Development, Attention, and Inhibition Study (DAISY)

Delay of Gratification: Life Habits of Delaying and Cascading Effects on Life Outcomes

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the associations of young children's early life experiences with delaying behaviors and links with later life outcomes. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Do experiences with waiting in early childhood predict delaying behavior in context-specific ways?
• Are links between delaying behavior and life outcomes impacted by social conventions, effort and choices around delaying, or other behaviors?

Participants will:

• Complete two delaying tasks with either a sweet or wrapped gift
• Complete three "Simon says"-like games that measure inhibition, cognitive flexibility and proactive control
• Answer a set of questions about academic readiness
• Answer a set of questions about social conventions
• Complete a waiting game on the computer while a camera records eye movements
• Parents will answer questions about their child's behaviors and experiences at home
• Participants will return after 1 year to repeat a subset of these measures

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: The Ability to Delay Gratification
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Delay of Gratification

Detailed Description

In sessions 1 and 2, 4-6-year-olds will complete a delay of gratification task (randomly assigned to one of two groups, to delay with either a sweet or a wrapped gift), the NASA Load Index to report perceived demand and effort for the delay of gratification task, a computerized delay choice measure (while pupillometric data is collected), a Go/No-Go task, the NIH Toolbox Dimensional Change Card Sort, a Track-It task, a task measuring sensitivity to social conventions, and Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement. Parents will complete the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL), the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), the REEF executive function questionnaire, and questionnaires about demographics and children's experiences waiting at mealtimes, when opening gifts, and in other contexts.

In session 3 (1 year after sessions 1 and 2), participants and parents will repeat the measures from sessions 1 and 2.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 200
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Rachel Foster, B.S.; Phone Number: +1 530 754 4551; Email: refoster@ucdavis.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Yuko Munakata, PhD; Email: ymunakata@ucdavis.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Davis, California, United States, 95618
      • Recruiting
      • Center for Mind and Brain
      • Contact: Lab Manager; Phone Number: 530-754-4562; Email: ciclm@ucdavis.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Yuko Munakata, Ph.D.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Typically developing children will be recruited. Participants will be pre-screened for developmental disorders.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Delay of Gratification - Treat; Reward presented is a sweet treat.	Other: Delay of Gratification; Children will complete a delay of gratification task with 1 of 2 rewards
Experimental: Delay of Gratification - Gift; Reward presented is a wrapped gift.	Other: Delay of Gratification; Children will complete a delay of gratification task with 1 of 2 rewards

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Choice Delay	Pattern of waiting behavior represented by area under the curve (AUC) for wait times.	Immediately after and 1 year after intervention
Executive Functions	Composite scores from the REEF, a questionnaire measuring executive functioning.	Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention
Social Conventions	Social task measuring adherence to social conventions.	Immediately after and 1 year after intervention
Academic Readiness	Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement: Letter-Word Identification and Applied Problems standardized scores.	Immediately after and 1 year after intervention
Inhibitory Control (Go/No-Go)	Accuracy (No-Go trials) during the Go/No-Go inhibitory control task.	Immediately after and 1 year after intervention
Experiences Waiting at Home	Composite score from a questionnaire developed for this study, measuring experiences with waiting.	Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention
Cognitive Flexibility (DCCS)	Accuracy (perseveration errors) during the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task.	Immediately after intervention and 1 year after intervention
Problem Behaviors	Composite and sub-scale scores from CBCL, a questionnaire measuring children's problem behaviors.	Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pupil dilation during delayed choice	Pupil dilation while waiting for expected reward, or skipping for a new trial.	Immediately after and 1 year after intervention
Behavior while delaying	Video coding of targeted behaviors (i.e., anticipatory behavior) during delay of gratification.	During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention
Subjective Effort	Self-reported demand and effort during the delay of gratification task on the NASA Task Load index.	During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention
Proactive Control	Accuracy during the Track-It proactive control task.	During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention
Child Temperment	Composite score from the CBQ, a questionnaire measuring child temperament.	Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, Davis
• Collaborators: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Investigators: Study Director: Rachel Foster, B.S., University of California, Davis

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 21, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 10, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 17, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): September 20, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 15, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 10, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Habits; Delay of Gratification; Waiting; Academic Outcomes
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Habits
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1518244; R01HD086184 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No