Hot Executive Function Assessment Instruments in Preschool Children: A Systematic Review

The study aimed to systematically analyze the empirical evidence that is available concerning batteries, tests or instruments that assess hot executive functions (EFs) in preschoolers, identifying which are the most used instruments, as well as the most evaluated hot EFs. For the review and selection of articles, the systematic review methodology PRISMA was used. The article search considered the EBSCO, Web of Science (WoS), SciELO and PubMed databases, with the keywords “Hot executive function”, “Assessment”, “test”, “evaluation”, using the Boolean operators AND and OR indistinctly, between 2000 and April 2021. Twenty-four articles were selected and analyzed. The most commonly used instruments to assess hot EFs in preschool children were the Delayed Gratification Task, the Child’s Play Task, and the Delayed Reward Task. Amongst those analyzed, 17 instruments were found to assess hot EFs in preschoolers. The accuracy and conceptual clarity between the assessment of cognitive and emotional components in EFs is still debatable. Nevertheless, the consideration of affective temperature and reward stimulus type, could be an important influence when assessing EFs in this age range. Evidence of the possible involvement of cortical and subcortical structures, as well as the limbic system, in preschool executive functioning assessment has also been incorporated.

Training babies for “sweet anticipation”: Emphasizing expectation arousal in infant-directed mother singing

This study explores how mothers construct, implement, and break musical anticipations while singing to their infants. Five mothers were videotaped multiple times while singing to their infants the songs that they routinely sang in their homes. Analysis of the videotapes focused on the following two aspects of the mothers’ performance of the songs: (1) the vocal aspect of the mother’s performance, which was examined with respect to dynamic changes, accents, and rhythmic variations and (2) the physical aspect, which included moving, touching, and smiling while singing. The results of this study were reached by integrating the above data. We show that mothers do construct, implement, and break musical anticipations in vocal and motional performances of songs they sing to their infants. They construct their infants’ musical anticipations, encouraging them to predict what is about to happen; stimulate arousal and attention of the infants using the tension mechanism of delayed gratification; they emphasize unexpected musical events, creating emotional experiences for the infants. These conclusions provide a new explanation for the great importance of infant-directed mother singing.

Learning to wait and be altruistic: Testing a conversational training in economic education for primary school children

Individual economic competence is important but increasingly challenging to manage due to the growing complexity of the nature of economic decisions people must make and the substantial impacts of some of these decisions on their lives. Decision-making ability develops from childhood and is closely related to specific economic components and prosocial behaviour such as fairness, altruism, and delay of gratification. However, while there are financial-education programs for children and young people focusing on financial products, few studies have examined training for the psychological abilities underlying economic decision-making. To promote those psychological skills that contribute to a more socially effective decision-making, we designed and tested a conversational-based training program for primary school children using reflective thinking. A total of 110 (male = 47, female = 63) children aged 8 to 10 years (Mean age = 9.71 years) from two schools in Northern Italy participated in the study with 55 children in a training group and 55 in a control group. All participated in pre-tests measuring their socio-economic background and economics-related skills and abilities. The training group were told stories relaying values of fairness, altruism, and delayed gratification. Both groups participated in task-based post-tests relating to fairness, altruism, and delayed gratification. Results revealed that children in the training group showed significant improvement at the post-test in altruistic and investment behaviour, showing the training efficacy, suggesting that similar programs could be implemented in primary schools as foundational teaching of economics and fiscal responsibility.

Delay Discounting and the Cost of Waiting

<p>If offered $50 now or $100 in a year, many of us will choose $50 now. This occurs because of delay discounting – the idea that reinforcers lose value over time. Individuals tend to display shallower discounting (self-controlled decision-making) in hypothetical discounting tasks, and steeper discounting (impulsive decision-making) in experiential discounting tasks. Hypothetical discounting tasks involve participants making a series of hypothetical monetary decisions (e.g. $50 now versus $100 in a year) over a range of delays. Experiential discounting tasks involve participants experiencing the delays and outcomes of their choices. A critical difference between hypothetical and experiential discounting tasks is the type of delay they use. Hypothetical discounting task delays typically involve postponing. This involves participants imagining the reward is delivered to them after the delay and that they are free to pursue other activities during the delay. Experiential task delays involve participants waiting out each delay before they receive their reward, (unable access any alternative reinforcement during the delay). Individuals discount more steeply when tested experientially than hypothetically. Experiment 1 investigated whether waiting and postponing are different discounting constructs. We achieved this via a 2 X 2 within-subjects design where both experiential and hypothetical discounting tasks had both Waiting and Postponing conditions. The hypothetical discounting task involved participants being instructed to imagine waiting for a reward after a delay (Waiting Condition), or imagine the reward would simply be delivered to them after the delay (Postponing Condition). The experiential task involved participants playing a video game that involved having to stop playing and wait for a larger number of points after a delay (Waiting Condition), or playing the game and getting the points delivered after the delay (Postponing Condition). We expected steeper discounting rates when waiting compared to postponing in both the experiential and hypothetical tasks. We found this effect only in the hypothetical task; however, this might be due to our procedure. We randomised the waiting and postponing trials in both tasks and this may have resulted in the participants being unable to discriminate between the interspersed trials. Experiment 2 investigated whether this methodological feature affected discounting in the experiential task, and we found that blocking the trials resulted in the anticipated effect. We found steeper discounting in both the experiential and hypothetical tasks for waiting compared to postponing after implementing this change, suggesting that waiting and postponing are different constructs. Experiment 3 investigated what drives the difference between waiting and postponing. We found that waiting has a greater effect on reward value than postponing due to the inability to access alternative reinforcement during the delay. We also investigated the relationships among our discounting measures and a measure of the consideration of future consequences, and a measure of delayed gratification. We found no correlation among discounting and these measures, and no consistent correlation between waiting and postponing. Overall, our results indicated that waiting and postponing are distinct constructs, and that the inability to access alternative reinforcement during a delay is the key difference between them.</p>

Delay Discounting and the Cost of Waiting

<p>If offered $50 now or $100 in a year, many of us will choose $50 now. This occurs because of delay discounting – the idea that reinforcers lose value over time. Individuals tend to display shallower discounting (self-controlled decision-making) in hypothetical discounting tasks, and steeper discounting (impulsive decision-making) in experiential discounting tasks. Hypothetical discounting tasks involve participants making a series of hypothetical monetary decisions (e.g. $50 now versus $100 in a year) over a range of delays. Experiential discounting tasks involve participants experiencing the delays and outcomes of their choices. A critical difference between hypothetical and experiential discounting tasks is the type of delay they use. Hypothetical discounting task delays typically involve postponing. This involves participants imagining the reward is delivered to them after the delay and that they are free to pursue other activities during the delay. Experiential task delays involve participants waiting out each delay before they receive their reward, (unable access any alternative reinforcement during the delay). Individuals discount more steeply when tested experientially than hypothetically. Experiment 1 investigated whether waiting and postponing are different discounting constructs. We achieved this via a 2 X 2 within-subjects design where both experiential and hypothetical discounting tasks had both Waiting and Postponing conditions. The hypothetical discounting task involved participants being instructed to imagine waiting for a reward after a delay (Waiting Condition), or imagine the reward would simply be delivered to them after the delay (Postponing Condition). The experiential task involved participants playing a video game that involved having to stop playing and wait for a larger number of points after a delay (Waiting Condition), or playing the game and getting the points delivered after the delay (Postponing Condition). We expected steeper discounting rates when waiting compared to postponing in both the experiential and hypothetical tasks. We found this effect only in the hypothetical task; however, this might be due to our procedure. We randomised the waiting and postponing trials in both tasks and this may have resulted in the participants being unable to discriminate between the interspersed trials. Experiment 2 investigated whether this methodological feature affected discounting in the experiential task, and we found that blocking the trials resulted in the anticipated effect. We found steeper discounting in both the experiential and hypothetical tasks for waiting compared to postponing after implementing this change, suggesting that waiting and postponing are different constructs. Experiment 3 investigated what drives the difference between waiting and postponing. We found that waiting has a greater effect on reward value than postponing due to the inability to access alternative reinforcement during the delay. We also investigated the relationships among our discounting measures and a measure of the consideration of future consequences, and a measure of delayed gratification. We found no correlation among discounting and these measures, and no consistent correlation between waiting and postponing. Overall, our results indicated that waiting and postponing are distinct constructs, and that the inability to access alternative reinforcement during a delay is the key difference between them.</p>

Dance the Night Away: How Automatic TikTok Use Creates Pre-Sleep Cognitive Arousal and Daytime Fatigue

TikTok is one of the most popular apps. TikTok's endless stream of content, the lack time stamps or notifications of ever being “all caught up,” and concealing the phone's clock make it easy to lose track of time on TikTok. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how TikTok use may therefore interfere with our circadian rhythms, particularly our sleep hygiene. By focusing on pre-sleep cognitive arousal, this study aimed to close this knowledge gap by investigating the association between automatic TikTok use and daytime fatigue. We also investigated how individual preferences for sensation seeking and delayed gratification moderated this relationship. Within a sample of 1,050 TikTok/Douyin users in China, automatic TikTok use was associated with increased daytime fatigue that was mediated by higher levels of cognitive arousal before sleep. This relationship was aggravated by a preference for sensation seeking, and attenuated by a preference for delayed gratification. Above and beyond these early empirical insights, we also provide an early explanatory framework that is meant to systematize both existing and future knowledge about the use of TikTok.

Lifestyle and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Delayed Gratification

This paper considers the impact of two measures of lifestyle—the consumption of fruit and vegetables and doing exercise—on individual well-being. Since lifestyle is likely to be endogenous, we correct for this by using two dimensions of delayed gratification as instruments. The ability to delay gratification enables individuals to give greater weight to the investment component of lifestyle decisions rather than merely the affective component. Our analysis is based on the UK Understanding Society Data, which covers 40,000 UK households over time. We find that the two delayed gratification instruments are positive and significant in influencing lifestyle. In Stage 2, we find that fruit and vegetable consumption and sports activity increase life satisfaction, though the impacts vary for men and women. These results are robust across income quartiles, region, gender, education and age groups.