ArticlePloS one2019
Concreteness and emotional valence of episodic future thinking (EFT) independently affect the dynamics of intertemporal decisions.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Imagining emotional events benefits future-oriented decisions.Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) · 2022Trial
- Episodic Future Thinking about Smoking-Related Illness: A Preliminary Investigation of Effects on Delay Discounting, Cigarette Craving, and Cigarette Demand.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- A large-scale dataset of choice and response-time data in intertemporal choice.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Neural correlates of risky monetary decision-making impacting others.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Episodic future thinking modulates delay discounting in individuals with problematic substance use: a narrative review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- A study on the abnormalities in positive and negative shifts in episodic future thinking among depressed individuals.Psychological research · 2025Article
- Positive autobiographical memory recall does not influence temporal discounting: an internal meta-analysis of experimental studies.Journal Of Economic Psychology · 2024Article
- The vmPFC-IPL functional connectivity as the neural basis of future self-continuity impacted procrastination: the mediating role of anticipated positive outcomes.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2024Article
- Does sadness bring myopia: an intertemporal choice experiment with college students.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Episodic future thinking and anticipatory emotions: Effects on delay discounting and preventive behaviors during COVID-19.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2022Article
- OXTR Gene DNA Methylation Levels Are Associated with Discounting Behavior with Untrustworthy Proposers.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Putting prospection into practice: Methodological considerations in the use of episodic future thinking to reduce delay discounting and maladaptive health behaviors.Frontiers in public health · 2022Review
- The effect of incentives on intertemporal choice: Choice, confidence, and eye movements.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Face Mask Reduces the Effect of Proposer's (Un)Trustworthiness on Intertemporal and Risky Choices.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- The Influence of Episodic Future Thinking and Graphic Warning Labels on Delay Discounting and Cigarette Demand.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- "Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Effects of Individual Discount Rate and Uncertainty Perception on Compliance with Containment Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Written or drawn episodic future thinking cues improves delay discounting in adults.Learning and motivation · 2021Article
- Time Unpacking Effect on Intertemporal Decision-Making: Does the Effect Change With Choice Valence?Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Deliberating trade-offs with the future.Nature human behaviour · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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4 authors.
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Abstract
During intertemporal decisions, the value of future rewards decreases as a function of the delay of its receipt (temporal discounting, TD). Since high discount rates have been associated with a series of problematic behaviours and clinical conditions, current research has focused on possible modulators of TD. Specifically, a reduction of individual discount rates has been shown during episodic future thinking (EFT), wherein time intervals are anchored to personal future events. However, it is not entirely clear whether this effect is mediated by a change in the representation of future events (i.e., from abstract to concrete) or by a positive-emotion modulation. Here, we investigated this issue by manipulating the valence of the EFT (i.e., using negative, neutral and positive episodic tags), and by collecting explicit and implicit measures of behaviour. The results showed a significant reduction of TD in all the three emotional conditions compared to the baseline, with differences among them, thus suggesting the existence of a cumulative effect of the concreteness and affective components of the EFT. The analyses of implicit measures additionally revealed that this effect was mediated by a simultaneous increase/decrease of attraction toward the delayed/immediate alternative. Finally, these effects appeared to be modulated by participants' baseline discounting preferences. These findings provide important insights on clinical applications in reward-related disorders.
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