[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14246]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING DR. YUICHI SHODA, DR. WALTER MISCHEL, AND DR. PHILIP PEAKE

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, basic research is a building block of 
American innovation. Without it, profound breakthroughs in science, 
medicine, technology and other fields would simply not happen.
  In Washington State, we know investments in basic scientific research 
are a key ingredient to the future of our information economy--from 
aerospace and agriculture to technology and health care, and across all 
sectors of our economy.
  It is in that spirit that, today, I recognize my constituent Dr. 
Yuichi Shoda of the University of Washington and his colleagues, Dr. 
Walter Mischel and Dr. Philip Peake, for their receipt of a Golden 
Goose Award for federally funded research.
  The Golden Goose Award recognizes the immense benefits of federally 
funded research to human knowledge and our economy by shining a 
spotlight on obscure studies that resulted in significant impacts to 
our society and major breakthroughs.
  Dr. Shoda and his colleagues are being honored for their seminal 
longitudinal research project that has become known as ``the 
marshmallow study.'' This study, funded by the National Institutes of 
Health, began in the 1960s. The study presented children aged 4-to-5-
years-old with a choice between a single marshmallow they could eat 
immediately or the promise of two marshmallows for which they would 
have to wait.
  Dr. Shoda and his team discovered a significant correlation between 
how long children were able to wait for the treat and social and 
academic traits as they became adults. Their discoveries have led to 
significant advances in the way we understand the human behaviors and 
the neuroscience behind self-control and delayed gratification. 
Already, educators are using Dr. Shoda's research to teach children 
positive habits at an early age. The implications of this research, 
from education to retirement and health, are vast.
  As Dr. Shoda's project demonstrates, federally funded scientific 
research builds the foundation upon which new ideas are developed. Dr. 
Shoda's research also provides an example for why Congress must make 
robust and strategic investments in basic research across a variety of 
fields.
  I congratulate Dr. Yuichi Shoda and his team for the marshmallow 
study and wish them a bright future as they continue unlocking new 
knowledge.

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