Selective Effects of Focusing on Spatial Details in Episodic Future Thinking for Self-Relevant Positive Events

A range of psychiatric disorders are characterised by impairments in episodic future thinking (EFT), and particularly simulating specific, spatiotemporally-located future events. To date, no study has examined whether training can lead to sustained improvement in the specificity of EFT. In this study, participants (N=60; M age=31, SD=13.2) were randomized to a two-session, group-based program on future thinking (Future Specificity Training; FeST) or wait-list. At follow-up the training group, relative to the wait-list group, showed large, statistically-significant improvements in the ability to mentally simulate specific EFT (d=.82), as well as increases in detail (d=1.32), use of mental imagery (d=1.32), anticipated (d=1.78) and anticipatory pleasure (d=1.07), perceived control (d=1.20), and likelihood of occurrence (d=1.09). Some effects were also observed on positive, generalised future self-states. This study provides the first evidence that EFT specificity can be enhanced, and the effects of FeST on other variables indicate a possible avenue to disrupt psychopathological processes.

Download Full-text

Increasing Anticipatory Pleasure in Major Depression through Enhancing Episodic Future Thinking: A Randomized Single-Case Series Trial

10.31234/osf.io/9uy42 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

David John Hallford ◽

Manoj Kumar Sharma ◽

David W. Austin

Keyword(s):

Major Depressive Disorder ◽

Major Depression ◽

Mental Imagery ◽

Single Case ◽

Case Series ◽

Episodic Future Thinking ◽

Future Thinking ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Positive Events ◽

Series Design

Depressed individuals have difficulty anticipating pleasure, which can impact motivation and functioning. One factor in this may be impairments in their episodic future thinking (EFT). This study examined whether enhancing EFT through increasing detail/vividness and mental imagery would increase anticipatory pleasure among individuals with Major Depressive Disorder. A randomized start-point, single case series design was used. Depressed outpatients (N = 7) completed surveys through the day over two weeks to nominate upcoming positive events and rate them on EFT detail/vividness, mental imagery, and anticipatory pleasure. At a randomized start-point, activities to enhance the detail/vividness and mental imagery for these upcoming events were introduced. Significant increases in detail and imagery were observed when EFT activities were introduced, which correlated with increases in how pleasurable it was thought the activities would be and how pleasurable it was thinking about them. Enhancing EFT may be a mechanism to increase anticipatory pleasure in depression. Implications for treatment are discussed.

Download Full-text

The effect of episodic future thinking on delay discounting

10.26686/wgtn.17145569.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Rebecca Olsen

Keyword(s):

Delay Discounting ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Age Groups ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Episodic Future Thinking ◽

Future Thinking ◽

Design Studies ◽

Indifference Points ◽

Future Events ◽

Participant Characteristics

<p>Delay discounting refers to the fact that rewards lose their value if they are delayed. Excessive delay discounting is associated with various health-related problems such as over-eating and substance abuse. One phenomenon shown to reduce delay discounting is Episodic Future Thinking (EFT; imagining personal future events). Across multiple experiments and a meta-analysis, the current thesis examined the reliability of the effect of EFT on delay discounting and also sought to clarify the components of EFT that are necessary to reduce delay discounting. Experiment 1 replicated the EFT effect using a common titrating-amount procedure, and the meta-analysis based on 40 independent studies confirmed that EFT has a reliable, medium-sized effect on delay discounting. The meta-analysis also assessed the robustness of the EFT effect across various methodological features and participant characteristics. A multiple meta-regression revealed that the between-study variability in the size of the EFT effect was accounted for by study design and type of discounting measure. Within-subjects design studies had significantly smaller effect sizes than between-subjects design studies. Studies that used k as a discounting rate measure had significantly smaller effect sizes than studies that used area under the discounting curve or other atheoretical discounting measures. The size of the EFT effect was robust across different participant characteristics and ages, suggesting that EFT may be utilized as an effective intervention for a variety of age groups and impulsive behaviors. Experiments 2A, 2B and 2C assessed the suitability of an alternative and briefer delay discounting procedure (in which participants simply report their indifference points) for subsequent EFT experiments. The report indifference points procedure produced a high percentage of invalid data, a finding that was replicated across all three experiments. We therefore continued to use the well-established titrating-amount procedure in subsequent studies. Experiment 3A found that episodic past thinking (imagining personal past events) and semantic future thinking (estimating what a person could buy with the larger, delayed amount) had no effect on discounting, indicating that both episodic thinking and future thinking are necessary components of the EFT effect. Experiment 3A results also indicated that financial relevance alone is not sufficient to reducing discounting. Experiment 3B found that the future events also need to be personally relevant to reduce discounting, and that participants perceived EFT to reduce their discounting by primarily making the larger, delayed reward more valuable. We also showed that demand characteristics, where participants change their behavior to conform to the researcher’s expectations, are an unlikely explanation for the EFT effects found in Experiments 3A and 3B. Further research is warranted to form a better understanding of the mechanism(s) through which EFT reduces delay discounting.</p>

Download Full-text

The effect of episodic future thinking on delay discounting

10.26686/wgtn.17145569 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Rebecca Olsen

Keyword(s):

Delay Discounting ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Age Groups ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Episodic Future Thinking ◽

Future Thinking ◽

Design Studies ◽

Indifference Points ◽

Future Events ◽

Participant Characteristics

<p>Delay discounting refers to the fact that rewards lose their value if they are delayed. Excessive delay discounting is associated with various health-related problems such as over-eating and substance abuse. One phenomenon shown to reduce delay discounting is Episodic Future Thinking (EFT; imagining personal future events). Across multiple experiments and a meta-analysis, the current thesis examined the reliability of the effect of EFT on delay discounting and also sought to clarify the components of EFT that are necessary to reduce delay discounting. Experiment 1 replicated the EFT effect using a common titrating-amount procedure, and the meta-analysis based on 40 independent studies confirmed that EFT has a reliable, medium-sized effect on delay discounting. The meta-analysis also assessed the robustness of the EFT effect across various methodological features and participant characteristics. A multiple meta-regression revealed that the between-study variability in the size of the EFT effect was accounted for by study design and type of discounting measure. Within-subjects design studies had significantly smaller effect sizes than between-subjects design studies. Studies that used k as a discounting rate measure had significantly smaller effect sizes than studies that used area under the discounting curve or other atheoretical discounting measures. The size of the EFT effect was robust across different participant characteristics and ages, suggesting that EFT may be utilized as an effective intervention for a variety of age groups and impulsive behaviors. Experiments 2A, 2B and 2C assessed the suitability of an alternative and briefer delay discounting procedure (in which participants simply report their indifference points) for subsequent EFT experiments. The report indifference points procedure produced a high percentage of invalid data, a finding that was replicated across all three experiments. We therefore continued to use the well-established titrating-amount procedure in subsequent studies. Experiment 3A found that episodic past thinking (imagining personal past events) and semantic future thinking (estimating what a person could buy with the larger, delayed amount) had no effect on discounting, indicating that both episodic thinking and future thinking are necessary components of the EFT effect. Experiment 3A results also indicated that financial relevance alone is not sufficient to reducing discounting. Experiment 3B found that the future events also need to be personally relevant to reduce discounting, and that participants perceived EFT to reduce their discounting by primarily making the larger, delayed reward more valuable. We also showed that demand characteristics, where participants change their behavior to conform to the researcher’s expectations, are an unlikely explanation for the EFT effects found in Experiments 3A and 3B. Further research is warranted to form a better understanding of the mechanism(s) through which EFT reduces delay discounting.</p>

Download Full-text

Manipulating the Valence of Future Thought: The Effect on Affect

Psychological Reports ◽

10.1177/0033294119900346 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 003329411990034

Author(s):

Janie Busby Grant ◽

Neil Wilson

Keyword(s):

Positive Affect ◽

Causal Effect ◽

Well Being ◽

Negative Events ◽

Episodic Future Thinking ◽

Future Thinking ◽

Ongoing Debate ◽

Online Study ◽

Future Events ◽

Future Thought

Imagining personal future events is associated with well-being, but the nature and direction of this relationship are unclear. This study investigated whether imagining episodic future scenarios, experimentally manipulated for valence, have an immediate impact on affect. University students ( N = 197) completed a 2 × 3 between-subject online study in which they imagined four personal events likely to occur in the future. Participants were directed to imagine positive or negative events or were undirected as to valence to additionally assess the valence and effect of self-directed imagined scenarios. Participants in all three conditions reported a change in positive affect immediately after the task, with both positive and nondirected thinking improving positive affect and negative future thoughts reducing it. However, negative affect only shifted in response to negative future thinking but not the other conditions. These findings demonstrate that there is an immediate causal effect of episodic future thinking on affect but only in specific directions and that this differs from the patterns shown in longer term measurements. The findings also suggest when self-directed that imagined future thoughts tend to mirror the valence and causal effect of positively induced thoughts. This study has implications for the ongoing debate around future thinking and well-being.

Download Full-text

The remembering–imagining system

Memory Studies ◽

10.1177/1750698016645231 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 256-265 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Martin A Conway ◽

Catherine Loveday ◽

Scott N Cole

Keyword(s):

Brain Damage ◽

Episodic Future Thinking ◽

Recent Past ◽

Future Thinking ◽

The Future ◽

Future Events ◽

Episodic Memories ◽

Images Of The Future ◽

Near Future

Remembering and imagining are intricately related, particularly in imagining the future: episodic future thinking. It is proposed that remembering the recent past and imagining the near future take place in what we term the remembering–imagining system. The remembering–imagining system renders recently formed episodic memories and episodic imagined near-future events highly accessible. We suggest that this serves the purpose of integrating past, current, and future goal-related activities. When the remembering–imagining system is compromised, following brain damage and in psychological illnesses, the future cannot be effectively imagined and episodic future thinking may become dominated by dysfunctional images of the future.

Download Full-text

Using Episodic Future Thinking to Pre-Experience Climate Change Increases Pro-Environmental Behavior

Environment and Behavior ◽

10.1177/0013916518790590 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 52 (1) ◽

pp. 60-81 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Pei-Shan Lee ◽

Yu-Hsien Sung ◽

Chia-Chun Wu ◽

Liang-Chu Ho ◽

Wen-Bin Chiou

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Perceived Risk ◽

Risk Perceptions ◽

Environmental Behavior ◽

Willingness To Participate ◽

Episodic Future Thinking ◽

Future Thinking ◽

Conditioning Experiment ◽

Related Risk ◽

Future Events

Research has found that many people view climate change as a psychologically distant, future threat, which leads them to be less motivated to engage in pro-environmental behavior. Engaging in episodic future thinking (EFT; projecting the self into the future to pre-experience future events) may facilitate the perception of future events as psychologically close, thereby increasing the perceived risk associated with those events. Therefore, engagement in EFT regarding climate change–related risks should induce higher risk perceptions and lead to acting pro-environmentally. In two experiments, we demonstrated that engaging in EFT to pre-experience climate change–related risk events was associated with a higher level of risk perception and a greater tendency toward pro-environmental behavior, including energy-saving use of air-conditioning (Experiment 1), willingness to participate in beach cleaning (Experiment 2), and choice of a meal with lower environmental impact (Experiment 2). The current research provides experimental evidence for an innovative approach to improving public engagement with climate change.

Download Full-text

Mix and Match: An Investigation into Whether Episodic Future Thinking Cues Need to Match Discounting Delays in Order to Be Effective

Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.3390/bs9010001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Sara O’Donnell ◽

Kelseanna Hollis-Hansen ◽

Leonard Epstein

Keyword(s):

Delay Discounting ◽

Time Delays ◽

Episodic Future Thinking ◽

Future Thinking ◽

Future Event ◽

Short Term ◽

Temporal Perspective ◽

Future Events ◽

Mix And Match

Episodic future thinking (EFT), or prospectively imagining yourself in the future, has been developed into an intervention tool to reduce delay discounting (DD), or the preference for smaller immediate over larger future rewards, and to make healthier choices that promote long-term health rather than short-term enjoyment. Most EFT interventions use EFT cues whose future events match the time delays of the DD task, which may limit the utility of EFT. The current study (N = 160, Mage = 35.25, 47.5% female) used a 2 × 2 factorial design with type of episodic thinking (matched, unmatched) and temporal perspective (EFT, episodic recent thinking (ERT)) as between-subject factors to investigate whether there were differences in DD for groups that had EFT cues matched to the time delays of the DD task in comparison to cues with unmatched temporal delays. The results showed EFT reduced DD compared to ERT controls, and no differences emerged between matched and unmatched EFT groups. Our findings suggest that either the process of generating EFT cues or the use of any positive and vivid future event, regardless of whether it is matched to the DD task, can reduce DD.

Download Full-text