Preparing for what might happen: An episodic specificity induction impacts the generation of alternative future events

Abstract

A critical adaptive feature of future thinking involves the ability to generate alternative versions of possible future events. However, little is known about the nature of the processes that support this ability. Here we examined whether an episodic specificity induction – brief training in recollecting details of a recent experience that selectively impacts tasks that draw on episodic retrieval – 1) boosts alternative event generation and 2) changes one’s initial perceptions of negative future events. In Experiment 1, an episodic specificity induction significantly increased the number of alternative positive outcomes that participants generated to a series of standardized negative events, compared with a control induction not focused on episodic specificity. We also observed larger decreases in the perceived plausibility and negativity of the original events in the specificity condition, where participants generated more alternative outcomes, relative to the control condition. In Experiment 2, we replicated and extended these findings using a series of personalized negative events. Our findings support the idea that episodic memory processes are involved in generating alternative outcomes to anticipated future events, and that boosting the number of alternative outcomes is related to subsequent changes in the perceived plausibility and valence of the original events, which may have implications for psychological well-being.

Differential associations between impaired autobiographical memory recall and future thinking in people with and without schizophrenia

“…As previously mentioned, future research might manipulate recall abilities, such as with MeST, in order to examine the effects of this on future thinking. Alternatively, studies might utilize experimental manipulations of recall prior to a future thinking task (Jing, Madore, & Schacter, ; Painter & Kring, ) or they might examine the similarity between past and future thoughts in terms of their sensory‐perceptual details (Zheng et al ., ).…”

Misremembrance of things past: Depression is associated with difficulties in the recollection of both specific and categoric autobiographical memories

“…Autobiographical memory plays a fundamental role in daily cognition. We draw upon autobiographical memory hundreds of times a day to facilitate problem solving (Jing, Madore, & Schacter, 2016), to imagine and make plans for our future (Jing, Madore, & Schacter, 2017), and to facilitate shared relationship discourse (Beike, Brandon, & Cole, 2016). Disruption to autobiographical memory retrieval therefore, understandably, has a detrimental effect on daily functioning.…”

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Enables Updating of Established Memories

“…Beyond remembering the past, these mnemonic representations support future survival. They enable us to imagine and simulate upcoming events (Schacter et al 2007;Jing et al 2017), to guide our attention and current decision-making (Chun and Turk-Browne 2007;Wimmer and Shohamy 2012). In order to accomplish these prospective functions, it is fundamental that memories are updated in light of new information.…”