Saving for the future self: neural measures of future self-continuity predict temporal discounting.

ABSTRACT: Despite increases in the human life span, people have not increased their rate of saving. In a phenomenon known as 'temporal discounting', people value immediate gains over future gains. According to a future self-continuity hypothesis, individuals perceive and treat the future self differently from the present self, and so might fail to save for their future. Neuroimaging offers a novel means of testing this hypothesis, since previous research indicates that self- vs other-judgments elicit activation in the rostral anterior cingulate (rACC). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we predicted and found not only individual differences in rACC activation while rating the current vs future self, but also that individual differences in current vs future self activation pre

SUBMITTER: Ersner-Hershfield H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2656877 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature