Episodic future thought: Remembering the past to imagine the future

Karl K. Szpunar, Kathleen B. Mc Dermott

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Imagine for a moment attending a party for next New Years’ Eve. Take 10 s or so to generate a specific mental scene for this upcoming party. Chances are that you can “see” some pretty specific details: You can identify some of the guests, you envision clothes, and you can imagine a configuration of people intermingling in a specific setting—potentially one you know very well. How is it that we are able to envision the future in such a specific way? That question forms the topic of this chapter. Specifically, we examine the capacity for episodic future thought (Atance & O’Neill, 2001) and consider the possibility that recollection of the past is a fundamental component of envisioning the future.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Imagination and Mental Simulation
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages119-129
Number of pages11
ISBN (Electronic)9781136678103
ISBN (Print)1841698873, 9781841698878
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2012

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