Percentage of time distracting visual attention away from the reward predicts success on delay-of-gratification tasks in two- and three-year-olds¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? In two- and three-year-olds, a higher percentage of time spent distracting visual attention away from the reward predicts passing snack and gift delay tasks. → Mulder 2019

Evidence¶

Mulder 2019¶

Mulder, H., van Ravenswaaij, H., Verhagen, J., Moerbeek, M., & Leseman, P. P. M. (2019). The process of early self-control: an observational study in two- and three-year-olds. Metacognition and Learning, 14, 239–264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-019-09199-3

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Logistic regression analyses (bootstrapped, 1000 resamples) with age as covariate entered percentage of time each behaviour occurred as predictors of pass/fail on snack and gift delay tasks. Visual attention distraction was significant for both tasks (snack: OR = .93; gift: OR = .96), described as "predictive of task success for snack and gift delay".

"the percentage of time children spent distracting visual attention away from the object and withholding with the hands were predictive of task success for snack and gift delay, while hands and body distracting behaviours were not."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Older two- and three-year-olds have lower odds of failing delay-of-gratification tasks
• Teacher-rated, but not parent-rated, self-control relates to the occurrence and timing of delay behaviours in toddlers
• Probability of visual attention distraction, alone or combined with hands withholding, prevails after about 10–30 seconds of delay
• Self-distraction and avoidance behaviours occur in nearly all successful toddlers but in a minority of unsuccessful ones
• Actively withholding the hands from the reward predicts success on delay-of-gratification tasks in two- and three-year-olds
• Successful two- and three-year-olds initiate distraction and withholding behaviours very early, within the first 10 seconds of delay on average
• Children's wait-times on sustained delay-of-gratification tasks reflect beliefs about environmental reliability in addition to self-control capacity — related