Demand characteristics in episodic future thinking II: The role of cues and cue content in changing delay discounting.

ABSTRACT: Episodic future thinking (EFT), or imagining experiencing one's future, reduces discounting of future rewards, but the mechanisms of this effect are unclear. We examined the role of cues to engage in EFT, possible demand characteristics inherent to those cues (prompting awareness of the hypothesized effects of EFT), and changes in temporal horizon (how far one thinks into the future) in these reductions in delay discounting. In Experiment 1, cues prompting participants to engage in EFT during the discounting task were presented or withheld: EFT decreased discounting only when cues were present. In a time-perspective task in which cues were not presented, EFT did not broaden temporal horizon; however, episodic recent thinking (the putative control activity) shortened temporal horizons. In E

SUBMITTER: Rung JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6800018 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature