratification was the IV: operationalised as ‘high delayers’ or ‘low delayers’.
What were the ps in Casey’s study?
562 pupils aged 4 who had attended Stanford’s Bing Nursery School and completed the original delay-of-gratifictaion task during the late 1960s and early 1970s
155- completed a self-control scale in their twenties
135 undertook the same measure in their thirties
59(23 males, 36 females) took part in experiment 1
27 (13 males, 14 females) took part in experiment 2. One male excluded from experiment 2 owing to a poor performance on the behvioural task.
What is the difference between hot or cool cues in Casey’s study?
The hot cues are those aspects that make it attractive, such as the nice taste of a biscuit.
The cool cues are pother aspects, that are not appealing, such as the shape of a biscuit.
A cognitive strategy that helps people resist temptation is to focus on the cool cues.In Casey’s study the cool task was male and female and the hot task was a happy or fearful face.
What was the procedure for experiment 1 in Casey’s study?
Divided into 32 high delayers and 27 low delayers. They had given their consent to take part in a behavioural version of a ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ impulse control task. Completed in ps own home via pre-programmed laptops.
Ps completed two versions of what researchers termed a ‘go/no-go’ task in which ps were instructed to press a button (go) or withhold a button (no-go). the ‘cool’ version of the task included the presentation of male and female faces with neutral expressions; one sex was the go stimulus and the other sex the no-go stimulus.
Prior to teh start ps read on screen instructions and this indicated which stimulus was the ‘go’.
Each face appeared for 500 milliseconds, followed by a 1 second interval between faces. 160 trails were presented.
The accuracy and reaction times were acquired in four runs representing each combination of stimulus sex (male, female) and trial type (go, no go).
The hot and cool versions differed only in the use of happy expressions or neutral/ fearful expressions respectively.
What was the procedure for experiment 2 in Casey’s study?
The sample consisted of 15 high delayers (5m,10f) and 11 low delayers (7m,4f).
Ps were scanned with a functional magnetic resonance imagining scanner while completing a ‘hot’ version of the go/no-go task similar to that sued in experiment 1. The set up enabled them to view the task via a rear projection screen. an electronic response pas was use to record responses to facial stimuli and reaction times. 48 trials were presented per run (35 go, 13 no-go). Each face stimulus was presented for 500 milliseconds followed by intervals ranging from 2 seconds to 14.5 seconds.
Researchers collected imaging data from 26 no-go trails and 70 go trials per expression.
What were the results in experiment 1 of Casey’s study?
Highly accurate in responses in both cool (99.8% correct) and ‘hot’ (99.5%) conditions.
Low delayers were slightly more likely to respond mistakenly in no-go trials and preformed slightly worse than high delayers in the ‘hot’ version of the task. Low delayers identified at 4 years of age showed greater difficulty suppressing their responses to happy faces than high delayers.
False alarms (LD-14.5%, HD-10.9%)
What were the results in experiment 2 of Casey’s study?
No sig difference between the 2 delay groups on reaction times in correct go trials. Accuracy across both groups was very high for go trails. Low delayers had higher-false alarm rates in no-go trials.
The right inferior frontal gyrus appeared to be critical in withholding responses, with low delayers showing reduced activity in thsi region (ventral striatum) during the key no-go trials, as compared to high delayers or during go trails. high levels fo activity in the reward related region for low delayers compared to high delay (the ventral striatum) ps. This was most prominent during happy no-go trials for the low delayers.
What conclusions were given for Casey’s study?
1) Resistance to temptation appears to be a relatively stable characteristic of an individual over time.
2) Cognitive control can be strongly influence by contextual factors (e.g. ‘hot’ cues) in alluring situations.
3) Ventral frontostriatal; circuitry supports resistance to temptation, with a combination of lowered activity in the inferior frontal gyrus and increased activity in the ventral striatum in low delayers.
Evaluate the validity of Casey’s study
The nature and presentation of the go/no-go task was artificially and different from how we normally encounter and respond to facial expressions. Also, the use of fMRI scanning during the task may have had an impact on the way in which ps responded to stimuli. It is likely that genuine social interactions are more complex and may cause our brains to behave differently from how they behave under artificial conditions.
What practical applications can be gained from Casey’s study?
Provided further evidence about the localisation of neural function for tasks involving rewards and resisting temptation. It also found that our ability to exercise self-control is influenced greatly by contextual cues. The ability to delay immediate gratification in favour of long-term goals is useful for an individual’s personal and social well-being, and this study shows us how both individual and situational factors can influence self-control.
What is the key theme of Casey’s study?
Regions of the brain
In experiment 1, what was the percentage that low delayers and high delayers committed false alarms.
LD-14.5%
HD-10.9%
What is menat by delay of gratifictaion
the act of resisting an impulse to take an immediately available reward in the hope of obtaining a more-valued reward in the future.
