Delay of gratification dissociates cognitive control and valuation brain regions in healthy young adults

Lamichhane, Bidhan; Rosa, Elisa Di; Braver, Todd S.

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108303

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…If the distribution of wait durations favored persistence (uniform distribution), the vmPFC signal ramped up progressively as time passed and the wait shortened. Conversely, if the distribution of wait times was such that the value of waiting decreased after a certain point (heavy-tailed distribution), activity in the vmPFC was flat until people chose to quit (see 23 for a parallel finding). Furthermore, activity in several brain regions – including the insula and dorsal regions of the prefrontal cortex –ramped up before the decision to quit was made.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lesions to different regions of frontal cortex have dissociable effects on voluntary persistence

van Geen,

Chen,

Kazinka

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Deciding how long to keep waiting for uncertain future rewards is a complex problem. Previous research has shown that choosing to stop waiting results from an evaluative process that weighs the subjective value of the awaited reward against the opportunity cost of waiting. In functional neuroimaging data, activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) tracks the dynamics of this evaluation, while activation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and anterior insula (AI) ramps up before a decision to quit is made. Here, we provide causal evidence of the necessity of these brain regions for successful performance in a willingness-to-wait task.28 participants with frontal lobe lesions were tested on their ability to adaptively calibrate how long they waited for monetary rewards. We grouped the participants based on the location of their lesions, which were primarily in ventromedial, dorsomedial, or lateral parts of their prefrontal cortex (vmPFC, dmPFC, and lPFC, respectively), or in the anterior insula. We compared the performance of each subset of lesion participants to behavior in a control group without lesions (n=18). Finally, we fit a newly developed computational model to the data to glean a more mechanistic understanding of how lesions affect the cognitive processes underlying choice.We found that participants with lesions to the vmPFC waited less overall, while participants with lesions to the dmPFC and anterior insula were specifically impaired at calibrating their level of persistence to the environment. These behavioral effects were accounted for by systematic differences in parameter estimates from a computational model of task performance: while the vmPFC group showed reduced initial willingness to wait, lesions to the dmPFC/anterior insula were associated with slower learning from negative feedback.These findings corroborate the notion that failures of persistence can be driven by sophisticated cost-benefit analyses rather than lapses in self-control. They also support the functional specialization of different parts of the prefrontal cortex in service of voluntary persistence.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lesions to different regions of frontal cortex have dissociable effects on voluntary persistence

van Geen,

Chen,

Kazinka

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Examples of such tasks are the so-called Delay of Gratification task [ 22 ] or the Snack Delay task [ 23 ], in which children have to resist eating a treat placed at a reaching distance. These kinds of tasks are self-regulatory; they involve inhibiting a highly desired response to comply with an instruction, engaging IC [ 24 ]. Studies using such simple self-regulatory tasks have generally observed individual differences among toddlers in successfully inhibiting their behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interplay between Socioeconomic Status, Parenting and Temperament Predicts Inhibitory Control at Two Years of Age

Conejero

Rueda

2023

Children

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This paper investigates the interplay between environmental factors (socioeconomic status (SES) and parenting) and temperament in the development of inhibitory control (IC) at 2 years of age. We administered to toddlers (n = 59) a delay of gratification task which measures IC in the context of self-regulation. Parents reported their toddlers’ temperament, parenting strategies, and SES. We hypothesized that poorer IC would be associated with more reactive temperament, less effortful control, lower SES and inconsistent/coercive parenting practices. Finally, we explored the interaction between temperament, parenting and SES. We found that both coercive parenting and low-SES were negatively correlated to IC at the age of 2 years. Temperamental reactivity was unrelated to IC, whereas temperamental effortful control (EC) was positively associated with IC. Results revealed a moderation effect of EC on the influence of coercive parenting and SES in toddlers’ IC. Toddlers from lower SES backgrounds and with lower EC were more affected by inconsistent/coercive parenting practices and showed the poorest IC. In contrast, toddlers exhibiting high and average levels of EC seemed to be protected from the detrimental effect of low-SES and inconsistent/coercive parenting on IC. These results suggest that strengthening toddlers’ EC and improving parents’ parenting skills might be especially relevant for the development of IC in the context of self-regulation, particularly by preventing self-regulatory problems in children from socioeconomically deprived environments. Future studies with larger samples, focusing on populations from severe socioeconomically deprived environments, or intervention studies will be needed in order to confirm and expand our findings.

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“…Delay-of-gratification has been shown to be a repeatable trait that develops between ages 4 to 6 (Lamichhane et al, 2022;Mischel & Mischel, 1987). Prosociality, and more specifically altruistic sharing, has been traditionally measured with dictator games in which children can share a resource with a recipient.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We might thus wonder how prosociality can be the result of both impulsivity and self‐control. Self‐control and impulsivity in children have been widely measured with delay‐of‐gratification 1 tasks (Kidd et al, 2013; Mischel et al, 1989; Moffett et al, 2020), which refers to an inter‐temporal choice phenomenon where individuals are asked to choose between an immediately available reward versus a larger reward available in the future (Lamichhane et al, 2022; Mischel & Mischel, 1987; Newman et al, 1992; Prencipe et al, 2011). Delay‐of‐gratification has been shown to be a repeatable trait that develops between ages 4 to 6 (Lamichhane et al, 2022; Mischel & Mischel, 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Self‐control and impulsivity in children have been widely measured with delay‐of‐gratification 1 tasks (Kidd et al, 2013; Mischel et al, 1989; Moffett et al, 2020), which refers to an inter‐temporal choice phenomenon where individuals are asked to choose between an immediately available reward versus a larger reward available in the future (Lamichhane et al, 2022; Mischel & Mischel, 1987; Newman et al, 1992; Prencipe et al, 2011). Delay‐of‐gratification has been shown to be a repeatable trait that develops between ages 4 to 6 (Lamichhane et al, 2022; Mischel & Mischel, 1987). Prosociality, and more specifically altruistic sharing, has been traditionally measured with dictator games in which children can share a resource with a recipient.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self‐control is negatively linked to prosociality in young children

Barragan‐Jason

Hopfensitz

2022

Behavioral Decision Making

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Human prosociality is a valuable but also deeply puzzling trait. While several studies suggest that prosociality is an impulsive behavior, others argue that self‐control is necessary to develop prosocial behaviors. Yet, prosociality and self‐control in children have rarely been studied jointly. Here, we measured self‐control (i.e., delay‐of‐gratification) and prosociality (i.e., giving in a dictator game) in 250 4‐ to 6‐year‐old French schoolchildren. Contrary to previous studies, we found a negative relationship between waiting in the delay‐of‐gratification task and giving in the dictator game. The effect was especially pronounced when the partner in the dictator game was unknown compared with giving in a dictator game where the partner was a friend. Our results suggest that self‐control is not always necessary to act prosocially. Future studies investigating whether and how such pattern develops across the lifespan and across cultures are warranted.

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Delay of gratification dissociates cognitive control and valuation brain regions in healthy young adults

Cited by 5 publications

References 48 publications

Lesions to different regions of frontal cortex have dissociable effects on voluntary persistence

Lesions to different regions of frontal cortex have dissociable effects on voluntary persistence

The Interplay between Socioeconomic Status, Parenting and Temperament Predicts Inhibitory Control at Two Years of Age

Self‐control is negatively linked to prosociality in young children

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