Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Volume 5, Issue 12, 1 December 2001, Pages 533-539
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Review
Episodic future thinking

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Abstract

Thinking about the future is an integral component of human cognition – one that has been claimed to distinguish us from other species. Building on the construct of episodic memory, we introduce the concept of ‘episodic future thinking’: a projection of the self into the future to pre-experience an event. We argue that episodic future thinking has explanatory value when considering recent work in many areas of psychology: cognitive, social and personality, developmental, clinical and neuropsychology. Episodic future thinking can serve as a unifying concept, connecting aspects of diverse research findings and identifying key questions requiring further reflection and study.

Section snippets

Characterizing episodic future thinking

Our definition of episodic future thinking is strongly influenced by, and indeed builds upon, Tulving's most recent characterization of episodic memory2. Inherent to this characterization is autonoetic consciousness, which Tulving defines as ‘the kind of consciousness that mediates an individual's awareness of his or her existence and identity in subjective time extending from the personal past through the present to the personal future’ (Ref. 3, p. 1). According to Tulving, it is the

Prospective memory

Prospective memory is defined as how we remember to engage in an intended action at a specific point in the future (e.g. remembering to give a friend a message when we see her)6. However, it has been characterized as ‘more than just memory’7 and as ‘intimately related to human planning and future-oriented behaviours’ (Ref. 8, p. S132). Kliegel et al.9 have conceptualized prospective memory as involving three distinct processes: (1) developing a plan, (2) remembering the plan, and (3)

Future time perspective and future orientation

Although all healthy adults have the ability to think about the future, people appear to differ in their inclination, or orientation, to do so. Two questionnaires that have been developed to assess this potential individual difference factor are the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZPTI)20 and the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFC)21 (see Box 1). The 56-item ZPTI assesses a cognitive temporal ‘bias’ toward being past-, future- or present-oriented, whereas the 12-item CFC

Clinical psychology

In the realm of clinical psychology, greater attention to distinctions among different kinds of future thinking has provided a basis for distinguishing between anxiety and depression, and a more refined understanding of one hallmark feature of depression, namely, a negative outlook with respect to the future.

MacLeod and his colleagues have argued that positive and negative cognitions concerning the future represent two separate dimensions of experience and they assess these separate domains via

Neuropsychology

Is it possible to lose the ability to engage in episodic future thinking, whilst retaining semantic knowledge about the future? In at least four intriguing case studies, a patient has been reported to have lost the ability to plan for their personal future, although having retained semantic knowledge about the future (see Table 1). (Note that other case studies and cases of frontal lobe impairment might also be relevant33, 34, 35, but these studies do not present evidence to allow us to

Development of episodic future thinking

By the third year of life, both children's talk and various aspects of their behaviour (e.g. preparing for a future event) reflect an awareness of the future40, 41, 42, 43. By 3 years of age, children's talk also appears to include an understanding that the future is not simply a recapitulation of the past, but is, by nature, uncertain44. In examining children's use of modal terms such as ‘maybe’ and ‘probably’ to indicate uncertainty, we found that, between the ages of 2 yrs and 2 yrs 11

Conclusion

Episodic future thinking, as we have defined it, refers to an ability to project the self forward in time to pre-experience an event. It may be a distinguishing feature of our species (see Box 2). We have argued that episodic future thinking can hold explanatory value when considering recent work on such diverse topics as prospective memory, the planning fallacy, goal pursuit, and depression and anxiety.

Neuropsychological evidence suggests that the frontal lobes constitute an important part of

Questions for future research

  • Clearer terminological distinctions are needed to differentiate between closely related concepts pertaining to future thinking, such as projecting, planning, anticipating, envisaging, simulating, imagining, fantasizing, supposing and hypothesizing. For example, what kind of future thinking best describes what a computer programmed to play chess is doing?

  • Although a future orientation is generally considered to be adaptive, might there be negative consequences associated with an excessive focus

Acknowledgements

This work represents the equal contribution of both authors. It was supported by a doctoral grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship to C.M.A. while at the University of Waterloo, and also by an Operating Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to D.K.O.

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