Casey - Biological area Flashcards
What did earlier research from Eigsti (2006) show?
Showed performance on a delay-of-grat task in childhood
predicted the efficiency with which the same individuals performed a cognitive control task (go/no-go task) as adolescents and young adults
What is the marshmallow experiment?
- It is an experimental design that measures a child’s ability to delay gratification
- The child is given the option of waiting a bit for a new marshmallow, or if they didn’t wait, they would get a less desirable treat - one marshmallow
- The minutes or seconds a child waits measures their ability to delay gratification
Who was called as a High delayer in the marshmallow task?
Could wait for another marshmallow and delay gratification
Who was classed as a low delayer in the marshmallow task?
Those who could not wait for another marshmallow and they ate it before the 15 minutes was up
What was the alluring stimulus in the task?
Marshmallow
What is the effect of being able to delay gratification/resist temptation?
The ability to resist temptation in favour of long-term goals is an essential part of individual, societal and economic success
What can alluring situations result in?
Alluring situations can diminish control
What does delay of gratification depend on?
Cognitive control
What correlation has been found?
A correlation has been found between an avoidance of risky behaviour and greater excitation in the right inferior frontal gyrus
What was found about the ventral striatum?
- It has been found that functionally, the ventral striatium helps and balances motivation with both higher-level and lower-level functions, such as inhibiting one’s behaviour in a complex social interaction.
- This region has been found to be the region in the basal ganglia neural circuit that’s most closely associated with reward.
What was the aim of Casey et al’s study?
- The aim was to build on earlier research to assess whether delay of gratification in childhood predicts impulse control abilities
- and sensitivity to alluring or social cues (happy faces) at the behavioural and neural level when participants were in their 40s (adults)
Experimental method?
Quasi experiment
2 Experimental design?
- Independent measures design - High v low delayers
- Repeated measures design - age
Why could it be considered a repeated measures design?
Some participants completed self-control scales when in their 20s and 30s and that those taking part in experiment one did both the ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ go/no-go task
What was the IV?
Whether the participant was a high delayer or low delayer
What was the DV?
- Performance on the impulse control task (in terms of reaction times and accuracy) in exp 1
- And the performance on the impulse control task (reaction times and accuracy) and imaging results using the fMRI scanner in exp 2
How many participants were from the original delay of gratification task
562
Where was the study conducted?
Stanford’s Bing Nursery School
How old were the children in the original study?
4 years old
What year was the original study in?
Late 1960s, early 1970s
How many people did self-control scales when in their 20s and 30s?
- 20yrs = 155
- 30yrs = 135
How many were contacted to take part in Casey’s study?
117
What specific people were contacted for the study?
Those, 117, who were above average or below average in their original delay of gratification performance as well as in the self-report measures of self-control were contacted in relation to taking part in this study.
How many agreed to take part in the longitudinal behavioural study (exp 1)
59 of the 117
What was the female to male comparison?
- 23 males
- 36 females