Casey (2011)

Question 1

What is delayed gratification?

Answer 1

To put off something fun now in order to wait for something that is greatly fun or rewarding later

Question 2

What is a low delayer?

Answer 2

People who can’t delay gratification (can’t wait for the second marshmallow)

Question 3

What is a high delayer?

Answer 3

People who can delay gratification (wait for the second marshmallow)

Question 4

What are the functions of the ventral striatum?
What system is it known as?
Where is it more active?

Answer 4

It facilitates our rewards and excites our behaviours.
It is known as the hot system because it involves emotions and desires.
More active in low delayers.

Question 5

What are the functions of of the inferior frontal gurus?
What system is it known as?
Where is it more active?

Answer 5

It is the cognitive control part of the brain that interprets facial expressions and gives us an appropriate emotional response to that expression.
Known as the cold system of the brain because it doesn’t excite us.
More active in high delayers.

Question 6

What is the background to Casey’s study?

Answer 6

The marshmallow test on 4 year olds. It was predicted that individuals who resisted the marshmallow and waited for the second one is more likely to be a high delayer later on in life, compared to individuals who did not wait for the second marshmallow staying as a low delayer later in life.

Question 7

What is the aim of Casey’s study?

Answer 7

To conduct a longitudinal study to investigate delayed gratification 40 years from when participants were initially tested and to see if delay of gratification is due to the brain.

Question 8

What is the sample for the first study on marshmallows?

Answer 8

562 four year olds from Stanford’s university nursery school.

Question 9

After the marshmallow test, what did the participants do?

How many participants are there at this point?

Answer 9

Participants were also sent self-reports based around cognitive control when in their 20s (155ps) and 3s (135ps).

Question 10

What was the sample for experiment 1 of Casey’s study?

Answer 10

59 participants (32 high delayers and 27 low delayers).

Question 11

What did the ptps do in experiment 1 of Casey?

Answer 11

The ptps completed 2 versions of a Go/no-go task on laptops sent to them.

One version was the hot version - happy vs fearful (emotional task).

The other version was the cool version - male vs female (no emotion)

Question 12

How did the Go/no-go task work in experiment 1 of Casey?
What was measured?

Answer 12

1. Ps told to click when they see a certain stimulus (e.g. click when they see a male face and don’t click when they see a female face. )
2. Each face was shown for 0.5 seconds then they would have a 1 second break before they saw the next face.
3. Their performance was measured by whether they were right or wrong (accuracy) and their reaction time was also recorded.

Question 13

What were the 2 versions of the Go/no-go task in Casey’s experiment 1.

Answer 13

The hot Go/no-go task used emotion - ps clicked when they saw a happy face (go task) and not click when they saw a fearful expression (no-go task)

The cool Go/no-go task used gender - Ps asked to click when they saw a specific gender (go task) and not to click when they saw the other gender (no-go task)

Question 14

What was the sample of experiment 2 of Casey’s study?

Answer 14

27 of the 59 who had already completed experiment 1, consented to experiment 2. 1 was excluded due to poor performance.

Question 15

What did the ptps do in experiment 2 of Casey’s study?

Answer 15

Ptps were placed in an fMRI scanner and completed ‘hot’ task similar to the one used in experiment 1 (they didn’t do a cold task in exp 2). Their brain activity was observed whilst they completed the task, focusing mostly on the ventral striatum and the inferior frontal gurus.

Question 16

What were the results from experiment 1 in Casey’s study?

What were the percentages for the no-go trials?

Answer 16

No significant effect on reaction times in ‘go’ trials for both the ‘cool’ and ‘hot’ versions.

Only the hot (happy vs fearful) go/no-go task showed differences.

Low delayers made 14.5% of errors on the hot no-go trials.

High delayers made 10.9% of errors in the hot no-go trials.

Adults who had difficult delaying gratification age 4 showed more difficulty as adults in supressing responses to happy faces.

Question 17

What were the results from experiment 2 of Casey’s study?

Answer 17

Low delayers had reduced activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus and higher activity in the ventral striatum.
High delayers had reduced activity in the ventral striatum and higher activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus.

Question 18

What was the conclusion from Casey’s study?

Answer 18

Your ability to resist temptation during childhood sticks with you - children who showed reduced self-control at 4 have more difficulty suppressing responses in adulthood suggesting that delaying gratification could be biological rather than learnt.

Question 19

What is the research design for experiment 1 and 2of Casey’s study?

Answer 19

Experiment 1 can be considered independent measures but also repeated (they both did cool and hot tasks)

Experiment 2 is independent measures.

Question 20

What is the research method for Casey’s study?

Answer 20

Quasi -the IV is naturally occurring

Question 21

What are 3 controls in Casey experiment 1 study?
What are 3 controls in Casey’s experiment 2 study?

Answer 21

Shown the same face in go/no-go task.
Each face shown for 0.5 seconds and then had a 1 second interval

All ptps did hot and cold tasks

All ptps had a fMRI scan

Question 22

What are 3 weaknesses of Casey’s study?

Answer 22

1. Low ecological validity - go/no-go tasks are not representative of day to day activities resisting temptation.
2. Lack of control because the study is longitudinal and is over 40 years
3. Ethnocentric - all ptps are American only therefore the sample is only representative of western culture.

Question 23

What are 3 strengths of Casey’s study?

Answer 23

1. Has controls e.g. each face shown for 0.5 seconds with a 1 second interval. This makes it easier to establish better cause and effect.
2. Quantitative data collected which makes it scientific e.g. 14.5 % made errors in the no-go task for low delayers and 10.9 % made mistakes in high delayers.
3. This study is useful because it shows that brain activity can predict whether someone will resist temptation which can directly be applied to addiction and understanding why some people can become more addicted to substances.

Question 24

Is Casey’s study a classic or contemporary?

Answer 24

Its contemporary

Question 25

Which study is Casey paired with?

Answer 25

Sperry

Question 26

Which area is Casey's study in?

Answer 26

The biological area

Question 27

What is the IV of Casey's study?

Answer 27

Whether the participant was a high delayer of a low delayer which was naturally occurring and therefore cant be manipulated by the researchers.

Question 28

What is the DV of Casey's study?

Answer 28

The performance on the impulse control task in experiment 1 and the imaging results during the performance task in experiment 2.

Question 29

What is the research method of Casey's study?

Answer 29

Quasi- the IV (high delayer vs low delayer ) was naturally occurring and cant be manipulated by the researchers.

Question 30

What is the research design of Casey's study

Answer 30

Repeated measures design - because some participants completed self-reports in their 20s and 30s. Also those participating in experiment 1 did both the hot and cold go/no-go trials.