Development, Attention, and Inhibition Study

Delay of Gratification: Life Habits of Delaying and Cascading Effects on Life Outcomes

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

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.

Typically developing children will be recruited. Participants will be pre-screened for developmental disorders.