The Development Of Preschoolers’ Episodic Future Thinking And Its Relationship To Episodic Memory, Future Temporal Cognition

Episodic future thinking refers to the faculty that allows humans mentally project themselves forwards to pre-live events. Before planning and decision-making is a process of episodic future thinking, therefore, episodic future thinking is a precondition for active ability such as planning, decision making and delay of gratification witch point to the future. In recent years, investigation for preschoolers’episodic future thinking has become a central point in development psychology, however, because of such research is a new field, and informed researches haven’t have a uniform paradigm, the results of researches are different. In China, relevant experimental studies are limited to repetitive test of the responding ones abroad. Therefore, selecting and improving the most efficient paradigm from informed researches to investigate Chinese preschoolers’episodic future thinking is necessary. On the other hand, mental time travel consists of episodic memory and episodic future thinking, and humans need time background to comprehend their behaviors, this experimental study thus investigate the relationship between episodic future thinking and episodic memory, future temporal cognition.Study1improved a new experiment on the basis of past experimental procedure. We use it to investigate preschoolers’episodic future thinking, explore the relationship between episodic future thinking and episodic memory, future temporal cognition.Study2considered that preschoolers’episodic future thinking not only need experiences, but lessons. Therefore, study2also investigated preschoolers’episodic future thinking, explored the relationship between episodic future thinking and episodic memory in negative situation.We made below conclusions according to the above2studies.(1) Preschoolers’episodic future thinking develop rapidly.5-year-olds’episodic future thinking is significantly higher than that of3-year-olds. There are no gender differences of children’s episodic future thinking(2) There are no age and gender differences of preschoolers’episodic future thinking in losing and negative situation.(3) Preschoolers’ episodic future thinking in losing situation is significantly higher than that of in win situation, indicate that preschoolers’ episodic future thinking is unstable;(4) The significantly positive correlation between episodic future thinking and episodic memory only exist in losing situation. Further more, episodic memory can significantly predict episodic future thinking in losing situation;(5) Preschoolers’ episodic future thinking is not decided by episodic memory, on the contrary, it is episodic future thinking that decide episodic memory’s efficacy;(6) Future temporal cognition is significantly related to episodic future thinking when episodic memory can significantly predict episodic future thinking. And episodic memory fully mediate the relationship between future temporal cognition and episodic future thinking.