Casey

Question 1

What parts of the brain are associated with ability to delay gratification

Answer 1

Inferior frontal lobe = helps inhibit or delay responses eg.avoid temptation

Ventral striatum = high activity means you want immediate gratification + find it hard to resist temptation (reward hub)

Question 2

Previous research to casey

Answer 2

showed that preschoolers who directed attention to rewarding things (cookies) had more difficulty resistng inappropiate actions in adulthood

Question 3

Casey Aim

Answer 3

to test whether delay of gratification in childhood predicts impulse self-control in adulthood

Question 4

Sample of Casey

Answer 4

drawn from cohort of 562 pupils aged 4 who had completed marshmallow test in 1960s

those who also did self-control questionnaire in 20s/30s

117 were contacted as they were above or below average in these tests

59 participants took part in experiment 1
27 participants took place in experiment 2

males + females

one male participant results removed due to poor performance in experiment 2

Question 5

Research Method of Casey

Answer 5

Quasi - experiment
= didn’t manipulate who was ‘low delayer’ or ‘high delayer’

Longitudinal study
= age 4 until their 30s

Question 6

IV and DVs of Casey

Answer 6

IV - whether participants were high or low delayers based on marshmallow test when they were 4 + scored high/low on self-control questionaire

DV = accuracy on go/no-go task and fMRI activity readings

Question 6

Why didn’t Casey use marshmallows to test delay of gratification

Answer 6

believed that what we find tempting changes as we age

eg social acceptance is more gratifying for adults than marshmallows

Question 7

Experiment 1 of Casey

Answer 7

Participants carried out go/no-go task at home with laptops.
Pictures of numerous faces were flashed on screen for 500miliseconds followed by a 1 second interval between faces.
Participants were given instructions on when + when not to press a button (go/no-go task)

Hot task = participants shown fearful + happy faces
Cold Task = participants shown male + female faces
eg. asked to press button when see fearful face

DV - how many mistakes they made + reaction times

Researchers thought they would make more mistake on hot task as it would be tempting to press when they saw happy face as its a tempting social cue

Question 8

Experiment 2 of Casey

Answer 8

Participants carried out same go/no go task in experiment 1 but in an fMRI scanner

errors and reaction times were compared between low delayers and high delayers

Question 9

Describe what a Go/No-Go task was in Caseys study

Answer 9

computerised test

used to assess inhibitory control eg. can were control our responses

each trial consists of one stimulus eg. fearful/happy (hot task) or male/female (cold task) indicating to press button (GO) or not (NO-GO)

Question 10

Results of Experiment 1 in Casey’s study

Answer 10

Low + high delayers had similar accuracy in ‘cool’ task

low delayers performed worse on hot task than high delayers
eg. found harder to suppress their responses to happy faces compared to high delayers

Question 11

Results of Experiment 2 in Caseys study

Answer 11

Low delayers made more mistakes than high delayers in hot task as in experiment 1

fMRI found low delayers had less activity in inferior frontal gyrus and more activity in ventral striatum during go/no-go tasks compared to high delayers

Question 12

Conclusions of Casey

Answer 12

The ventral striatum is a ‘reward hub’ of the brain is more active in low delayers

The inferior frontal gyrus is less active in low delayers

Question 13

Generalisability of Casey

Answer 13

paricipants all came from Stanford uni nursery in USA

particpants from similar background (academic’s children) and from one culture

longitudinal study as attrition of sample, sample bias as certain people stay

Question 14

Is Casey ethnocentric

Answer 14

focused on American culture

people from other cultures might be taught to control impulses differently

Question 15

Reliability of Casey

Answer 15

RELIABLE
= exp 2 under lab conditions using fMRI scanner so extraneous variables controlled.
if experiment repeated with same equipment, would get similar results

= exp 1 had standardised programme + recorded response accuratly

UNRELIBLE
= participants carried out task at home
= distractions in environment could have affected participants response > harder to replicate

Question 16

Applications of Casey

Answer 16

shows differences in our brain determine how could we are at resisting temptation

suggests that we should train the brains of low delayers to improve achievement, physical health and relationships

Question 17

Validity of casey

Answer 17

LACKS ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
go/no go task is artificial as its not how we would usually respond to facial expressions

fMRI scanner while doing go/no go task isn’t an everyday task + could’ve affected response

Question 18

Ethics in Casey

Answer 18

no ethical issues
- no deception
-right to withdraw
- no harm

Question 19

Quantitative data in Casey

Answer 19

experiment 1 - counted no. of errors they made in go/no-go task

allowed casey to compare the number of errors made by high and low delayers

Question 20

How does Casey relate to key theme ‘regions of the brain’

Answer 20

revealed that there is two regions of the brain that have an impact on our ability to delay gratification

high activity in inferior frontal gyrus + low activity in ventral striatum can help us delay gratification

Question 21

How does Casey change our understanding of key theme of ‘regions of the brain’ compared to Sperry

Answer 21

Sperry only looked at corpus callosum and communication between L+RH

wheras Casey looked at activity in inferior frontal gyrus and ventral striatum

Question 22

How does Casey relate to biological area

Answer 22

= biological area looks at how genes, hormones, brain structure affect our behaviour

= looked at how activity in particular brain regions affect our behaviour

= found high activity in inferior frontal gyrus + low activity in ventral striatum are linked to ability to delay gratification

Question 23

Hoe does Casey et al change our understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity

Answer 23

INDIVIDUAL - Casey found individual differences in peoples ability to delay gratification from early childhood. individual differences between brain structure can affect ability to delay gratification

Sperry looked at individual diversity in split-brain patients who had different streams of consciousness in RH+LH

SOCIAL - Casey used participants who attended stanford uni nursey + did marshmellow test so middle-class - few females

Sperry more socially diverse (M+F)

CULTURAL - both studies carried out in USA

Question 24

Casey and Nature/Nurture

Answer 24

NATURE
suggests we are born to be ‘high delayers’ or ‘low delayers’ as found high activity in inferior frontal gyrus + low activity in ventral striatum is linked to ability to delay gratification

marshmellow test at 4 + caseys study showed stability of peoples ability to excercise self control

NURTURE
by the time we are 4, we have learnt about ability of enviro to reward us + others modelling temptation

can improve peoples ability to delay gratification through training eg. getting children to practise self

culture emphiases self-control + taking responsibility for actions more than others

Question 25

Casey and Determinism

Answer 25

suggests activity in certain brain regions affect ability to resist temptation

suggest that delay of gratification is pre-wired and determined by biological brain structures + brain activity

Question 26

Casey and Reductionism

Answer 26

doesn’t consider different levels of explanation for delay of gratification

focuses on biological factors in delay of gratification , but environmental variables eg, persons background can affect ability to exercise self control eg. culture, peer group