Episodic Future Thinking: Mechanisms and Functions

Abstract

Episodic future thinking refers to the capacity to imagine or simulate experiences that might occur in one's personal future. Cognitive, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging research concerning episodic future thinking has accelerated during recent years. This article discusses research that has delineated cognitive and neural mechanisms that support episodic future thinking as well as the functions that episodic future thinking serves. Studies focused on mechanisms have identified a core brain network that underlies episodic future thinking and have begun to tease apart the relative contributions of particular regions in this network, and the specific cognitive processes that they support. Studies concerned with functions have identified several domains in which episodic future thinking produces performance benefits, including decision making, emotion regulation, prospective memory, and spatial navigation.

Figure 1

Mean internal (A) and external (B) details generated as a function of induction and task (collapsed across young and older adults). Error bars represent one standard error. Reproduced from K.P. Madore, B. Gaesser, & D.L. Schacter, “Constructive episodic simulation: Dissociable effects of a specificity induction on remembering, imagining, and describing.” J Exp Psychol: Learn Mem Cognit, 40, 609–622. Published by American Psychological Association, reprinted with permission.

Figure 2. Mechanisms and functions of episodic future thinking

Middle panel. Episodic future thinking is the capacity to imagine or simulate specific events that may take place in the personal future. Left Panel. The capacity to simulate events is supported by cognitive mechanisms that involve extracting elements of past experiences (e.g., familiar people, places, and objects) and using that information to form novel mental representations that are projected into the future. A core network of brain regions that include medial and lateral aspects of the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes enable this ability to extract past experience in the service of simulating the future. The core network largely falls within the brain’s default network (dark borders) [Taken from Benoit, R.G., Schacter, D.L. (2015, p. 454) Specifying the core network supporting episodic simulation and episodic memory by activation likelihood estimation. Neuropsychologia, 75, 450–457]. L = left. R = right. Right Panel. Simulation of future events has been shown to support a variety of adaptive behaviors. Far-sighted decision making. Imagining desired health outcomes (e.g., healthy weight) facilitates the ability to make decisions that support those outcomes (e.g., choosing healthy over unhealthy snacks; –73). Emotion regulation. Imagining possible positive outcomes related to a worrisome event reduces anxiety about that event (85). Prospective memory. Simulating an upcoming intention (e.g., picking up bread on the way home from work) makes it more likely that the intention will be remembered and carried out (–91). Spatial navigation. Simulating traveling along a particular route can support planning and navigational goals (–107).