Marshmellow Test

[Reverse Transcriptase]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/a...d_yield_vital_lessons_in_self_control/?page=1

I read this article, and couldn't help but notice something. The anterior prefrontal cortex is where most of the activity for delaying gratification lies. Depending on the hemisphere the prefrontal cortex houses Thinking of iNtuition. It'd be nice to know if there was any tendency to prefer one hemisphere over the other... but the article didn't elaborate on that.

I went and found the research article. (My university has online access to a ton of journals. It's great. )

The images in (a) illustrate the location of brain regions in which neural activity during the 3-back working memory (WM) task correlated significantly with performance on that task (shaded in red), p < .001, uncorrected (cluster extent threshold ≥ 15 voxels). The left anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) region of interest is circled. The label "R" indicates the right hemisphere.

Turns out that it's in the Thinking area. Kind of makes sense, doesn't it? Especially because Thinking is also action-based, so the thinking would help keep the child still. I thought that iNtuition would have possibly been involved because of the child imaging the time when they would get both treats... but apparently that is not the case.

The guy doing the test has kept track of his kids...

The longer the child can hold back, the better the outlook in later life for everything from SAT scores to social skills to academic achievement, according to classic work by Columbia University psychologist Walter Mischel, who has followed his test subjects from preschool in the late 1960s into their 40s now.

I'm not sure about the "Social skills" part, but the rest seems indicative of a group of people with Thinking as their primary or secondary cognitive function.

It's a slim link... but it's also the best that we have at the moment. This article just came out in September 2008!

The article also uses the word "Neuro-economists". LOL, I wonder what the difference is between a neuro-economist and a psychologist. (That sounds like the start of a joke... anyone got a punchline?)

 

[Jesin]

What about these two possibilities:
"I don't like marshmellows."
"I decided I only wanted 1."

 

[Cabbo Pearimo]

The neuro-economist charges double.

 

[flow]

Something bizarrely coincidential..I read this post and then went to my psych. of personality class, only to be discussing this exact test.

 

[Vrecknidj]

It's not coincidence.



Dave