Casey (contemporary study) Flashcards
What did Mischel’s study do?
Marshmallow test: measured self control in children to see if they ate a marshmallow
If they waited 15 mins they could have 2
If they are it before 15 mins they would only get that one
High delayers from Mischel’s study
Waited 15 mins for the extra marshmallow
High delayers meaning from Mischel’s study
Those who did not seek immediate gratification
Had the ability to better delay the gratification to wait for a bigger award (didn’t eat marshmallow in 15 mins and got 2)
Low delayers meaning in Mischel’s study
They could not delay their gratification: immediate seeking of gratification
And ate the marshmallow before 15 minutes
2 areas of the brain associated with cognitive control
Cool systems = inferior frontal gyrus
Hot systems = ventral striatum
What are cool systems?
Cognitive control that can reimagine hot stimuli to be neutral and therefore less appealing
This allows someone to delay gratification
What are hot systems
Linked to gaining awards for interacting and ‘giving in’ to hot stimuli
Eg, desire and thus gratification
What was the aim of Casey’s study?
To follow up 4 year olds from Mischel’s study as adults in terms of their gratification:
Would low delayers show more errors on the go/no go task designed by Casey than high delayers
To investigate the cold and hot systems in the brain of Ps to see which have higher activity levels
Hypotheses of this studym relation to neurobiological study
Low delayers will show lower activity in pre frontal gyrus (cold systems thus self control) compared to high delayers in fMRI scans
Low delayers will show higher activity in ventral striatum (hot systems thus gratification) compared to high delayers in fMRI scans
Sample of experiment 1
59 participants
27 low delayers
32 high delayers
Sample method
Self selected: involved getting in contact with previous participants from Mischel’s study who thus volunteered
Longitudinal study
Involved following up participants from Mischel’s study to gain data on self control: those who continuously showed low/high levels of self control as adults after being followed up in 20s and 30s: those who were continuous in what they showed were low/high delayers respectively
And following up later for fMRI scans
Experiment type
Quasi experiment because the naturally occurring IV was whether a participant was determined to be a high delayer or low delayer from previously taking part in Mischel’s marshmallow study
What task was designed for this study?
The Go/No go task
Controlling for participant variables?
All of the same age, 44
Even gender split
General outline of the Go/No go task
Press the button (go) on a certain stimuli they were presented, (in the form of an image )
But resist and not press the button (no go) on a certain different stimuli
How did the researchers manipulate the stimuli in the HOT go no go task?
The hot stimuli was a happy face (rewarding for evolutionary reasons), so tempting to press the button
The cold stimuli was a fearful face
2 tests, one where they had to press button on hot stimuli and one where they had to hold on hot stimuli (really tests self control) no vice versa for fearful face
How did the researchers manipulate the stimuli in the COLD task?
Would be told to press the button when seeing a female face and hold when they see a male face
And vice versa
Why was the cold task used in experiment 1?
Does not measure self control but to control whether participants can actually engage in the go/no go task
Eg they are able to press the button and/or hold when instructed which face etc
Is the hot stimuli what the participants have to press the button on (go face?)?
No not necessarily, ‘hot’ stimuli means participant is more likely to press the button as its rewarding for evolutionary reasons so a greater challenge to hold when told not to
The standardised method for presenting the go/no go tasks in experiment 1
Present faces on screen at home on a laptop sent to their home
Shown for 500ms each
Told to press a button for which specific face appears depending on the current task (go) and hold for the other face (no go)
Go face
Press the button
Either can be hot stimuli (happy face)
Cold stimuli (fearful face)
Or male/female neutral faces (neutral)
No go face
DONT PRESS THE BUTTON
Depending on the condition can be the female or male neutral face (cold task)
Or the hot stimuli (happy face) or can be the cold stimulus (fearful face) in the cold task
No go face
DONT PRESS THE BUTTON
Depending on the condition can be the female or male neutral face (cold task)
Or the hot stimuli (happy face) or can be the cold stimulus (fearful face) in the cold task
All 4 tasks in the go/no go tasks
Cold tasks:
Press button on female neutral face (go) hold on male face (no go)
Press button on male neutral face (go) hold on female face (no go)
Hot tasks
Press button on happy face (go task) hold on fearful face (cold, no go)
Press button on fearful face (cold, go) hold on happy face (hot, no go) ** key
What was every face shown called?
A trial
What were participants told?
Complete the task as quickly and accurate as possible
How were the faces/trials presented?
On a laptop screen, standardised for all participants despite being in their home because it was sent to each address by the researchers
How were faces standardised?
All appeared for 500ms, 1 second interval, same instructions presented for the go/no-go task eg what button to press and to respond as accurately and quickly as possible
Results for low delayers: % errorfor pressing the button on happy faces when told to ‘ no go’
15.7%
Results for high delayers: % error who pressed the button on happy faces when told to
11.2%
Conclusion of the results from go/no go task
People who consistently showed low self control (tested as low delayers after mischels study) continued into adulthood, eg worse at delaying gratification when presented with a rewarding happy face
What was completed after the Go/No go task?
A neurobiological study
Aim of the neurobiological study
To investigate what regions of the brain are involved in delaying gratification (of rewarding nature of happy faces in go/no go task) or experiencing reward
How did the neurobiological study occur?
Use an fMRI scanner and complete Go/No Go tasks inside
Investigate which region of the brain is active when playing
Results for neurobiological study for low delayers
Low delayers had less actively in inferior frontal gyrus (these are cold systems involved in delaying gratification) when seeing rewarding face and told to no go than high delayers
Low delayers had higher activity in ventral striatum (reward system) compared to high delayers when seeing rewarding face
Conclusion of neurobiological study
Happy faces are naturally rewarding that trigger hot systems of brain associated with reward
But, to be told not to be rewarded, by pressing the button, cool systems have activity to delay gratification
Conclusions
Ability to delay gratification is a relatively stable individual characteristic consistent across years
Evidence that different systems in the brain are involved for delaying gratification (inferior frontal gyrus) or for receiving rewards (ventral striatum)
