Episodic future thinking reduces temporal discounting in healthy adolescents

Uli Bromberg, Maria Lobatcheva, Jan Peters, Uli Bromberg, Maria Lobatcheva, Jan Peters

Abstract

Episodic Future Thinking has proven efficient in reducing impulsive behavior in several adult populations. Whether it also has a beneficial impact on decision making in adolescents is not known. Here the impact of episodic future thinking on discounting behavior was investigated in a sample of healthy adolescents (n = 44, age range 13-16 years). Discounting behavior in trials including episodic future thinking was significantly less impulsive than in control trials (t = 2.74, p = .009, dz = .44). In a subsample we controlled for executive function, alcohol use and developmental measures. Neither executive function nor alcohol use but developmental measures explained variability in the effect of episodic future thinking. These findings reveal that episodic future thinking can improve adolescent decision making while the effect is to some degree modulated by developmental measures.

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1. Episodic discounting-task.
Fig 1. Episodic discounting-task.
The Episodic Discounting task.
Fig 2. Goodness of fit for the…
Fig 2. Goodness of fit for the exponential and the hyperbolic model.
left: Summed BIC-scores as a Goodness of fit, comparing the exponential and the hyperbolic model by condition (light grey = control; dark grey = episodic); Fig 2 right: Individual Pseudo adjusted R2 values as a Goodness of fit, comparing the exponential (x-axis) and the hyperbolic (y-axis) model by condition (light grey = control; dark grey = episodic).
Fig 3. The episodic effect, n =…
Fig 3. The episodic effect, n = 44.
The episodic effect. Mean discount rate (parameter log(k) values); p = .009 (left); mean area under the curve (AUC) values; p < .001 (middle); n = 44. Averaged ID-points (right); n = 41.

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