Development, Attention, and Inhibition Study

NCT06605001 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 1518244R01HD086184
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 200
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

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

Conditions

The Ability to Delay Gratification

Keywords

Delay of Gratification; Waiting; Habits; Academic Outcomes

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (8)

• 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 Outcomes (5)

• Pupil dilation during delayed choice

  Immediately after and 1 year after intervention

• Behavior while delaying

  During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention

• Subjective Effort

  During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention

• Proactive Control

  During initial and 1 year follow-up intervention

• Child Temperment

  Pre-intervention and 1 year after intervention

Study Arms (2)

Delay of Gratification - Treat

EXPERIMENTAL

Reward presented is a sweet treat.

Other: Delay of Gratification

Delay of Gratification - Gift

EXPERIMENTAL

Reward presented is a wrapped gift.

Other: Delay of Gratification

Interventions

Delay of Gratification OTHER

Children will complete a delay of gratification task with 1 of 2 rewards

Delay of Gratification - Gift; Delay of Gratification - Treat

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 4 Years - 7 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

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

Contact the study team to discuss eligibility requirements. They can help determine if this study is right for you.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Davis: lead
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Center for Mind and Brain

Davis, California, 95618, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Habits

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Rachel Foster, B.S.

  University of California, Davis

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Central Study Contacts

Rachel Foster, B.S.

CONTACT

+1 530 754 4551; refoster@ucdavis.edu

Yuko Munakata, PhD

CONTACT

ymunakata@ucdavis.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 10, 2024
• First Posted: September 20, 2024
• Study Start: August 21, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Last Updated: April 15, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Locations

US (1)