Casey et al

Question 1

What previous research was the study based on?

Answer 1

Micschel et al - Marshmallow test

Question 2

What is the key term used in the study and what does it mean?

Answer 2

Delay of gratification - when you successfully hold off an activity or object you would enjoy
When you resist temptation

Question 3

What is a cool stimuli?

Answer 3

Things we find neutral - neither pleasant nor unpleasant

Question 4

What is a hot stimuli?

Answer 4

Things that are tempting/appealing to us

Question 5

What are cool systems?

Answer 5

Parts of the brain involved in cognitive control and are the parts that focus on resisting temptation

Question 6

What parts of the brain make up the cool systems?

Answer 6

Pre frontal cortex in particular inferior frontal gyrus

Question 7

What are hot systems?

Answer 7

Parts of the brain that are more emotional and lack control - more active when the brain is resisting tempting stimuli

Question 8

What part of the brain is involved in a hot system?

Answer 8

Limbic system - specifically ventral striatum

Question 9

What was the aim of the study?

Answer 9

To investigate whether resisting temptation would have a correlation with what parts of the brain were active

Question 10

What was hypothesised prior to the start of the study?

Answer 10

Participants with consistently low levels of self control from young childhood to early adulthood would have diminished activity in the right pre frontal cortex and amplified activity in the ventral striatum

Question 11

Describe the participants used in the study

Answer 11

59 participants from original marshmallow study
Average late 40s (44)
27 low delayers 32 high delayers
16 f 11 m 20f 10m

Question 12

What was used as a stimulus as opposed to food?

Answer 12

social temptation

Question 13

Where did participants complete the first experiment?

Answer 13

At home on a laptop

Question 14

What was the name of the impulse control task?

Answer 14

go/no go task

Question 15

What was measured during the task?

Answer 15

Reaction times and accuracy

Question 16

What were the cool versions of the task?

Answer 16

Push the button everytime they see a male face
Push the button everytime they see a female face

Question 17

What were the hot versions of the task?

Answer 17

Push the button when they see a smiling face
Push the button everytime you see a fearful face

Question 18

What were the results of the first experiment?

Answer 18

Reaction time for pushing button on go face was similar for both high and low delayers
High acuracy in both cool and hot trials for both groups when given the go face
Low delayers performed worse on the hot trials
Low delayers accuracy - 11.2% High delayers accuracy - 15.7%

Question 19

Describe the sample used in the second experiment?

Answer 19

27 participants from experiment 1
1 male discouunted
15 high delayers 11 low delayers
5 m 10f 7 m 4 f

Question 20

How did the second experiment differ from the first?

Answer 20

It took place in a lab instead of participants homes
Participants performed the task while in an fMRI scanner

Question 21

What were the results of the second experiment?

Answer 21

No difference in go trials
Hot version - LD 14.9% mistakes HD 10.9% mistakes
right inferior gyrus was more active in no go trials
Ventral striatum was more active for low delayers

Question 22

What conclusions were drawn from the study?

Answer 22

The ability to resist temptation is a relatively stable individual difference characteristic
Ability to resist temptation is more to do with the ability to resist alluring cues rather than general cognitive control
Resisting temptation is supported by differences in the brain