Casey

Question 1

What is a go/no-go task?

Answer 1

A cognitive task in which participants are given the instructions to respond in a particular manner to a particular type of stimulus

Question 2

What is delay of gratification?

Answer 2

The act of resisting an impulse to take an immediately available reward for a later, potentially greater reward (resisting temptation)

Question 3

What was Casey’s aim?

Answer 3

To build upon previous research which assessed whether delay of gratification in children predicts impulse control abilities when the participants were in adulthood.

Question 4

What experimental design did Casey use and how do you know?

Answer 4

Casey used a quasi-experiment as the independent variable (whether the participants were high or low delayers) was not directly manipulated by Casey and was naturally occurring

Question 5

What was the dependent variable in Casey’s study?

Answer 5

The participant’s ability to and performance on the go/no-go tasks

Question 6

What sampling method was used in Casey’s study and how do you know?

Answer 6

Opportunity sampling

-Children from Stanford’s Bing Nursery School were asked to participate in the study by Casey

Question 7

What was the original total of participants (4 year olds)

Answer 7

562

Question 8

What was the number of participants from the original group that were studied in their 20s?

Answer 8

156

Question 9

What was the number of participants from the original group that were studied in their 30s?

Answer 9

135

Question 10

What was the number of participants from the original group that were studied in their 40s?

Answer 10

59

Question 11

How many high and low delayers were in experiment 1?

Answer 11

32 high delayers, 27 low delayers

Question 12

How many of the 59 participants that took part in experiment 1 also took part in experiment 2?

Answer 12

27

Question 13

How many high and low delayers were in experiment 2?

Answer 13

15 high delayers, 11 low delayers

Question 14

What was involved in experiment 1?

Answer 14

• go/no-go task
• Told to press button when a female face showed on the computer screen
• Told to press the button as quickly as possible after seeing the stimuli (woman’s face)
• Carried out at participants home on computer provided
• Images used were pseudo randomised

Question 15

What was involved in experiment 2?

Answer 15

• Similar procedure to experiment 1, with use of an fMRI scan to measure neural correlates of delay gratification
• Carried out in lab
• Different number of trials and interval time and the ratio of go/no-gos differed
• Images used were pseudo randomised

Question 16

Results for experiment 1

Answer 16

• Cool: 99.9%

- Hot: 99.5%

Question 17

Name a conclusion from Casey’s study

Answer 17

• Sensitivity to environmental hot cues plays a significant role in an individuals ability to suppress actions towards alluring cues.
• Resistance to temptation appears to be a relatively stable characteristic of an individual over time
• Cognitive control can be strongly influenced by contextual factors (e.g ‘hot’ cues in alluring situations)
• 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

Question 18

What is a hot cue?

Answer 18

Features of something that make it more desirable e.g. appearance, smell

Question 19

What is a cold cue?

Answer 19

Features of something that do not make it any more desirable e.g. weight

Question 20

What part of the brain is involved in refraining you from performing an action when given a signal to stop?

Answer 20

Right inferior frontal gyrus

Question 21

What part of the brain is responsible for the processes of reward, motivation, and decision-making?

Answer 21

Ventral Striatum

Question 22

What part of the brain is responsible for planning complex cognitive behavior, decision making, and moderating social behavior?

Answer 22

Prefrontal Cortex