Chapter 1.7 From the past into the future: the developmental origins and trajectory of episodic future thinking

Abstract In this chapter I approach the topic of future thinking from a developmental perspective. I first consider the emergence of various behaviors, including acts of planning and prospective memory, believed to reflect future thinking. These behaviors seem to emerge between 3 and 5 years of age and thus signal a shift in the child's cognitions about the future. However, these behaviors may not fully reflect the processes involved in a special type of future thinking termed episodic future thinking (Atance and O’Neill, 2001). Episodic future thinking is defined as the ability to project the self into the future to preexperience an event. This type of thinking may best be captured by the child's ability to act in the present in anticipation of a future state. Studies that test this capacity are reviewed, and it is concluded that it begins to emerge between 3 and 4 years of age.

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