Episodic future thinking reduces delay discounting and energy intake in children
Open accessAbstract
Discounting of larger future rewards in favor of smaller immediate rewards is known as delay discounting. High delay discounting or a bias towards immediate gratification impedes self-regulation and is associated with maladaptive eating behaviors. Children in general show greater delay discounting than adults. Obese children in particular, have greater difficulty delaying gratification for edible rewards. Episodic future thinking (EFT) which is mental self-projection to pre-experience future events reduces delay discounting and reduces energy intake in overweight/obese adults. However, these EFT effects have not been examined in children. We evaluated the effects of EFT versus control episodic recent thinking (ERT) on delay discounting and ad libitum energy intake while thinking about episodic cues in 42 overweight/obese 9 to 14year olds. Results showed that EFT led to less delay discounting and lowered energy intake, and EFT had the greatest effect on reducing energy intake in children with a higher desire to restrict food intake. This suggests that EFT may be useful in pediatric obesity treatment programs to help children regulate energy intake.
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Episodic future thinking produces reductions in real calorie consumption in laboratory and field settings.
“and real calorie consumption in lab and field settings (Daniel et al., 2013; Tinuke Oluyomi Daniel, Said, Stanton, & Epstein, 2015; O’Neill, Daniel, & Epstein, 2016; Sze, Daniel, Kilanowski, Collins, & Epstein, 2015).”
From Changing Delay Discounting and Impulsive Choice: Implications for Addictions, Prevention, and Human Health (2019) · cites this paper as Daniel et al., 2015
Daniel et al. (2015) found that EFT lowered delay discounting and energy intake among 9-14 year-old children in a laboratory setting.
“Daniel et al. (2015) demonstrated that EFT could reduce delay discounting and energy intake in 9–14 year-old children in the lab”
From Changing Delay Discounting and Impulsive Choice: Implications for Addictions, Prevention, and Human Health (2019) · cites this paper as Daniel et al. (2015)
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- Authors
- Daniel, T. O., Said, M., Stanton, C. M., & Epstein, L. H.
- Affiliations
- University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
- Corresponding author
- Epstein, Leonard H.
- Venue
- Eating Behaviors
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-08
- Volume
- 18
- Pages
- 20-24
- ISSN
- 1471-0153 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6504176
- OpenAlex
- W2022420468
- Cited by
- 192
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 5
- FWCI
- 24.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Eating Behaviors (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (U01DK088380)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- episodic future thinking, delay discounting, energy intake, childhood obesity, overweight children, self-regulation, ad libitum energy intake, dietary habits
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Energy Intake, Child, Eating, Female, Humans, Male, Motivation, Obesity, Reward, Thinking, Overweight, Memory, Episodic, Delay Discounting
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