Casey (Delay Of Gratification) Flashcards
What were 2 aims of the study
Whether the ability to delay is a consistent personality trait
Whether the ability can be be linked to differences in the way the brain behaves when resisting temptation
What was the method and design
Quasi experiment
Independent measures design
What type of study was it
Longitudinal study
Over 40 years
What was the IV in both experiments
Whether participants were high delayers or low delayers
What was the DV in experiment 1
Reaction time and accuracy on certain go/ no go tasks
What was DV of experiment 2
Activity in areas of the brain associated with cognitive control
What were 3 features of the sample of experiment 1
59 participants
32 high delayers (20 women, 12 men)
27 low delayers (16 women, 11 men)
What are 2 materials used in the experiments
fMRI scanner in the experiment 2
Laptop in experiment 1
What was the procedure of experiment 1
Participants tested on laptop in their own homes
The participants were given a go/ no go task (photo of man or woman’s face) - press button if phot matched target
Ps told to respond quickly and accurately
160 trials in pseudorandomised order
(120 go) in each run
They had 2 runs each - one was neutral faces (cool) and one was emotional faces (fearful or happy) (hot task)
How long were the photos shown for in the go no go task
500 milliseconds with one second interval between photos
What was the procedure of experiment 2
Only the hot version was run with 70 go and 26 no go trials for each expression
An fMRI scanner used to assess brain activity during the task
What were 2 results from experiment 1
Participants who were high delayers as children were better at impulse controls as adults
On no go trials low delayers performers worse than high delayers on hot trials
What was the sample in experiment 2
27 of participants from experiment 1 - one excluded due to poor performance - so 26
What are 2 results from experiment 2
Low delayers had more activity in ventral striatum when shown a happy face
Low delayers committed more false alarms than high delayers in no go trials
What are 2 conclusions from the study
Adults a delaying gratification as children continue delaying it as adults
Important implications for cognitive control ie addiction
