Behavioral and neural correlates of delay of gratification 40 years later

Abstract

We examined the neural basis of self-regulation in individuals from a cohort of preschoolers who performed the delay-ofgratification task 4 decades ago. Nearly 60 individuals, now in their mid-forties, were tested on "hot" and "cool" versions of a go/ nogo task to assess whether delay of gratification in childhood predicts impulse control abilities and sensitivity to alluring cues (happy faces). Individuals who were less able to delay gratification in preschool and consistently showed low self-control abilities in their twenties and thirties performed more poorly than did high delayers when having to suppress a response to a happy face but not to a neutral or fearful face. This finding suggests that sensitivity to environmental hot cues plays a significant role in individuals' ability to suppress actions toward such stimuli. A subset of these participants (n = 26) underwent functional imaging for the first time to test for biased recruitment of frontostriatal circuitry when required to suppress responses to alluring cues. Whereas the prefrontal cortex differentiated between nogo and go trials to a greater extent in high delayers, the ventral striatum showed exaggerated recruitment in low delayers. Thus, resistance to temptation as measured originally by the delay-of-gratification task is a relatively stable individual difference that predicts reliable biases in frontostriatal circuitries that integrate motivational and control processes.reward | behavioral suppression | functional MRI | inferior frontal gyrus | longitudinal T he ability to resist temptation in favor of long-term goals is an essential component of individual, societal, and economical success. Developmentally, this ability has been assessed by measuring how long a young child can resist an immediate reward (e.g., a cookie) in favor of a larger, later reward (e.g., two cookies) (1). Even as adults we vary in our ability to resist temptations. Alluring situations can diminish our control (2-4); what serves as an alluring situation that requires a capacity to control our impulses, however, changes as a function of age (e.g., from cookies to social acceptance). In the present study we examined the extent to which individual differences in delay of gratification assessed when participants were in preschool and in their 20s and 30s predict control over impulses and sensitivity to social cues at the behavioral and neural level when the participants were in their 40s.Delay of gratification depends importantly on cognitive control (5). Cognitive control refers to the ability to suppress competing inappropriate thoughts or actions in favor of appropriate ones (6-11). Previously, we have shown that performance on the delay-of-gratification task in childhood predicts the efficiency with which the same individuals perform a cognitive control task (the go/nogo task) as adolescents and young adults (5). Individuals who as preschoolers directed their attention toward rewarding aspects of the classic delay-of-gratification situation, such as focusing on the cookie...

Preterm Toddlers' Inhibitory Control Abilities Predict Attention Regulation and Academic Achievement at Age 8 Years

“…Resistance to temptation (i.e., inhibitory control) is a relatively stable individual characteristic that predicts neural activation in fronto-striatal circuitries that integrate motivational and self-control processes [37]. Previous studies showed that preterm children have difficulties with inhibitory control [8] and that these predict later learning and attention problems [21,22].…”

Associations between early life adversity and executive function in children adopted internationally from orphanages

“…Furthermore, there is some indication that childhood EF may predict EF in adulthood. For instance, delay of gratification at the age of 4 y predicts cognitive control on a laboratory task 14 y later (44) and 40 y later (45), with evidence that individuals who had been less able to delay gratification as preschoolers showed less frontal activation and more activation of the ventral striatum when inhibiting motor responses to positive social cues 40 y later (45). Interventions aimed at promoting resilience in children living in adverse conditions by improving their EF would thus have the potential for long-term positive benefits, but they need to take note of these associations between early adversity and childhood EF.…”

The value of control and the influence of values

“…The research by Casey et al (1) illustrates continuing stable differences in performance between individuals who were identified early in life as high or low delayers. It is now clear, however, that performance always reflects a combination of skill and motivation, ability and values, and top-down and bottom-up influences.…”

“…Casey et al (1) suggest that what is stable is a biologically based ability to resist temptation-an ability subserved by the right inferior frontal gyrus-and that only the temptations themselves change with age: Candy is to the child as social affiliation is to the adult. This suggestion rests on the assumption that children who fail to wait for the larger reward are unable to do so.…”