Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder differs from anorexia nervosa in delay discounting

BACKGROUND

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and anorexia nervosa (AN) are the two primary restrictive eating disorders; however, they are driven by differing motives for inadequate dietary intake. Despite overlap in restrictive eating behaviors and subsequent malnutrition, it remains unknown if ARFID and AN also share commonalities in their cognitive profiles, with cognitive alterations being a key identifier of AN. Discounting the present value of future outcomes with increasing delay to their expected receipt represents a core cognitive process guiding human decision-making. A hallmark cognitive characteristic of individuals with AN (vs. healthy controls [HC]) is reduced discounting of future outcomes, resulting in reduced impulsivity and higher likelihood of favoring delayed gratification. Whether individuals with ARFID display a similar reduction in delay discounting as those with AN (vs. an opposing bias towards increased delay discounting or no bias) is important in informing transdiagnostic versus disorder-specific cognitive characteristics and optimizing future intervention strategies.

METHOD

To address this research question, 104 participants (ARFID: n = 57, AN: n = 28, HC: n = 19) completed a computerized Delay Discounting Task. Groups were compared by their delay discounting parameter (ln)k.

RESULTS

Individuals with ARFID displayed a larger delay discounting parameter than those with AN, indicating steeper delay discounting (M ± SD = -6.10 ± 2.00 vs. -7.26 ± 1.73, p = 0.026 [age-adjusted], Hedges' g = 0.59), with no difference from HC (p = 0.514, Hedges' g = -0.35).

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide a first indication of distinct cognitive profiles among the two primary restrictive eating disorders. The present results, together with future research spanning additional cognitive domains and including larger and more diverse samples of individuals with ARFID (vs. AN), will contribute to identifying maintenance mechanisms that are unique to each disorder as well as contribute to the optimization and tailoring of treatment strategies across the spectrum of restrictive eating disorders.

Statistical information about reward timing is insufficient for promoting optimal persistence decisions

When deciding how long to keep waiting for delayed rewards that will arrive at an uncertain time, different distributions of possible reward times dictate different optimal strategies for maximizing reward. When reward timing distributions are heavy-tailed (e.g., waiting on hold) there is a point at which waiting is no longer advantageous because the opportunity cost of waiting is too high. Alternatively, when reward timing distributions have more predictable timing (e.g., uniform), it is advantageous to wait as long as necessary for the reward. Although people learn to approximate optimal strategies, little is known about how this learning occurs. One possibility is that people learn a general cognitive representation of the probability distribution that governs reward timing and then infer a strategy from that model of the environment. Another possibility is that they learn an action policy in a way that depends more narrowly on direct task experience, such that general knowledge of the reward timing distribution is insufficient for expressing the optimal strategy. Here, in a series of studies in which participants decided how long to persist for delayed rewards before quitting, we provided participants with information about the reward timing distribution in several ways. Whether the information was provided through counterfactual feedback (Study 1), previous exposure (Studies 2a and 2b), or description (Studies 3a and 3b), it did not obviate the need for direct, feedback-driven learning in a decision context. Therefore, learning when to quit waiting for delayed rewards might depend on task-specific experience, not solely on probabilistic reasoning.

Prospection and delay of gratification support the development of calculated reciprocity

Humans frequently benefit others strategically to elicit future cooperation. While such forms of calculated reciprocity are powerful in eliciting cooperative behaviors even among self-interested agents, they depend on advanced cognitive and behavioral capacities such as prospection (representing and planning for future events) and extended delay of gratification. In fact, it has been proposed that these constraints help explain why calculated reciprocity exists in humans and is rare or even absent in other animals. The current study investigated the cognitive foundation of calculated reciprocity by examining its ontogenetic emergence in relation to key aspects of children's cognitive development. Three-to-five-year-old children from the US (N = 72, mostly White, from mixed socioeconomic backgrounds) first completed a cognitive test battery assessing the cognitive capacities hypothesized to be foundational for calculated reciprocity. In a second session, children participated in a calculated reciprocity task in which they could decide how many resources to share with a partner who later had the opportunity to reciprocate (reciprocity condition) and with a partner who could not reciprocate (control condition). Results indicated a steep developmental emergence of calculated reciprocity between 3 and 5 years of age. Further analyses showed that measures of delay of gratification and prospection were important predictors of children's rate of calculated reciprocity, even when controlling for age and after including a measure of verbal ability. By contrast, theory of mind abilities were unrelated to children's reciprocal behavior. This is the first systematic investigation of essential cognitive capacities for calculated reciprocity. We discuss prospection and delay of gratification as two domain-general capacities that are utilized for calculated reciprocity and which could explain developmental as well as species-differences in cooperation.

Pupillometric evidence for a temporal expectations-based account of persistence under temporal uncertainty

People often quit waiting for delayed rewards when the exact timing of those rewards is uncertain. This behavior often has been attributed to self-control failure. Another possibility is that quitting is the result of a rational decision-making process in the face of uncertainty, based on the decision-maker's expectations about the possible arrival times of the awaited reward. There are forms of temporal expectations (e.g., heavy-tailed) under which the expected time remaining until a reward arrives actually increases as time elapses. In those cases, the rational strategy is to quit waiting when the expected reward is no longer worth the expected time remaining. To arbitrate between the "limited self-control" and "temporal expectations" accounts of persistence, we measured pupil diameter during a persistence task, as a physiological marker of surprise (phasic responses) and effort (pre-decision diameter). Phasic pupil responses were elevated in response to reward receipt. Critically, the extent to which pupils dilated following rewards depended on the delay: people showed larger pupillary surprise responses the more delayed the reward was. This result suggests that people expect the reward less the longer they wait for it-a form of temporal expectations under which limiting persistence is rational. Moreover, predecision pupil diameter before quit events was not associated with how long the participant had been waiting, but rather, depended on how atypical the quit decision was compared with the participant's usual behavior. These data provide physiological evidence for a temporal expectations account of persistence under temporal uncertainty.

Impact of perceived scarcity on delay of gratification: meditation effects of self-efficacy and self-control

Most people worldwide suffer from resource scarcity in their lives. Perceived scarcity plays an important role in cognitive abilities and decision-making. This study employed the perceived scarcity, self-control, self-efficacy, and delayed gratification scales to explore the relationship among perceived scarcity, self-efficacy, self-control, and delayed gratification as well as the mediating role of self-efficacy and self-control between perceived scarcity and delayed gratification. A cross-sectional survey was conducted via an online survey platform with 1,109 Chinese college students. The results showed that perceived scarcity was negatively correlated with individual self-efficacy, self-control, and delayed gratification, while self-efficacy and self-control played a partial parallel-mediated role between perceived scarcity and delayed gratification. The mediation model accounted for 28% of the variance in delayed gratification. Moreover, the results indicated that perceived scarcity can reduce the delay in gratification through its negative impact on individual self-efficacy and self-control. To some extent, this result explains how perceived scarcity delays gratification from the perspective of motivation and cognition and provides support for further research on the intervention of perceived scarcity's psychological and behavioral consequences.

I'll (not) take that: The reverse-reward contingency task as a test of self-control and inhibition

While searching for more evidence of quantitative skills in chimpanzees to add to what she already had found, Boysen discovered something else. When training chimpanzees to point at what they would not get, and not pointing at what they would get, none could do this for piles of food items. Even when those items in the pointed-at set were given away to another chimpanzee, and even with experience in the task, failure persisted. This test, the reverse-reward contingency test, has now been used with many species, as a means of assessing inhibitory control and perhaps self-control in animals. Typically, the task is difficult, and only specific manipulations have worked to allow primates to overcome the reversed contingencies. This includes using symbolic stimuli, adding another layer to the story, and more value to the task itself as a measure perhaps of forms of cognitive control in other species. I will discuss some of these empirical results, including from other chimpanzees who were given variations of the task, and how these studies have influenced numerous areas within comparative cognitive science.

What children do while they wait: The role of self-control strategies in delaying gratification

Self-control plays an essential role in children's emotional and behavioral adjustment. A central behavioral indicator of self-control is the ability to delay gratification. Few studies have focused on understanding the heterogeneity of self-control behaviors that underlie children's ability to delay gratification. Therefore, we examined the role of spontaneous self-control behaviors (fidgeting, vocalizations, and anticipation/attentional focus toward a reward) in relation to 5-year old children's delay ability using Mischel's delay task (N = 144; M_age = 5.4 years, SD = 0.29). Latent mixture modeling was used to derive three distinct classes of self-control behaviors observed during the delay task: (1) Passive (low fidgeting, low vocalizations, but moderate anticipation), (2) Active (moderate fidgeting, moderate vocalizations, but high anticipation), and (3) Disruptive (high fidgeting, high vocalizations, and high anticipation). Children in the Passive class were more likely to delay the full task time compared with children in the Active class (odds ratio = 1.50, 95 % confidence interval = 1.28-1.81). There were no other differences in delay ability by self-control class. Children whose level of fidgeting and vocalizations matched their level of anticipation (i.e., Passive and Disruptive regulators) were able to delay more successfully than children who were mostly driven by anticipation (Active regulators). Some variation in children's delay ability and use of self-control strategies was explained by sociodemographic differences, specifically maternal age. Findings suggest probing processes underlying children's self-control to identify potential targets for intervention.

Delta-beta correlation predicts adaptive child emotion regulation concurrently and two years later

Emotion regulation (ER), the ability to flexibly monitor and modify emotions, is related to positive adjustment throughout the lifespan. Biological indexes of ER in childhood that predict behavior are valuable for clinical applications and our understanding of affective neurodevelopment. Delta-beta correlation (DBC), or the coupling between resting state slow-wave (delta) and fast-wave (beta) neural oscillations derived from EEG, may be a metric of the functional coherence between subcortical and cortical neural circuitry implicated in ER. Yet, little is understood about how DBC corresponds to observed ER during emotional challenges. To address this question, in the present study, resting-state EEG was recorded to generate DBC when children were 5-7 years old (T1) and again two years later (T2). Children also completed two emotionally challenging behavioral tasks [delay of gratification (DoG) task and waiting task (WT)] from which observed ER strategies were subsequently coded. Results showed that higher DBC was associated with greater use of adaptive, and relatively active, ER strategies. Specifically, higher frontal DBC at T1 longitudinally predicted greater use of the ER strategy alternative activity engagement and greater parent-reported positive ER at T2. These findings add to growing evidence supporting the use of resting state DBC as a neurophysiological index of ER with clinically and developmentally relevant predictive power.

Self-regulatory processes in early childhood as predictors of Hispanic children's BMI z-scores during the elementary school years: Differences by acculturation and gender

Over the last decade, longitudinal research has shown that children's general, top-down self-regulation during early childhood is negatively associated with children's weight status in elementary school. The samples in these previous studies have been primarily White, and no study to date has examined this issue in a sample of Hispanic children from low-income families-a population at high risk for childhood obesity. The present study followed 130 Hispanic children over a time period of three to just under five years, examining the degree to which multiple measures of general, top-down self-regulation, along with a measure of appetite regulation (eating in the absence of hunger), predicted children's BMI z-scores in the early elementary school years. Results showed that children's ability to delay gratification in the preschool years was negatively associated with later BMI z-scores and that children's eating in the absence of hunger was positively associated. In separate models by gender, these relationships were significant only for girls. Moreover, analyses run separately for children of mothers low or high on acculturation showed that the relationship between delay of gratification and later BMI z-scores was significant only for children whose mothers were low on acculturation. Possible socialization and environmental factors contributing to these findings are considered.

Synaptic dysfunction of Aldh1a1 neurons in the ventral tegmental area causes impulsive behaviors

Background

Aldh1a1 neurons are a subtype of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) inhibitory neurons that use Aldh1a1 rather than glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) as an enzyme for synthesizing GABA transmitters. However, the behaviors and circuits of this newly identified subtype of inhibitory interneurons remain unknown.

Methods

We generated a mutant mouse line in which cyclization recombination enzyme (CRE) was expressed under the control of the Aldh1a1 promotor (Aldh1a1-CRE mice). Using this mutant strain of mice together with the heterozygous male Alzheimer’s disease (AD) related model mice (APPswe/PSEN1dE9, or AD mice) and a genetically modified retrograde and anterograde synaptic tracing strategy, we have studied a specific synaptic circuit of Aldh1a1 neurons with system-level function and disease progression in AD mice.

Results

We demonstrate that Aldh1a1 neurons encode delay of gratification that measures self-control skills in decision making by projecting inhibitory synapses directly onto excitatory glutamate neurons in the intermediate lateral septum (EGNIS) and receiving synaptic inputs from layer 5b pyramidal neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (L5PN). L5PN → Aldh1a1 synaptic transmission undergoes long-term potentiation (LTP). Pathway specific inhibition by either genetic silencing presynaptic terminals or antagonizing postsynaptic receptors impairs delay of gratification, resulting in the impulsive behaviors. Further studies show that reconstitution of Aldh1a1-deficient neurons with the expression of exogenous Aldh1a1 (eAldh1a1) restores Aldh1a1 → EGNIS synaptic transmission and rescues the impulsive behaviors in AD mice.

Conclusions

These results not only identify a specific function and circuit of Aldh1a1 neurons but also provide a cellular point of entry to an important but understudied synaptic mechanism for the induction of impulsive behaviors at an early stage of AD.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13024-021-00494-9.

Psychological Constructs Related to Seat Belt Use: A Nationally Representative Survey Study

Seat belt use can significantly reduce fatalities in motor vehicle crashes (Kahane, 2000). Nevertheless, the current U.S. seat belt use rate of 89.6% (Enriquez & Pickrell, 2019) indicates that a relatively small but pervasive portion of the population does not wear seat belts on a full-time basis. Whereas much is known about the demographic predictors of seat belt use, far less is understood about psychological factors that predict individual proclivities toward using or not using a seat belt. In this study, we examined some of these potential psychological predictors. A probability-based web survey was conducted with 6,038 U.S. residents aged 16 or older who reported having driven or ridden in a car in the past year. We measured self-reported seat belt use and 18 psychological constructs and found that delay of gratification, life satisfaction, risk aversion, risk perception, and resistance to peer influence were positively associated with belt use. Impulsivity and social resistance orientation were negatively associated with belt use. Prior research has shown that psychological factors like delay of gratification, risk aversion/perception, and impulsivity predict other health behaviors (e.g., cigarette smoking, sunscreen use); our results extend this literature to seat belts and can aid the development of traffic safety programs targeted at non-users who-due to such factors-may be resistant to more traditional countermeasures such as legislation and enforcement.

The accelerator, the brake, and the terrain: associations of reward-related eating, self-regulation, and the home food environment with diet quality during pregnancy and postpartum in the pregnancy eating attributes study (PEAS) cohort

Background

Neurobehavioral factors, including reward-related eating and self-regulation, in conjunction with the food environment, may influence dietary behaviors. However, these constructs have not been examined in pregnancy and postpartum, a time of changing appetite and eating behaviors, and when dietary intake has implications for maternal and child health. This study examined associations of reward-related eating, self-regulation, and the home food environment with pregnancy and postpartum diet quality.

Methods

Participants in the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study observational cohort were enrolled at ≤12 weeks gestation and followed through one-year postpartum. Pregnancy and postpartum Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-total), and adequacy and moderation scores, respectively, were calculated by pooling 24-h diet recalls administered each trimester and during 2, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Participants completed four measures of reward-related eating – Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale (mYFAS), Power of Food Scale (PFS), Multiple Choice Procedure (MCP), and Reinforcing Value of Food Questionnaire (RVFQ); two measures of self-regulation – Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) and Delay of Gratification Inventory (DGI); and a Home Food Inventory (HFI), yielding obesogenic (OBES) and fruit/vegetables (FV) scores. Linear regression analyses estimated associations of reward-related eating, self-regulation, and home food environment with diet quality during pregnancy and postpartum, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics.

Results

Pregnancy HEI-total was inversely associated with PFS (β = − 0.14 ± 0.05, p = 0.009), mYFAS(β = − 0.14 ± 0.06, p = 0.02), 2 of the 5 RVFQ indices, MCP (β = − 0.14 ± 0.05, p = 0.01), and DGI food subscale (β = 0.23 ± 0.05, p < 0.001), but associations of postpartum HEI-total with reward-related eating measures and self-regulation were small and not statistically significant. Pregnancy and postpartum HEI-total were associated inversely with HFI-OBES (β = − 0.17 ± 0.06, p = 0.004 and β = − 0.19 ± 0.07, p = 0.006, respectively), and positively with HFI-FV (β = 0.21 ± 0.05, p < 0.001 and β = 0.17 ± 0.06, p = 0.009, respectively).

Conclusions

Associations of poorer diet quality with greater reward-related eating during pregnancy but not postpartum suggests the need to better understand differences in the determinants of eating behaviors and approaches to circumvent or moderate reward-related eating to facilitate more optimal diet quality across this critical period.

Trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov. URL – Registration ID – NCT02217462. Date of registration – August 13, 2014.

Predicting mid-life capital formation with pre-school delay of gratification and life-course measures of self-regulation

How well do pre-school delay of gratification and life-course measures of self-regulation predict mid-life capital formation? We surveyed 113 participants of the 1967-1973 Bing pre-school studies on delay of gratification when they were in their late 40's. They reported 11 mid-life capital formation outcomes, including net worth, permanent income, absence of high-interest debt, forward-looking behaviors, and educational attainment. To address multiple hypothesis testing and our small sample, we pre-registered an analysis plan of well-powered tests. As predicted, a newly constructed and pre-registered measure derived from preschool delay of gratification does not predict the 11 capital formation variables (i.e., the sign-adjusted average correlation was 0.02). A pre-registered composite self-regulation index, combining preschool delay of gratification with survey measures of self-regulation collected at ages 17, 27, and 37, does predict 10 of the 11 capital formation variables in the expected direction, with an average correlation of 0.19. The inclusion of the preschool delay of gratification measure in this composite index does not affect the index's predictive power. We tested several hypothesized reasons that preschool delay of gratification does not have predictive power for our mid-life capital formation variables.

Role of maternal affect and regulatory strategies in toddlers' emotion and behavior regulation

Using a moment-to-moment multilevel approach, we examined the relative effectiveness of (a) toddlers' lagged (i.e., previous-interval) regulatory strategies and toddlers' lagged expression of negative emotion, as moderated by maternal affect, and (b) maternal lagged regulatory strategies, on toddlers' current-interval (1) expression of negative emotion, and, (2) ability to delay gratification during a wait task. Two-level random coefficient models, with twelve repeated-measurement occasions (10 s-intervals) of observed behaviors (N = 1571) nested within 134 mother-toddler dyads from low-income families (67 girls; M_age = 25.77 months, SD_age = 1.60) were examined. Cross-level interactions revealed that maternal positive affect buffered severity of toddlers' expression of negative emotion between lagged and current-intervals, while maternal negative affect disrupted toddlers' effective utilization of lagged regulatory strategies on current-interval expression of negative emotion. However, regardless of maternal affect, toddlers who displayed higher expression of negative emotion and utilized more regulatory strategies in lagged-intervals displayed greater delay of gratification in current-intervals. Also, as mothers displayed greater minimization of toddlers' emotional distress, higher physical restraint, and used fewer distractions, toddlers displayed more intense expression of negative emotion in subsequent intervals. Similarly, as mothers used higher physical restraint and fewer distractions, toddlers were less able to wait in subsequent intervals. Results illustrate the disruptive roles of maternal negative affect and unsupportive regulatory strategies on toddlers' emotion and behavior regulation. Together, these findings point to targeting maternal positive affect in combination with supportive regulatory strategies to promote toddlers' transition from external- to internal-regulation.

The influence of environmental reliability in the marshmallow task: An extension study

This study is an extension of an experiment where the reliability of children's environment was manipulated before children completed the Marshmallow Task (Cognition, 2013, Vol. 126, pp. 109-114). In that experiment, Kidd, Palmeri, and Aslin found a significant difference in waiting time between two conditions in which the experimenter demonstrated reliability (by returning with promised reward) or unreliability (by not returning with rewardP). Children who had an unreliable experimenter did not wait as long during the Marshmallow Task, suggesting that delay gratification performance may be, in part, based on a rational decision. Due to the important theoretical and practical implications of this finding, we repeated the procedure of this experiment with 60 3- to 5-year-old children (twice as many as in the original study), but in a more familiar context (e.g., children's school instead of a lab). Using Bayesian analyses, we found an effect (albeit smaller than in the original study) of experimenter reliability as well as a significant gender by condition interaction effect.

Executive functions

First, executive functions are defined. Then the development of executive functions in children, from infancy to 10-11 years of age, is briefly described. The relation between the speed of processing and the development of executive functions is addressed. Finally, tools and pointers for evaluating executive functioning in younger and older children are discussed. A cautionary note is sounded, in that almost no executive function measure requires only one executive function. A child might fail a working memory task because of problems with inhibitory control (not working memory), fail an inhibitory control task because of working memory problems, or fail a cognitive flexibility, planning, or reasoning task because of problems with inhibitory control or working memory.

The roles of perspective and language in children's ability to delay gratification

Increasing psychological distance is an established method for improving children's performance in a number of self-regulation tasks. For example, using a delay of gratification (DoG) task, Prencipe and Zelazo (Psychological Science, 2005, Vol. 16, pp. 501-505) showed that 3-year-olds delay more for "other" than they do for "self," whereas 4-year-olds make similar choices for self and other. However, to our knowledge, no work has manipulated language to increase psychological distance in children. In two experiments, we sought to manipulate psychological distance by replicating Prencipe and Zelazo's age-related findings and extending them to older children (Experiment 1) and also sought to manipulate psychological distance using the auxiliary verbs "want" and "should" to prime more impulsive preference-based decisions or more normative optimal decisions (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 96 3- to 7-year-olds showed age-related improvements and interactive effects between age and perspective on DoG performance. In Experiment 2, 132 3- to 7-year-olds showed age-related improvements and a marginal interaction between age and perspective on DoG performance, but no effect of auxiliary verbs was detected. Results are discussed in terms of differing developmental trajectories of DoG for self and other due to psychological distancing, and how taking another's perspective may boost DoG in younger children but not older children.

Are the roots of human economic systems shared with non-human primates?

We review and analyze evidence for an evolutionary rooting of human economic behaviors and organization in non-human primates. Rather than focusing on the direct application of economic models that a priori account for animal decision behavior, we adopt an inductive definition of economic behavior in terms of the contribution of individual cognitive capacities to the provision of resources within an exchange structure. We spell out to what extent non-human primates' individual and strategic decision behaviors are shared with humans. We focus on the ability to trade, through barter or token-mediated exchanges, as a landmark of an economic system among members of the same species. It is an open question why only humans have reached a high level of economic sophistication. While primates have many of the necessary cognitive abilities (symbolic and computational) in isolation, one plausible issue we identify is the limits in exerting cognitive control to combine several sources of information. The difference between human and non-human primates' economies might well then be in degree rather than kind.

Altruistic self-regulation in young children

We investigated whether children would be willing to sustain delaying their own gratification in order to benefit someone else. We used a modified version of the classic "marshmallow task," in which children must sustain delaying gratification in the presence of the immediate reward for an unspecified amount of time in order to receive a larger reward later. Children were assigned to one of three conditions. In the Self condition, children were given a food item and were told that if they waited to eat it, they would receive a second food item. In the Prosocial condition, children also were given a food item but were told that if they waited to eat their food item, another child would get a food item. In the Nonsocial Control condition, children were given a food item but were told that waiting to eat it would not benefit anyone. We found that children waited significantly longer in both the Self and Prosocial conditions than in the Nonsocial Control condition, and children's wait durations in the Self and Prosocial conditions were not significantly different. Our results suggest that children are willing to engage in effortful self-regulation in order to benefit another child.

What helps children resist distracting marketing stimuli? Implementation intentions and restrictions alter food choice

This study analyzes the impact of implementation intentions as well as restrictions on the delay of gratification in children. We assume that both strategies impact the decision process of children in different ways: While implementation intentions activate the mental representation of specified cues that help pursuing a goal, restrictions support goal attainment because of the threatened consequence. The results of two studies support these assumptions. A correlation between the physiological arousal and the success in the delay task indicates that for children that follow implementation intentions arousal provides motivation to wait for a greater gratification. These results provide possible explanations for the heterogeneous outcomes of existing studies about the effects of parenting practices.

Time spent looking at food during a delay of gratification task is positively associated with children's consumption at ad libitum laboratory meals

Greater ability to delay gratification for an immediate food reward may protect against the development of obesity. However, it is not known if the behaviors children exhibit during a delay of gratification task are related to overeating in other contexts. The purpose of this analysis was to assess the relationship between observed child coping strategies during a delay of gratification task and laboratory intake from ad libitum test-meals. The sample consisted of 40, 7-9 year old children (40% (N = 16 with overweight/obesity). Across 5 laboratory visits, children consumed 3 identical test-meals presented after varying exposure conditions (i.e., no exposure, exposure to food commercials, exposure to toy commercials). On the first visit, children were recorded during a delay of gratification task which was coded for three behavioral themes: looking at vs. away from food, talking vs. staying silent, and fidgeting vs. sitting still. Pearson correlations and multiple regressions were run to look at the relationships between coping strategies and test-meal intake. Time spent looking away from food was negatively associated with ad libitum food consumption at the meals. Conversely, greater time spent looking at food was positively associated with ad libitum food consumption. These relationships were independent of covariates likely to influence intake (e.g., sex, age, weight status, parent income) and were more robust following food rather than toy commercial exposure. Children who spent more time looking at food and less time looking away during a delay of gratification task may be vulnerable to overeating in other contexts. Upon replication in larger samples, these behaviors could serve as modifiable targets in the development of childhood obesity prevention programs.

Prenatal testosterone exposure is associated with delay of gratification and attention problems/overactive behavior in 3-year-old boys

Sex differences in self-control become apparent during preschool years. Girls are better able to delay their gratification and show less attention problems and overactive behavior than boys. In this context, organizational effects of gonadal steroids affecting the neural circuitry underlying self-control could be responsible for these early sex differences. In the present study testosterone levels measured in amniotic fluid (via ultra performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry) were used to examine the role of organizational sex hormones on self-control. One hundred and twenty-two 40-month-old children participated in a delay of gratification task (DoG task) and their parents reported on their attention problems and overactive behavior. Girls waited significantly longer for their preferred reward than boys, and significantly more girls than boys waited the maximum period of time, providing evidence for sex differences in delay of gratification. Boys that were rated as suffering from more attention problems and overactive behavior waited significantly shorter in the DoG task. Amniotic testosterone measures were reliable in boys only. Most importantly, boys who waited shorter in the DoG task and boys who were reported to suffer from more attention problems and overactive behavior had higher prenatal testosterone levels. These findings extend our knowledge concerning organizational effects of testosterone on the brain circuitry underlying self-control in boys, and are of relevance for understanding how sex differences in behavioral disorders are connected with a lack of self-control.

Experiencing regret about a choice helps children learn to delay gratification

Children (6- and 7-year-olds) decided whether to wait for a short delay to win a prize or for a longer period to win a different prize. Those who chose to take their prize after a short delay won two candies but were shown that they would have won four candies if they had waited longer. We measured whether children regretted their choice not to wait. The next day, children were faced with the same choice again. Children who regretted choosing the short delay on Day 1 were more likely to delay gratification on Day 2 than children who had not regretted their previous choice. In a second study, we replicated this finding while controlling for intellectual ability and children's preference for four candies over two candies. This suggests that experiencing regret about a choice not to wait assists children in delaying gratification when faced with the same choice again.

Two facets of patience in young children: Waiting with and without an explicit reward

Patience, or the ability to tolerate delay, is typically studied using delay of gratification (DoG) tasks. However, among other factors (e.g., type of reward), the use of a reward to test patience is affected by an individual's motivation to obtain the reward (e.g., degree of preference for the small vs. large reward). In addition, DoG tasks do not assess the extent to which an individual can wait in the absence of an explicit reward-or what we term "patience as a virtue." Accordingly, the current study used a new measure of patience-the "pure waiting paradigm"-in which 3- to 5-year-old children waited 3 min with nothing to do and with no explicit reward. We then examined the relation between performance on this task (as assessed by children's spontaneous patient behaviors) and performance on two DoG tasks (candy and video rewards). Significant correlations were found between DoG performance and patient behaviors in the pure waiting paradigm, especially when controlling for motivation. These results and methodology show for the first time a direct link between patience as a virtue and DoG performance and also provide new insights about the study of patience in children.

The effects of acute stress on the calibration of persistence

People frequently fail to wait for delayed rewards after choosing them. These preference reversals are sometimes thought to reflect self-control failure. Other times, however, continuing to wait for a delayed reward may be counterproductive (e.g., when reward timing uncertainty is high). Research has demonstrated that people can calibrate how long to wait for rewards in a given environment. Thus, the role of self-control might be to integrate information about the environment to flexibly adapt behavior, not merely to promote waiting. Here we tested effects of acute stress, which has been shown to tax control processes, on persistence, and the calibration of persistence, in young adult human participants. Half the participants (n = 60) performed a task in which persistence was optimal, and the other half (n = 60) performed a task in which it was optimal to quit waiting for reward soon after each trial began. Each participant completed the task either after cold pressor stress or no stress. Stress did not influence persistence or optimal calibration of persistence. Nevertheless, an exploratory analysis revealed an "inverted-U" relationship between cortisol increase and performance in the stress groups, suggesting that choosing the adaptive waiting policy may be facilitated with some stress and impaired with severe stress.

Maternal Sensitivity Predicts Fewer Sleep Problems at Early Adolescence for Toddlers with Negative Emotionality: A Case of Differential Susceptibility

Theory underscores the importance of parenting in sleep development, but few studies have examined whether links vary by temperament. To address this gap, we tested whether potential links between early maternal sensitivity and early adolescent sleep problems varied by child negative emotionality and delay of gratification. Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 820), we found that high maternal sensitivity predicted fewer bedtime problems and longer sleep duration at 6th grade for toddlers with high negative emotionality, whereas low maternal sensitivity predicted the reverse. No differences were observed for low negative emotionality. Moreover, delay of gratification predicted fewer bedtime problems at 6th grade, but did not moderate associations between maternal sensitivity, negative emotionality, and sleep. Findings demonstrate that high, but not low, negative emotionality renders toddlers differentially susceptible and receptive to maternal sensitivity in relation to sleep.

Maternal Responsiveness as a Predictor of Self-Regulation Development and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptoms Across Preschool Ages

Preschool-age "hot" executive function capacity (i.e. reward-related effortful control) represents an early kind of self-regulation that is involved in social adjustment development as well as the development of subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Early self-regulation development might be malleable by responsive parenting. We analyzed whether maternal responsiveness/sensitivity predicts reward-related control (RRC) development within the preschool period, and whether RRC mediates a negative link between maternal responsiveness and ADHD symptoms. A sample of 125 preschoolers and their families were seen at the ages of 4 and 5 years. Maternal responsiveness/sensitivity was assessed via home observations, RRC by neuropsychological tasks, and ADHD symptoms by a structured clinical parent interview. Maternal responsiveness/sensitivity predicted RRC development. The negative link between maternal responsiveness/sensitivity at 4 years and ADHD symptoms at 5 years was mediated by RRC performance at 5 years. Preschoolers showing ADHD symptoms combined with low RRC capacity in particular might benefit from responsive/sensitive parenting.

Delay of gratification and time comprehension is impaired in very preterm children at the age of 4years

BACKGROUND

Very preterm infants more likely exhibit deficient executive functions than term born controls. Delay of gratification, as part of the executive functions, allows for rejecting an immediate in favor of a greater future reward. Time comprehension might help to delay gratification.

AIMS

We hypothesized that delay of gratification and time comprehension is less developed in preterm children and that time comprehension is associated with the ability to wait for a greater reward.

STUDY DESIGN

Very preterm children (<32weeks' gestation) and term born controls were tested for receptive language skills, time comprehension and delay of gratification at the (corrected) age of 4years.

SUBJECTS

25 preterm subjects (12 female; median: gestational age (GA) 28.3weeks, corrected age 4years, 22days) and 26 controls (16 female, median GA: 40.0weeks, age 4years, 25days) participated.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Correct answers in the time comprehension and receptive language task, waiting time in the delay-of-gratification task were measured.

RESULTS

Preterm subjects had less time comprehension than controls (43% vs. 53%, p=0.017, one-tailed) but receptive language skills were similar. Waiting time in the delay-of-gratification task was 3:42min in preterm subjects, versus 10:09min in controls (p=0.043, one-tailed). Even after controlling for language skills, waiting time correlated positively with time comprehension in both groups (r=0.399, p=0.004, two-tailed).

CONCLUSIONS

Preterm children's time comprehension and delay of gratification ability is impaired. Future research is warranted to investigate whether training in time comprehension increases the ability to delay gratification.

Waiting for a treat. Studying behaviors related to self-regulation in 18- and 24-month-olds

The ability to delay gratification - conceived as an early expression of self-regulation - develops in the second half of the second year of life. We used inductive methodology to identify different behaviors and set of behaviors performed by children while waiting for a treat. We asked which sets are more effective when it comes to successfully delaying gratification and how all observed sets change during toddler age. 130 children were tested twice - at 18 and at 24 months - using a Snack Delay Task. We observed 20 different behaviors and distinguished 4 sets of behaviors. The most important and effective set for delaying gratification in 18 and in 24 month olds was the set called Attention and Movements. We concluded that growth in the ability to delay gratification resulted from increased ability to overcome temptation by using an active strategy mainly based on attention.

I want to media multitask and I want to do it now: Individual differences in media multitasking predict delay of gratification and system-1 thinking

Media multitasking, the concurrent use of multiple media forms, has been shown to be related to greater self-reported impulsivity and less self-control. These measures are both hallmarks of the need for immediate gratification which has been associated with fast, intuitive 'system-1' decision making, as opposed to more deliberate and effortful 'system-2' decision making. In Study 1, we used the Cognitive Reflection Task (CRT) to examine whether individuals who engage heavily in media multitasking differ from those who are light media multitaskers in their degree of system-1 versus system-2 thinking. In Study 2 we examined whether heavy and light media multitaskers differ in delay of gratification, using the delay discounting measure which estimates the preference for smaller immediate rewards, relative to larger delayed rewards in a hypothetical monetary choice task. We found that heavy media multitaskers were more likely than light media multitaskers to endorse intuitive, but wrong, decisions on the CRT indicating a greater reliance on 'system-1' thinking. Heavy media multitaskers were also willing to settle for less money immediately relative to light media multitaskers who were more willing to wait for the larger delayed reward. These results suggest that heavy media multitaskers have a reactive decision-making style that promotes current desires (money, ease of processing) at the expense of accuracy and future rewards. These findings highlight the potential for heavy media multitaskers to be at risk for problematic behaviors associated with delay discounting - behaviors such as substance abuse, overeating, problematic gambling, and poor financial management.

Emotion regulation strategies and childhood obesity in high risk preschoolers

The current study examined the relationships between the specific strategies that preschool children use to regulate their emotions and childhood weight status to see if emotion regulation strategies would predict childhood weight status over and above measures of eating self-regulation. 185 4- to 5-year-old Latino children were recruited through Head Start centers in a large city in the southeastern U.S. Children completed both a delay of gratification task (emotion regulation) and an eating in the absence of hunger task (eating regulation). Eating regulation also was assessed by maternal reports. Four emotion regulation strategies were examined in the delay of gratification task: shut out stimuli, prevent movement, distraction, and attention to reward. Hierarchical linear regressions predicting children's weight status showed that both measures of eating regulation negatively predicted child obesity, and the use of prevent movement negatively predicted child obesity. Total wait time during the delay of gratification tasks was not a significant predictor. The current findings are consistent with studies showing that for preschool children, summary measures of emotion regulation (e.g., wait time) are not concurrently associated with child obesity. In contrast, the use of emotion regulation strategies was a significant predictor of lower child weight status. These findings help identify emotion regulation strategies that prevention programs can target for helping children regulate their emotions and decrease their obesity risk.

Zooming in on children's behavior during delay of gratification: Disentangling impulsigenic and volitional processes underlying self-regulation

When delaying gratification, both motivational and regulatory processes are likely to be at play; however, the relative contributions of motivational and regulatory influences on delay behavior are unclear. By examining behavioral responses during a delay task, this study sought to examine the motivational (anticipatory behavior) and regulatory mechanisms (executive function and self-control strategies) underlying children's self-regulation. The participants, 65 5- to 9-year-old children (M_age=7.19years, SD=0.89), were video-recorded during a delay procedure and later coded for anticipatory behaviors (e.g., gazing intensely at the tablet) and self-control strategies. Children also completed two executive function (EF) tasks. We found that anticipatory behavior was curvilinearly related to delay time. Children showing either very low or very high levels of anticipatory behavior were not able to wait the entire time. Furthermore, our results indicated that anticipatory behavior interacted with EF to predict delay time. Specifically, anticipatory behavior was negatively related to delay time only if EF abilities were low. Finally, self-control strategies also interacted with EF to predict children's ability to delay. Spontaneous engagement in self-control strategies such as fidgeting and engagement in alternative activities were beneficial for children with low EF but were unrelated to delay time for children with high EF. Results indicate the value of examining motivational and regulatory influences on delay behavior. Lapses in self-regulation may be due to the combination of powerful impulsigenic (i.e., anticipatory behavior) and weak volitional processes (i.e., EF, self-control strategies).

Self-control assessments of capuchin monkeys with the rotating tray task and the accumulation task

Recent studies of delay of gratification in capuchin monkeys using a rotating tray (RT) task have shown improved self-control performance in these animals in comparison to the accumulation (AC) task. In this study, we investigated whether this improvement resulted from the difference in methods between the rotating tray task and previous tests, or whether it was the result of greater overall experience with delay of gratification tasks. Experiment 1 produced similar performance levels by capuchins monkeys in the RT and AC tasks when identical reward and temporal parameters were used. Experiment 2 demonstrated a similar result using reward amounts that were more similar to previous AC experiments with these monkeys. In Experiment 3, monkeys performed multiple versions of the AC task with varied reward and temporal parameters. Their self-control behavior was found to be dependent on the overall delay to reward consumption, rather than the overall reward amount ultimately consumed. These findings indicate that these capuchin monkeys' self-control capacities were more likely to have improved across studies because of the greater experience they had with delay of gratification tasks. Experiment 4 and Experiment 5 tested new, task-naïve monkeys on both tasks, finding more limited evidence of self-control, and no evidence that one task was more beneficial than the other in promoting self-control. The results of this study suggest that future testing of this kind should focus on temporal parameters and reward magnitude parameters to establish accurate measures of delay of gratification capacity and development in this species and perhaps others.

The two-faceted nature of impulsivity in patients with borderline personality disorder and substance use disorder

BACKGROUND

Impulsivity, which has been the subject of extensive debate in psychiatric research, is a clinically important concept, especially with respect to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Substance Use Disorders (SUD). The current study aims to examine the presence of two aspects of impulsivity (self-reported impulsivity and delay discounting) in patients with BPD, SUD (alcohol use=AUD or drug use=DUD) and the combination of both disorders (BPD+SUD).

METHODS

Patients were recruited from eight different mental health treatment service facilities. A total of 345 participants were assessed and divided into six groups: (1) healthy controls (non-BPD, non-SUD), (2) patients with BPD (non-SUD), (3) DUD (non-BPD), (4) AUD (non-BPD), (5) BPD+AUD and (6) BPD+DUD.

RESULTS

The behavioural measure of impulsivity is more conservative than the results of self-reported impulsivity. Furthermore, ANOVA indicated that BPD and SUD have significant effects on self-reported impulsivity, even when demographic variables, income, other psychiatric symptoms or depression are considered as covariates. On the other hand, the main effects of BPD and SUD are mediated by psychiatric symptoms and depression when delay discounting is considered as a dependent variable.

CONCLUSIONS

When self-reported, impulsivity is over-estimated as compared to reports based on behavioural measures. These results provide support for the notion that impulsivity is not a unitary construct, and that it instead has different manifestations in BPD and SUD patients.

Chimpanzee Cognitive Control

Cognitive control processes are a feature of human cognition. Recent comparative tests have shown that some nonhuman animals also might share aspects of cognitive control with humans. Two of the executive processes that constitute cognitive control are metacognition and self-control, and recent experiments with chimpanzees are described that demonstrate metacognitive monitoring and control when these animals engage in an information-seeking task. Chimpanzees also show strategic responding in a self-control task by exhibiting self-distraction as an aid to delay of gratification. These demonstrations indicate continuity with similar human cognitive capacities, and the performances of chimpanzees in these kinds of tests have implications for considering the nature of the intelligence of these animals.

Vulnerability for mania - is it linked to problems delaying gratification?

Impulsivity is described as one of the main risk factors for mania. One facet of impulsivity, the inability to delay gratification, might be of special relevance, because a hypersensitivity to reward is hypothesized to be related to mania. The main aim of this study was to examine whether risk for mania is associated with deficits in the ability to delay gratification using both a behavioral and a self-report (UPPS) measure. An additional reason for choosing the UPPS was to see if prior results about an association between risk for mania and positive urgency could be replicated. Thirty-three individuals at risk for mania and a matched control group were selected using the Hypomanic Personality Scale and interviewed for a history of mood disorders. The main outcome measures were the Single-Key-Impulsivity-Paradigm and Monetary Choice Questionnaire. The groups did not differ in measures of gratification delay but we replicated other studies reporting significantly higher levels of positive urgency and sensation seeking in at-risk individuals. We suggest that individuals at risk might not generally be more impulsive but rather that impulsive behaviors might be triggered in response to specific mood states.

Trading up: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) show self-control through their exchange behavior

Self-control is defined as the ability or capacity to obtain an objectively more valuable outcome rather than an objectively less valuable outcome though tolerating a longer delay or a greater effort requirement (or both) in obtaining that more valuable outcome. A number of tests have been devised to assess self-control in non-human animals, including exchange tasks. In this study, three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) participated in a delay of gratification task that required food exchange as the behavioral response that reflected self-control. The chimpanzees were offered opportunities to inhibit eating and instead exchange a currently possessed food item for a different (and sometimes better) item, often needing to exchange several food items before obtaining the highest valued reward. We manipulated reward type, reward size, reward visibility, delay to exchange, and location of the highest valued reward in the sequence of exchange events to compare performance within the same individuals. The chimpanzees successfully traded until obtaining the best item in most cases, although there were individual differences among participants in some variations of the test. These results support the idea that self-control is robust in chimpanzees even in contexts in which they perhaps anticipate future rewards and sustain delay of gratification until they can obtain the ultimately most valuable item.

Too proud to regulate: The differential effect of pride versus joy on children's ability to delay gratification

We examined the effect of the distinct positive emotions pride and joy on children's self-regulation, focusing on their ability to delay gratification (i.e., resist a temptation in favor of a long-term goal). We hypothesized that because pride corresponds to the attainment of long-term goals and joy corresponds to the attainment of immediate desires, the experience of pride may signal sufficient progress toward a long-term goal, resulting in less delay of gratification than the experience of joy. To test this hypothesis, we induced an experience of pride or joy in 8-year-old children. At this age, the ability to self-regulate--and to experience pride and joy distinctively--is relatively mature. We then measured performance in a delay discounting task. We found that, compared with the joy condition and a control condition, children who experienced pride performed worse on the delay discounting task (p=.045), indicating poorer self-regulation. This result suggests that emotions may function as cues for sufficient goal pursuit, thereby influencing self-regulation from a very young age.

Executive functioning, emotion regulation, eating self-regulation, and weight status in low-income preschool children: how do they relate?

The purpose of the present study was to examine relationships between child eating self-regulation, child non-eating self-regulation, and child BMIz in a low-income sample of Hispanic families with preschoolers. The eating in the absence of hunger task as well as parent-report of child satiety responsiveness and food responsiveness were used to assess child eating self-regulation. Two laboratory tasks assessing executive functioning, a parent questionnaire assessing child effortful control (a temperament dimension related to executive functioning), and the delay of gratification and gift delay tasks assessing child emotion regulation were used to assess child non-eating self-regulation. Bivariate correlations were run among all variables in the study. Hierarchical linear regression analyses assessed: (1) child eating self-regulation associations with the demographic, executive functioning, effortful control, and emotion regulation measures; and (2) child BMI z-score associations with executive functioning, effortful control, emotion regulation measures, and eating self-regulation measures. Within child eating self-regulation, only the two parent-report measures were related. Low to moderate positive correlations were found between measures of executive functioning, effortful control, and emotion regulation. Only three relationships were found between child eating self-regulation and other forms of child self-regulation: eating in the absence of hunger was positively associated with delay of gratification, and poor regulation on the gift delay task was associated positively with maternal reports of food responsiveness and negatively with parent-reports of satiety responsiveness. Regression analyses showed that child eating self-regulation was associated with child BMIz but other forms of child self-regulation were not. Implications for understanding the role of self-regulation in the development of child obesity are discussed.

Your wish is my command! The influence of symbolic modelling on preschool children's delay of gratification

The ability of children to delay gratification is correlated with a range of positive outcomes in adulthood, showing the potential impact of helping young children increase their competence in this area. This study investigated the influence of symbolic models on the self-control of 3-year old children. Eighty-three children were randomly assigned to one of three modelling conditions: personal storytelling, impersonal storytelling, and control. Children were tested on the delay-of-gratification maintenance paradigm both before and after being exposed to a symbolic model or control condition. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed no significant differences between the two storytelling groups and the control group, indicating that the symbolic models did not influence children's ability to delay gratification. A serendipitous finding showed a positive relationship between the ability of children to wait and their production and accurate use of temporal terms, which was more pronounced in girls than boys. This finding may be an indication that a higher temporal vocabulary is linked to a continuous representation of the self in time, facilitating a child's representation of the future-self receiving a larger reward than what the present-self could receive.

Impulsivity: present during euthymia in bipolar disorder? - a systematic review

Because impulsivity is part of the presentation of bipolar disorder (BD) and is associated with its course, this systematic review presents the evidence whether increased impulsivity is present in a stable, euthymic mood and therefore potentially a vulnerability marker for BD. A multi-faceted model of impulsivity was adopted to explore how different facets may relate differently to BD. The evidence was explored in relation to studies employing measures of trait impulsivity (in self-report format) and studies exploring impulsivity with behavioural paradigms. Behavioural paradigms were separated into studies measuring response inhibition and those measuring the ability to delay gratification. Twenty-three papers met the inclusion criteria. Most studies using self-report measures found significant differences between euthymic BD patients and healthy controls. There was little evidence of increased impulsivity as measured by behavioural paradigms. Most studies found no significant difference in response inhibition between groups, though it is possible that much of the literature in this area was underpowered to detect an effect. Only five studies explored delay of gratification, of which the two methodologically strongest studies found no group differences. In conclusion, there is evidence that euthymic patients with BD report increased impulsivity when using self-ratings. However, there is currently limited evidence of impulsivity on behavioural measures assessing response inhibition, and this might be restricted to more severe cases. More research is needed on the ability to delay gratification before drawing any conclusions. However, to establish facets of impulsivity as vulnerability markers, future studies should include at-risk individuals to evaluate whether self-rated or behavioural impulsivity precedes the onset of BD.