The Ability to Delay Gratification
Conditions
Keywords
Delay of Gratification, Waiting, Habits, Academic Outcomes
Brief summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to test the associations of young children's early life experiences with delaying behaviors and links with later life outcomes. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Do experiences with waiting in early childhood predict delaying behavior in context-specific ways? * Are links between delaying behavior and life outcomes impacted by social conventions, effort and choices around delaying, or other behaviors? Participants will: * Complete two delaying tasks with either a sweet or wrapped gift * Complete three "Simon says"-like games that measure inhibition, cognitive flexibility and proactive control * Answer a set of questions about academic readiness * Answer a set of questions about social conventions * Complete a waiting game on the computer while a camera records eye movements * Parents will answer questions about their child's behaviors and experiences at home * Participants will return after 1 year to repeat a subset of these measures
Detailed description
In sessions 1 and 2, 4-6-year-olds will complete a delay of gratification task (randomly assigned to one of two groups, to delay with either a sweet or a wrapped gift), the NASA Load Index to report perceived demand and effort for the delay of gratification task, a computerized delay choice measure (while pupillometric data is collected), a Go/No-Go task, the NIH Toolbox Dimensional Change Card Sort, a Track-It task, a task measuring sensitivity to social conventions, and Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement. Parents will complete the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL), the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), the REEF executive function questionnaire, and questionnaires about demographics and children's experiences waiting at mealtimes, when opening gifts, and in other contexts. In session 3 (1 year after sessions 1 and 2), participants and parents will repeat the measures from sessions 1 and 2.
Interventions
OTHERDelay of Gratification
Children will complete a delay of gratification task with 1 of 2 rewards
Sponsors
University of California, Davis
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
4 Years to 7 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Typically developing children will be recruited. Participants will be pre-screened for developmental disorders.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Choice Delay | Immediately after and 1 year after intervention | Pattern of waiting behavior represented by area under the curve (AUC) for wait times. |
| Executive Functions | Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention | Composite scores from the REEF, a questionnaire measuring executive functioning. |
| Social Conventions | Immediately after and 1 year after intervention | Social task measuring adherence to social conventions. |
| Academic Readiness | Immediately after and 1 year after intervention | Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement: Letter-Word Identification and Applied Problems standardized scores. |
| Inhibitory Control (Go/No-Go) | Immediately after and 1 year after intervention | Accuracy (No-Go trials) during the Go/No-Go inhibitory control task. |
| Experiences Waiting at Home | Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention | Composite score from a questionnaire developed for this study, measuring experiences with waiting. |
| Cognitive Flexibility (DCCS) | Immediately after intervention and 1 year after intervention | Accuracy (perseveration errors) during the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task. |
| Problem Behaviors | Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention | Composite and sub-scale scores from CBCL, a questionnaire measuring children\'s problem behaviors. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pupil dilation during delayed choice | Immediately after and 1 year after intervention | Pupil dilation while waiting for expected reward, or skipping for a new trial. |
| Behavior while delaying | During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention | Video coding of targeted behaviors (i.e., anticipatory behavior) during delay of gratification. |
| Subjective Effort | During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention | Self-reported demand and effort during the delay of gratification task on the NASA Task Load index. |
| Proactive Control | During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention | Accuracy during the Track-It proactive control task. |
| Child Temperment | Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention | Composite score from the CBQ, a questionnaire measuring child temperament. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
CONTACTRachel Foster, B.S.
CONTACTYuko Munakata, PhD
STUDY_DIRECTORRachel Foster, B.S.
University of California, Davis
Outcome results
None listed