Mental Simulation as Substitute for Experience

Abstract

People spend a considerable amount of their time mentally simulating experiences other than the one in which they are presently engaged, as a means of distraction, coping, or preparation for the future. In this integrative review, we examine four (non‐exhaustive) cases in which mentally simulating an experience serves a different function, as a substitute for the corresponding experience. In each case, mentally simulating an experience evokes similar cognitive, physiological, and/or behavioral consequences as having the corresponding experience in reality: (i) imagined experiences are attributed evidentiary value like physical evidence, (ii) mental practice instantiates the same performance benefits as physical practice, (iii) imagined consumption of a food reduces its actual consumption, and (iv) imagined goal achievement reduces motivation for actual goal achievement. We organize these cases under a common superordinate category and discuss their different methodological approaches and explanatory accounts. Our integration yields theoretical and practical insights into when and why mentally simulating an experience serves as its substitute.

Heroic Memory: Remembering the Details of Others' Heroism in the Aftermath of a Traumatic Public Event Can Foster Our Own Prosocial Response

“…These findings are consistent with previous research related to imagination inflation (Garry & Polaschek, 2000;Hyman & Pentland, 1996;Husnu & Crisp, 2010;Mazzoni & Memon, 2003, see also D'Argembeau & Van der Linden, 2012 and related work showing that directly manipulating vividness can enhance the perceived probability of imagined events occurring in the future (Szpunar & Schacter, 2013). As the remembered or imagined helping episode is more vividly experienced, the helping event becomes more accessible (Anderson, 1983;Koehler, 1991;Tversky & Kahneman, 1973), providing 'evidentiary value' (Kappes & Morewedge, 2016) that one is willing to help in that situation. In other words, when deciding whether to help in a situation, being able to vividly remember or imagine related helping episodes informs one's judgment of whether one would help in that situation.…”

Spontaneous cognition in dysphoria: reduced positive bias in imagining the future

“…Using the same experimental paradigm, future studies could measure the degree to which variation in state emotions after the task are accounted for by the occurrence of negative and positive future imagery during the task. Further, given the growing theoretical focus and empirical evidence that imagery-based mental simulations of future events facilitate decision-making, planning and self-regulatory behaviour (Bulley, Henry, & Suddendorf, 2016 ; Gilbert & Wilson, 2007 ; Kappes & Morewedge, 2016 ; Seligman, Railton, Baumeister, & Sripada, 2013 ; Szpunar, Spreng, & Schacter, 2014 ; Taylor, Pham, Rivkin, & Armor, 1998 ), future research should examine how biases in imagery-based future thinking impact decision-making, planning and self-regulation in depression.…”

Mental Simulation of Visceral States Affects Preferences and Behavior

“…Although simple manipulations such as warning people of visceral influences or recalling visceral states do not seem to help optimize predictions, deeper and more engaging mental simulation can substitute for actual experiences ( Kappes & Morewedge, 2016 ). Mentally simulating an experience by imagining it in detail can evoke the same consequences as actually experiencing it, albeit to a lesser extent.…”