Development, Attention, and Inhibition Study

NCT ID: NCT06605001

Last Updated: 2025-10-16

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 200 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-08-21
• Study Completion Date: 2026-03-01

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

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.

Conditions

Delaying

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Delay of Gratification - Treat

Reward presented is a sweet treat.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Delay of Gratification

Intervention Type: OTHER

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

Delay of Gratification - Gift

Reward presented is a wrapped gift.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Delay of Gratification

Intervention Type: OTHER

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

Interventions

Delay of Gratification

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

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

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

• Minimum Eligible Age: 4 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 7 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of California, Davis

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Center for Mind and Brain

Davis, California, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Adrien Ward, B.A.

Role: CONTACT

ciclm@ucdavis.edu

(530)754-4562

Rachel Foster, B.S.

Role: CONTACT

refoster@ucdavis.edu

Facility Contacts

Lab Manager

Role: primary

ciclm@ucdavis.edu

530-754-4562

Other Identifiers

R01HD086184

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

1518244

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id