Following up on the "marshmallow test"

Those of you who "reluctantly" finished off the leftover Halloween treats may find this interesting.

It is a simple test, but has surprising power to predict a child's future. A 4-year-old is left sitting at a table with a marshmallow or other treat on it and given a challenge: Wait to eat it until a grown-up comes back into the room, and you'll get two. If you can't wait that long, you'll get just one.

Some children can wait less than a minute, others last the full 20 minutes. The longer the child can hold back, the better the outlook in later life for everything from SAT scores to social skills to academic achievement…

From church sermons to parenting manuals, "the marshmallow test" has entered popular culture as a potent lesson on the rewards of self-control.

Most recently, Yale University researchers found that delaying gratification involves an area of the brain, the anterior prefrontal cortex, that is known to be involved in abstract problem-solving and keeping track of goals…

In the coming months, researchers plan to perform brain scans on 40 of the original subjects of Mischel's marshmallow test… If brain differences are found between good and poor delayers, he said, they could suggest effective avenues for training.