Feasibility of Shaping Tolerance for Delayed Rewards in Impulsive 3-6 Year Olds
University of California, Davis
Summary
Deficits in self-control are of major public health relevance as they contribute to several negative outcomes for both individuals and society. For children, developing self-control is a critically important step toward success in academic settings and social relationships, yet there are few non-pharmacological approaches that have been successful in increasing self-control. We found in our earlier studies that self-control can be increased in preschool-aged children with high impulsivity by using games in which they practice gradually increasing wait-time for larger, more delayed rewards. We are performing this current study to test if this training to increase self-control can be increased using mobile app technology, with computerized game time being used as a reward.
Description
Problems with self-control are of major public health relevance as they are associated with substance abuse, suicide attempts, lower academic functioning, poor financial planning, and physical and mental health issues that impact both individuals and society. The ability to obtain immediate rewards in our daily lives is increasing due to technological advances from on-line games to Amazon deliveries within 1 hour after placing an order. There are fewer opportunities for children to learn how to wait. For children, developing self-control is a critically important step toward success in academi…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 3–6 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Age 3-6 years * Hyperactivity/Impulsivity subscale scores of the ADHD Rating Scale-IV Preschool Version (children 3 to 4 years of age) or the Attention and Behavior Scale (children 5 to 6 years of age) ≥ 90th percentile from either the parent or teacher's responses * Physically and visually able to use the tablet, as determined by pre-assessment performance * Children taking psychotropic medication will be included, but must maintain the same medication and dose over the course of the study and for each assessment and exhibit elevated levels of impulsivity based on paren…
Interventions
- BehavioralShaping Delay Tolerance
Participants will be introduced to an adaptive tablet-based application that asks the child to choose between two options: 1) a shorter duration of game play that begins immediately, or 2) a longer duration of game play that begins after a delay. Depending on the child's choices, the application alters the pre-reward delay with the intent of training the child to tolerate longer delays for larger rewards (i.e., more game play). Children may participate in up to 25 approximately 30-minute training sessions over 3-6 weeks.
Location
- UC Davis MIND InstituteSacramento, California