A psychologist who found he could predict children’s prospects by testing whether they could resist eating a marshmallow is to scan their brains to find the neurological roots of temptation.
The “marshmallow test”, one of the world’s simplest and most successful behavioural experiments, was developed by Professor Walter Mischel.
He proved conclusively that the longer a four-year-old child was able to wait before taking a sweet, the better were his or her chances of a happy and successful life....