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Cited by 785Memory Processes and InfluencesCognitive Functions and MemoryIdentity, Memory, and Therapy

Episodic Future Thinking: Mechanisms and Functions

Open access
Schacter, Daniel L, Benoit, Roland G, Szpunar, Karl K·2017·Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
DOI 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.06.002PMC PMC5675579
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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.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.06.002

Cites

109 of 109 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Claims the paper makes

77 of 142 cited sources checked · 60 supported · 1 flagged · accuracy not yet measured

  • Premisecitation

    The ESI results were replicated in a subsequent experiment using different cues and procedures.

    “These results were replicated in a subsequent experiment using different cues and procedures (97)”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim1 of 1 sources checked
  • Premisecitation

    Older adults produce fewer internal/episodic details and more external/semantic details than young adults for both remembered past events and imagined future events on the Autobiographical Interview.

    “older adults produce fewer internal/episodic details and more external/semantic details for both remembered past events and imagined future events”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim3 of 7 sources checked
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  • Premisecitation

    Flexible retrieval and recombination processes are directly linked with source memory errors that arise from mixing up elements of related episodes.

    “directly links flexible retrieval/recombination processes with source memory errors that result from mixing up elements of related episodes (13; see also, 14).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim1 of 1 sources checked
  • Premisecitation

    Effects of ESI have been extended to other tasks that draw on episodic retrieval and simulation, including social problem solving and divergent creative thinking.

    “effects of ESI have also been extended to other tasks that draw on episodic retrieval and simulation, including social problem solving and divergent creative thinking (for discussion, see 38).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim1 of 1 sources checked
  • Premisecitation

    That study also found aging effects on memory and imagination beyond picture description performance.

    “Although this study also revealed effects of aging on memory and imagination above-and-beyond picture description performance”
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    Premisecitation

    There was a higher compression rate after a slow vs. a fast encoding condition, but no difference between a medium and slow encoding condition.

    “there was a higher compression rate after a slow vs. a fast encoding condition (but no difference between a medium and slow encoding condition, perhaps because an optimal compression rate had already been achieved in the medium encoding condition).”
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      The Results report higher temporal compression in the slow than the fast condition, but they also report a significant difference between the slow and medium conditions (p < 0.001). It was the medium and fast conditions that did not differ in compression rate (p = 0.54). The separate finding of no slow–medium difference concerns simulation time, not compression rate. (LLM, conf=0.95)

      Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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    Premisecitation

    Flexible retrieval and recombination, although useful for constructing episodic simulations, can also produce memory errors such as source misattribution and false recognition by mistakenly combining elements of distinct past experiences.

    “flexible retrieval and recombination abilities, though adaptive for purposes of constructing episodic simulations, also may create memory errors that can result from mistakenly combining elements of distinct past experiences, such as source misattribution and false recognition.”
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    Premisecitation

    In a study using everyday scene pictures, older adults produced fewer internal but not external details on memory and imagination tasks, and showed the same pattern on a picture description task.

    “Older adults produced fewer internal but not external details on the memory and imagination tasks, replicating earlier results, but they also showed the same pattern on the picture description task.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 1 sources checked

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    Premisecitation

    Episodic memory enables future simulation by allowing flexible retrieval and recombination of past experience elements into novel representations of possible future events.

    “the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis (11), holds that episodic memory supports future simulation by allowing people to flexibly retrieve and recombine elements of past experiences into novel representations of events that might occur in the future.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 1 sources checked

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    Interpretationcitation

    The ventromedial prefrontal cortex contributes to both accessing schematic knowledge used in episodic simulations and signaling their affective value.

    “These studies suggest that the vmPFC contributes to both accessing schematic knowledge used in episodic simulations as well signaling their affective value (see Box 2).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim3 of 4 sources checked
    • cites [47] source

      The Results identify vmPFC as part of the network engaged during episodic simulation, and the Discussion says mPFC may process a simulated event’s anticipated affective quality and integrate knowledge about its elements. The Discussion does not specifically assign those functions to vmPFC or describe the knowledge as schematic or being accessed. The indexed passages provide no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.84)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
    • cites [98] source
    • cites [99] source
    • cites [100] source

      The Discussion (page unavailable) reports that mPFC activity tracked the subjective value of items in imagined scenarios, including a ventral mPFC effect at an uncorrected threshold. It mentions mPFC’s previously proposed role in incorporating information into existing knowledge structures, but does not establish that vmPFC accesses schematic knowledge for episodic simulations; the authors also say their mPFC result offers little support for a semantic-congruency interpretation. (LLM, conf=0.87)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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    Premisecitation

    The vmPFC has been implicated in memory and in the representation of value and affect.

    “The vmPFC has been implicated in various different functions, including memory but also the representation of value and affect (98).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 1 sources checked

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    Premisecitation

    Palombo et al. used a nearly identical manipulation characterized as high vs. low scene construction and reported extremely similar hippocampal results to Addis et al.

    “Palombo et al. (61) used a nearly identical manipulation that they characterized as high vs. low scene construction, and reported extremely similar hippocampal results to those of Addis et al. (57).”
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    • cites [61]

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

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    Premisecitation

    The vmPFC impairment in imagining is particularly pronounced when patients must imagine a broad scenario, while patients perform within the normal range when instructed to focus on a circumscribed moment within such a scenario.

    “This impairment seems to be particularly pronounced when patients have to imagine a broad scenario (e.g., hosting a dinner), because such patients have been shown to perform within the normal range of healthy controls when they are instructed to focus on a circumscribed moment within such a scenario (e.g., cutting vegetables; 25).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [25] source

      The Methods (§2.2) say participants described a specific moment within a larger event, and the Results (§3.3.1) report that patients with mPFC damage performed similarly to healthy comparisons on event-detail measures. The paper does not test those patients on broad-scenario narration against specific-moment narration, so it does not establish that their impairment is particularly pronounced for broad scenarios. (LLM, conf=0.86)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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    Premisecitation

    Other fMRI studies have linked hippocampal activity during imagining to scene construction, encoding of episodic simulations into long-term memory, and detail recombination.

    “Other fMRI studies have linked hippocampal activity during imagining to the process of scene construction (61–62), encoding of episodic simulations into long-term memory (63), and detail recombination (64).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim3 of 4 sources checked
    • cites [61]

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

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    Premisecitation

    During episodic simulation, activation in rostral and ventral mPFC signals the emergent affective value of an imagined episode, and this value signal is difficult to account for by the nominal values of the episode's individual elements.

    “Activation in rostral and ventral mPFC signals the emergent affective value of an imagined episode, and this value signal is difficult to account for by the nominal values of the individual elements that make up the episode (e.g., its location and present people or objects; 99–100).”
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      The fMRI Results (page unavailable) show that mPFC activity tracked an item’s subjective value in an imagined state of need after accounting for its everyday value. The Discussion (page unavailable) reports a ventral mPFC effect only at an uncorrected threshold. The paper supports context-dependent value for imagined items, but not the stronger claim that these regions signal the emergent affective value of an entire episode or that the value cannot be accounted for by the nominal values of all its elements. (LLM, conf=0.86)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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    Premisecitation

    Addis et al. manipulated whether participants imagined specific events or general/routine events and documented increased hippocampal activity in the specific condition.

    “Addis et al. (57) manipulated whether participants imagined specific events (e.g., proposing marriage) or general/routine events (e.g., commuting to a job), and documented increased hippocampal activity in the former condition compared with the latter.”
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    Interpretationreasoning

    The pattern suggests that the vmPFC supports access to schemata or conceptual knowledge of scenarios, which then fosters the ability to construct specific episodes.

    “the pattern suggests that the vmPFC supports access to schemata or conceptual knowledge of the respective scenarios that then foster the ability to construct specific episodes (101; see also 103).”
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    • cites [103] source

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    Interpretationcitation

    Questions about the precise role of the hippocampus in episodic future thinking continue to be debated, with evidence suggesting different hippocampal subregions make distinct contributions to particular subprocesses.

    “questions concerning the precise role of the hippocampus in episodic future thinking continue to be debated, with the evidence suggesting that different subregions of the hippocampus make distinct contributions to particular subprocesses that comprise episodic future thinking and related phenomena (59–60, 62).”
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      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

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    Premisecitation

    Some amnesic patients with hippocampal damage exhibit deficits when imagining future experiences, but not all studies reveal such deficits.

    “some amnesic patients with hippocampal damage also exhibit deficits when imagining future experiences (25–26), but not all studies reveal such deficits (28).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim3 of 3 sources checked

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    Premisecitation

    Initial results link the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus to simulations of negative future events and the orbitofrontal cortex to positive future events.

    “initial results linking the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus to simulations of negative future events and the orbitofrontal cortex to positive events (55).”
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    Interpretationcitation

    People particularly efficient at down-regulating their fears of the future by suppression were less trait-anxious, suggesting that suppression constitutes a natural coping mechanism.

    “People that were particularly efficient at down-regulating their fears of the future by suppression were also less trait-anxious, suggesting that suppression constitutes a natural coping mechanism.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 1 sources checked

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    Premisecitation

    When people simulate consuming a larger delayed reward, they become more patient and shift toward favoring the more farsighted choice.

    “when people simulate consuming the larger reward, they become more patient and shift to favoring this more farsighted choice (68–70).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 3 sources checked
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      The Results report that participants prompted to think about future events discounted delayed monetary rewards less, supporting the shift toward the larger, later choice. But the Methods describe imagining future events, not specifically simulating consumption of the larger reward; that part is more specific than this study supports. The indexed passages provide section labels but no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.86)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
    • Rests on an assumption: Future rewards are devalued as the delay to their delivery increases, which often leads to shortsighted choices of smaller, sooner rewards.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

    Interpretationcitation

    Some key issues remain controversial, including the nature of hippocampal contributions to episodic future thinking and the extent to which neural and cognitive signatures of episodic future thinking are specific to imagining future experiences as opposed to atemporal imagining or imagining counterfactuals to past experiences.

    “Some key issues remain controversial, such as the nature of hippocampal contributions to episodic future thinking, and the related question of the extent to which neural and cognitive signatures of episodic future thinking are specific to imagining future experiences as opposed to atemporal imagining or imagining counterfactuals to past experiences”
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      Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

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    • cites [39] source

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    Premisecitation

    Suppressing simulations of feared future events caused forgetting of details typically associated with the dreaded events, hindered the ability to subsequently imagine the events, and reduced apprehensiveness.

    “such suppression caused forgetting of details typically associated with the dreaded events, hindered the ability to subsequently imagine the events and, critically, also reduced apprehensiveness.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 1 sources checked

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    Premisecitation

    Thought sampling procedures indicate that episodic future thoughts occur frequently in everyday life and tend to be positively biased.

    “Evidence from thought sampling procedures indicates that episodic future thoughts occur frequently in everyday life and tend to be positively biased (66).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim1 of 1 sources checked

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    Premisecitation

    The beneficial effects on prospective memory were reduced in heavy social drinkers, who also show episodic simulation deficits.

    “but were reduced in heavy social drinkers, who also show episodic simulation deficits (91).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [91] source

      The Discussion reports that future event simulation improved time-based prospective memory in controls but not heavy drinkers, supporting a reduced benefit for that task. It also reports improved event-based performance in heavy drinkers and no group difference in imagery ratings; the Results likewise found no difference in imagery vividness. The claim that heavy drinkers show episodic simulation deficits is therefore not supported by this paper. (LLM, conf=0.88)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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    Premisecitation

    Engaging in episodic future thinking reduces calorie intake in female undergraduates and in overweight or obese women.

    “engaging in episodic future thinking reduces calorie intake in both female undergraduates (71) and in overweight or obese women (72–73)”
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      The introductory passage reports that episodic future thinking reduces energy intake in laboratory and field settings, supporting the general intake claim. But the Experiment 2 General Discussion says this paper measured discounting and food reinforcement, not energy intake, and its discussion of prior intake studies does not establish the claimed findings specifically for female undergraduates or overweight or obese women. No page numbers are provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)

      Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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    Premisecitation

    Administering the ESI procedure before individuals simulate possible solutions to personally worrisome future events has beneficial effects on emotion regulation: participants generated more constructive steps, were better able to reappraise the event, and showed improvements on several measures of subjective well-being.

    “following ESI versus a control induction, participants generated more constructive steps to address a future worrisome event, were better able to reappraise the event, and showed improvements on several measures of subjective well-being (85).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim1 of 1 sources checked

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisecitation

    The capacity for future personal event simulation relies heavily on the episodic memory system.

    “It has been proposed that episodic future thinking depends critically on the episodic memory system, which is thought to underlie an individual’s ability to recollect past personal experiences (10).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [10] source

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    Premisecitation

    Patients with semantic dementia, who typically have severe semantic memory problems despite relatively preserved episodic memory, show marked impairments imagining future experiences along with intact ability to remember past experiences.

    “patients with semantic dementia, who typically exhibit severe problems with semantic memory despite relatively preserved episodic memory, exhibit marked impairments when imagining future experiences along with an intact ability to remember past experiences (30).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [30] source

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    Premisecitation

    In an initial ESI study, ESI boosted subsequent production of internal details on memory and imagination tasks, had no effect on internal details in picture description, and had no effect on external details on any of the three tasks.

    “an ESI boosted subsequent production of internal details on the memory and imagination tasks, but had no effect on internal details in the picture description task and had no effect on the production of external details on any of the three tasks”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [37]

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

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    Interpretationcitation

    ESI dissociated performance on memory and imagination tasks from the non-episodic picture description task, and dissociated episodic from semantic detail retrieval during memory and imagination.

    “Thus, ESI dissociated performance on the two tasks thought to draw on episodic retrieval (memory and imagination) from the non-episodic task (picture description), and also dissociated retrieval of episodic details from retrieval of semantic details during memory and imagination.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [37]

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

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    Premisecitation

    In two repetition-suppression experiments, distinct brain regions contributed to simulation of people (medial prefrontal cortex), interactions with objects (inferior frontal and premotor cortices), and locations (posterior cingulate/retrosplenial, parahippocampal, and lateral parietal cortices).

    “Results revealed that distinct regions contribute to simulation of people (medial prefrontal cortex), interactions with objects (inferior frontal and premotor cortices) and locations (posterior cingulate/retrosplenial, parahippocampal and lateral parietal cortices).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [53] source

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    Premisecitation

    The core network comprises medial temporal lobe, posterior cingulate including retrosplenial cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and lateral temporal and parietal regions, and largely corresponds to the default network.

    “This core network, comprising regions in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), the posterior cingulate including retrosplenial cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and lateral temporal and parietal regions largely corresponds to the well-known default network (45).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [45] source

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    Premisecitation

    The hippocampus was responsive to entirely novel events for which all elements had not been previously simulated, pointing toward a link between hippocampal activity and event novelty.

    “The hippocampus, however, was responsive to entirely novel events for which all elements (i.e., person, place, and scenario) had not been previously simulated, pointing toward a link between hippocampal activity and event novelty”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [53] source

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    Premisecitation

    Some default network regions, namely parahippocampal and retrosplenial cortices, show increased activity during episodic remembering relative to future imagining, likely reflecting enhanced contextual processing for remembering.

    “some default network regions (i.e., parahippocampal and retrosplenial cortices) show increased activity during episodic remembering relative to future imagining, likely reflecting enhanced contextual processing for the former compared with the latter (49).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [49]

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Palombo et al. acknowledged that it is unclear whether their findings are due to imagining specific vs. general events or high vs. low scene construction demands.

    “Palombo et al. nonetheless acknowledged that it is unclear whether their findings are a consequence of imagining specific vs. general events or high vs. low scene construction demands (for further discussion, see 65).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites [61]

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

    • cites [65]

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

    Interpretationnone given

    Significant progress has been made in characterizing mechanisms supporting episodic future thinking and identifying functions it serves.

    “There has been significant progress in characterizing the mechanisms that support episodic future thinking, and in identifying functions that episodic future thinking serves (see Figure 2).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Taken together, the evidence suggests that the vmPFC's contribution to episodic simulation may be twofold: accessing schematic knowledge and processing anticipated affect.

    “Taken together, the evidence suggests that the contribution of the vmPFC to episodic simulation may be twofold: accessing schematic knowledge and processing anticipated affect.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    In an fMRI virtual navigation task, multi-voxel pattern analysis revealed that hippocampal activity patterns were linked to prospective navigational goals as participants planned routes, and the strength of these goal-related representations was associated with goal-related activity in other core network regions.

    “multi-voxel pattern analysis revealed that hippocampal activity patterns were linked to prospective navigational goals as participants planned their routes, and that the strength of these goal-related representations was associated with goal-related activity in other core network regions (105).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [105] source

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    Interpretationcitation

    Findings highlight a functional benefit of episodic future thinking for prospective memory and suggest a link between episodic future thinking and prospective memory.

    “Overall these findings both highlight a functional benefit of episodic future thinking for prospective memory and also suggest a link between the two forms of prospection”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
36 of 36

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Future rewards are devalued as the delay to their delivery increases, which often leads to shortsighted choices of smaller, sooner rewards.

    “Typically, future rewards are devalued in relation to the extent of delay (i.e., temporally discounted), often leading to shortsighted choices of the smaller reward option.”
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Authors
Schacter, D. L., Benoit, R. G., & Szpunar, K. K.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (DE)
  • University of Illinois Chicago (US)
Corresponding author
Schacter, Daniel L
ORCID
Venue
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-10
Volume
17
Pages
41-50
ISSN
2352-1546 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.06.002
PMC
PMC5675579
OpenAlex
W2706581752
Cited by
771
References
120
Citations by year
2026: 95 · 2025: 95 · 2024: 94 · 2023: 92 · 2022: 110 · 2021: 99 · 2020: 76 · 2019: 57 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 11
FWCI
5.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
  • National Institutes of Health (5r01ag008441-30)
  • National Institute on Aging (R01-AG008441, R37AG008441)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH060941)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
Keywords
episodic future thinking, mental time travel, future simulation, neural mechanisms, brain networks, cognitive processes, decision-making, emotion regulation, prospective memory, spatial navigation

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