From past to future: Temporal self-continuity across the life span.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Perceived continuity with one's future self is a growing area of research.
• Understanding age differences in self-continuity is crucial but remains poorly understood.
• Existing research has not comprehensively examined age effects across multiple temporal distances and measurement types.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate age differences in perceived past and future self-continuity.
• To simultaneously examine self-continuity across various temporal distances (1 month to 10 years).
• To utilize both explicit (self-report) and implicit (reaction time) measures to assess self-continuity.

Main Methods:

• Recruited a lifespan sample (N=91, ages 18-92) of adults.
• Assessed perceived self-similarity using explicit self-report and implicit me/not me trait ratings across 6 past and 6 future time points.
• Employed multilevel analyses controlling for covariates like personality, cognition, future horizons, and subjective health.

Main Results:

• Chronological age was significantly associated with greater implicit and explicit self-continuity, particularly for more distant temporal intervals.
• Reaction times in the implicit task showed age-related differences: stable with temporal distance for older adults, decreasing for younger adults (especially for future self-ratings).
• Controlling for covariates did not fully explain the observed age effects on self-continuity.

Conclusions:

• Chronological age is linked to increased self-continuity across the lifespan.
• The underlying mechanisms contributing to self-continuity may differ between younger and older adults.
• Future research should explore these age-specific mechanisms and correlates of self-continuity.