Effects of Episodic Future Thinking and Self-Projection on Children’s Prospective Memory Performance

Kretschmer-Trendowicz, Anett; Ellis, Judith A.; Altgassen, Mareike · 2016 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158366

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Summary

This study investigates whether episodic future thinking (EFT) instructions improve prospective memory (PM) performance in children and whether self-projection abilities, measured via Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks, moderate these effects. While executive functions are known to support PM development, the role of EFT—mentally simulating future events—remains underexplored in childhood. The authors aimed to determine if instructing children to mentally simulate the execution of a PM task enhances their ability to remember intentions, and if this benefit is linked to their capacity for self-projection. The researchers recruited 80 participants: 41 preschoolers (mean age 66.34 months) and 39 primary school children (mean age 88.36 months). Participants were divided into two encoding conditions: an EFT condition, where children were instructed to vividly imagine themselves performing the PM task in the future, and a standard condition with typical instructions. PM was assessed using a card-naming ongoing task embedded with a PM cue (saying "juice" when a fruit or vegetable appeared). To measure self-projection, the study administered two first-order and two second-order ToM tasks. Results indicated a significant age effect, with school-aged children outperforming preschoolers in PM. Crucially, the EFT encoding condition yielded significantly better PM performance overall compared to the standard condition. Although the interaction between age group and encoding condition was not statistically significant, planned comparisons revealed that older children benefited more from EFT instructions than younger children. Regarding self-projection, ToM performance had a significant impact on PM success; however, self-projection abilities did not influence the specific effects of the EFT instructions. This suggests that while self-projection supports general PM performance, it does not determine the efficacy of EFT as an encoding strategy. The findings provide the first evidence that children can utilize EFT encoding strategies to improve PM performance, provided their EFT abilities are sufficiently developed. The study highlights that older children leverage EFT more effectively than younger peers, likely due to more advanced mental simulation capabilities. Furthermore, the results identify self-projection as a key mechanism underlying PM development, alongside executive functions. These conclusions suggest that interventions targeting EFT could support PM development in children, particularly as their ability to project themselves into future scenarios matures.

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• prospective memory interruptions