| Background | - Previous research by Eigsti in 2006 showed performance on delay of gratification task in childhood predicted cognitive control tasks as young adults
- Depends on cognitive control |
| What is the role of the inferior frontal gyrus? | - Interpretations of facial expressions, emotional response
- Part of the brain that is used for control of impulsive behaviour |
| What is the role of the ventral stratum? | - Associated with reward and motivation |
| What is delay of gratification? | - The ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward |
| What was the aim of the research? | - To see if low delayers on the marshmallow test at age 4 years still struggled with resisting temptation in adulthood
- To examine areas of the brain associated with resisting temptation |
| What research method was used in Casey et al? | - Quasi
- Repeated measures design, self-control scales when in their 20s/30s, “hot” and “cool” go/no go task
- Longitudinal study, followed some pts from 4 years - 40s |
| What was the DV in research by Casey et al? | - Performance on the impulse control task in Experiment 1
- Performance on the impulse control task (in terms of reaction times and accuracy) and imaging results using fMRI |
| Controls | - Same apparatus, same tasks, same aged children in first study, all completed the same self-report |
| What does FMRI stand for and what does it do | - Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Investigates the physiognomy of the brain |
| What is a high delayer? | - A person with good self-control |
| What is a low delayer | - A person with poor self-control |
| Outline the sample for the original delay of gratification task in the 1970s | - 562, four-year-old pupils from Stanford’s Bing Nursery School completed a delay-of-gratification task |
| What was the IV in research by Casey et al? | - Whether the participant was a high delayer or a low delayer
- Naturally occurring, so could not be manipulated or controlled |
| What was the sample in experiment 1? | - 59/117 participated
- They were either low or high delayers from results of their delay-of-gratification performance + the self-control measures
- Exp. 1, 32 high delayers, 27 low delayers |
| What was the sample in experiment 2? | - 27/59 from in Exp. 1 agreed to be part of a functional neuroimaging study
- Exp. 2, 15 high delayers, 11 low delayers |
| Outline the procedure for experiment 1 | - Pts completed go/no-go tasks
- Cool task: male + female stimuli presented, one sex as a go, press button, other sex as a no-go, don't press the button
- Stimuli appeared for 500ms, 1-s interval
- Hot task: same but used happy facial expressions |
| Outline the procedure for experiment 2 | - fMRI was used to examine neural correlates of delay of gratification
- Predicted that low delayers would show less activity in the
right prefrontal cortex, more activity in the ventral striatum
- Completed a hot task similar to exp.1
- 1 excluded for poor performance, 26 left |
| What were the main findings from experiment 1? | - Both groups were highly accurate in correct responses in both cool + hot conditions
- Both groups made more errors on the 'No-Go' tasks
- Low delayers made more false alarms |
| What were the main findings from experiment 2? | - Low delayers had higher false-alarm rates in the no-go trials
- Low delayers, less activity in inferior frontal gryrus + ventral stratum |
| What are the main conclusions in Casey et al's research? | - Ability to resist temptation is a stable characteristic
- If you can resist at 4, you can resist at 40
- Ability to resist temptation supported by neural networks in brain |
| Evaluate the research method used in research by Casey et al | - Very controlled
- Detailed + objective observations of brain activity
- Longitudinal study, allows to conclude that the ability to resist temptation is a relatively stable characteristic |
| Strengths and weaknesses of the research method | - Strengths: Lab based quasi so highly controlled, standardised, allows naturally occurring IV’s to be studied
- Weaknesses: Extraneous variables of completing tasks at home |
| Evaluate the types of data collected in research by Casey et al | - Quantitative findings allowing for comparisons between participants
- Easily summarised
- Analysed statically |
| Strengths and weaknesses of the data collected | - Strengths: Collected quantitative data, easy to analyse
- Weaknesses: No qualitative data |
| Discuss the ethical issues in relation to research by Casey | - Ethical, no deception, consent, no harm
- Many did not take part, shows ability to withdraw |
| Evaluate the validity of research by Casey et al | - Controlled, standardised testing and procedures
- High design validity, extraneous variables controlled |
| Evaluate the ecological validity of research by Casey et al | - Scanning in an fMRI while dong a Go/No-Go task is not something that a person would do in everyday life |
| Evaluate the ecological reliability of research by Casey et al | - Longitudinal study, conducted over decades, not time + cost effective to replicate, hard to test reliability |
| Evaluate the sample used in research by Casey et al | - Ppt attrition, where people drop out over time
- Reduces sample size, may not be generalisable to original sample |
| To what extent can research by Casey et al be considered ethnocentric? | - Self control + delay of gratification affected by the autonomy and physiognomy of the brain
- But it is investigating a species specific behaviour
- Conducted only in America, it has a culture of Capitalism + consumerism |
| To what extent does Casey's study support psychology as a science? | - fMRI
- Controlled conditions
- Scientific criteria |
| To what extent can research by Casey et al be considered useful? | - Could be used to identify addictive behaviour is young children
- Allow us to understand temptation + reduce it
- Taught cooling techniques |
| Discuss research by Casey et al in relation to the Nature vs Nurture debate | - Shows a lack of self control over time
- You are born with a certain brain function which determines your ability to delay gratification
- However by the age of 4 our brains are reasonably developed, people may copy others resisting temptation |
| Discuss research by Casey et al in relation to the free will vs determinism debate | - We are born with brain differences meaning some people can resist temptation and others cant |
| How does research by Casey et al link to the biological area? | - Investigates how specific areas of the brain impact on a persons ability to resist temptation
- Hot system found in VS
- Cool system found in IFG
- These 2 systems impact on a persons ability to delay gratification |
| How does research by Casey et al link to the key theme? | - Looks into different areas of the brain
- Linked delay gratification to IFG
- VS + prefrontal cortex using fMRI scans
- Low delayers, less activity in right inferior gyrus, more activity in ventral striatum |
| Similarities between Sperry and Casey et al. | - Highly controlled lab ex.
- Ethical
- Regions in the brain
- Sperry, corpus callosum is important for communication
- Casey, ventral striatum + IFG are important in self control |
| Differences between Sperry and Casey et al. | Casey
- Brains of normal adults, so more generalisable
- Longitudinal
- Advanced technology, fMRI
Sperry
- Abnormal subjects
- Snapshot
- No advanced technology |
| How does the study of Casey improve our understanding of the regions of the brain? | - Casey adds to Sperry’s research, role of the IFG + VS
- Other way of looking at regions of brain using fMRI
- Tells us diff. areas of brain has diff. functions |
| How does the contemporary study improve our understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity? INDIVIDUAL DIVERSITY | - S, individual differences in brain = differences in behaviour
- C furthered understanding, focuses on more specific regions of the brain
- They found that the VS is associated with a lack of self-control |
| How does the contemporary study improve our understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity? SOCIAL DIVERSITY | - Individual’s ability to resist temptation influenced by how certain areas in their brain work (RIG + VS)
- We know that social situations can affect how alluring certain stimuli can be |
| How does the contemporary study improve our understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity? CULTURAL DIVERSITY | - Both use American pts, limited in its ability to explain cultural differences
- But everyone has a brain so it gives us some ideas |
