Written or drawn episodic future thinking cues improves delay discounting in children

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Individuals exhibit a preference for immediate over delayed rewards, a tendency more pronounced in children.
• Episodic future thinking (EFT), the ability to mentally simulate future events, has been shown to reduce delay discounting (DD) in adolescents and adults.
• Previous EFT interventions relied on verbal or written cues, potentially limiting effectiveness in younger children; visual cues may enhance engagement and memory recall.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of visual episodic future thinking (EFT) cues in improving delay discounting (DD) in children.
• To compare the effectiveness of drawing-based EFT cues versus writing-based EFT cues on children's DD and delay of gratification.
• To determine if EFT modalities influence children's real-world reward choices.

Main Methods:

• Fifty-eight children aged 10-13 were randomly assigned to three groups: EFT-drawing, EFT-writing, or an episodic recent thinking (ERT) control drawing group.
• Participants completed a delay discounting (DD) task involving real monetary rewards.
• A delay of gratification task was also administered to assess behavioral self-control.

Main Results:

• Both the EFT-drawing and EFT-writing conditions significantly improved delay discounting (DD) compared to the control group.
• Children in both EFT groups demonstrated enhanced delay of gratification for real monetary rewards.
• These findings indicate that EFT interventions are effective in multiple sensory modalities for children.

Conclusions:

• Episodic future thinking (EFT) effectively reduces delay discounting (DD) and improves delay of gratification in children.
• Both visual (drawing) and verbal (writing) modalities of EFT are effective, suggesting flexibility in intervention design.
• These results highlight the potential of EFT, particularly using visual aids, to foster long-term decision-making in pediatric populations.