Do process simulations during episodic future thinking enhance the reduction of delay discounting for middle income participants and those living in poverty?

O’Donnell, Sara; Daniel, Tinuke Oluyomi; Koroschetz, Jordynn; Kilanowski, Colleen; Otminski, Aris; Bickel, Warren K.; Epstein, Leonard H.

doi:10.1002/bdm.2108

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Goal-directed process EFT and general EFT helped mothers purchase fewer calories in an online grocery store, with no differences in calories purchased between the EFT GDP and the EFT GEN group (η p 2 = .166 vs. η p 2 = .133, p = 0.69). Therefore, EFT GDP does not improve calorie outcomes beyond EFT GEN. Our findings were contrary to our expected hypothesis, but consistent with research showing similar changes in delay discounting for EFT process and EFT general cues for adults (O'Donnell et. al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

“…Participants generated three cues with the content of the cue varying dependent on their group assignment. The intervention group in Study 1 was the EFT group with goal-directed process-oriented cues, which is a combination of two kinds of future-oriented cues that have been studied by our laboratory -goal-directed cues (O'Donnell, Daniel, & Epstein, 2017) and process-oriented cues (O'Donnell et. al, 2018).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In previous experiments it was found that goal-directed EFT led to improvements in delay discounting when compared to general EFT (O'Donnell et al, 2017), but new research has not seen benefits of process-oriented EFT beyond general EFT for adults (O'Donnell et. al, 2018).…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Episodic future thinking and grocery shopping online

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Grocery shopping shapes the home food environment, which can contribute to the development of obesity. Episodic future thinking (EFT) helps adults make healthier decisions by initiating prospective thinking, which guides one to forego smaller immediate rewards in favor of larger delayed rewards. EFT could help parents improve grocery purchases thereby improving the home food environment and family eating behaviors. The effect of EFT on food shopping was evaluated in two studies with mothers who were overweight/obese and primary household shoppers. In Study 1, 24 mothers were randomized to goal-directed process EFT versus a money saving control. In Study 2, 33 mothers were randomized to goal-directed process EFT, general EFT, or an episodic recent thinking (ERT) control. Following cue generation, participants completed a task where they purchased one week of groceries from an online store. Food purchases were analyzed for calories purchased per family member. In Study 1 the goal-directed process EFT group purchased fewer calories per person (F(1, 23) = 25.16, p < .001; η p 2 = .522). In Study 2 the goaldirected process EFT purchased fewer calories (F(1, 30) = 5.98, p = 0.02; η p 2 = .166) than the ERT control as did the EFT general group (F(1, 30) = 4.61, p = 0.04; η p 2 = .133). The two EFT groups did not differ from each other (F(1, 30) = 0.16, p = 0.69; η p 2 = .005). EFT may be an effective intervention when grocery shopping to reduce energy intake of foods purchased and could be a helpful component to a behavioral family-based obesity treatment program.Two in three adults and one in three children were obese in America in 2016 and that rate has been steadily increasing since 1999 (Skinner, Ravanbakht, Skelton, Perrin, & Armstrong, 2018). A major cause of obesity is a high intake of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods in tandem with a low intake of nutrient-rich foods (Dehghan, Akhtar-Danesh, & Merchant, 2005). Families that include children consume a majority of their calories from food that is purchased by parents, and mothers in particular tend to have greater control and influence over what their families consume when compared to other influences (Gibson et al.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Episodic future thinking and grocery shopping online

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“…over the next 24 hours) [20], no control cues [21–25], cues generated based off of standardized reading material [14, 26] or cues about what money could buy [27]. There were also cues about meals eaten in the recent past [15] and recent/past events that ranged in time from 60 hours [28] to 12 days ago [29] and different time periods in-between [13, 30–33]. Effect sizes varied from Hedge’s g = 0.26 [26] to 1.40 [14] (Table 1 provides more details) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvements in episodic future thinking methodology: Establishing a standardized episodic thinking control

et al. 2019

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Objective Delay discounting (DD) is the choice of a smaller immediate reward over a larger delayed reward, which has been associated with a number of maladaptive behaviors. Episodic future thinking (EFT), the ability to project oneself into the future, is an intervention designed to reduce DD. EFT has reliable effects on DD, but the size of the effect varies, which could be due in part to the use of different control groups. Episodic recent thinking (ERT) serves as a common control for many EFT studies, but the temporal window of “recent” cues ranges from 24 hours ago to 12 days past. Since prior research has shown that retrospection can lead to prospection, it may be important to ensure that EFT controls do not inadvertently lead to prospection for some participants thereby increasing the variability of the control condition. The present study sought to develop a comparison group that standardizes the time frame and experiences that are the basis for the recent thinking control. Methods Participants (n = 53, 18–45) were randomized to one of three conditions: EFT, ERT, or standardized episodic thinking (SET). Participants attended a laboratory appointment where they played mobile application games, created cues, and completed a DD task. Results There was a significant difference between groups ( p <0.05), with EFT reducing discounting more than either control (p<0.05), and no differences between ERT and SET (p>0.05). Conclusion This study established that SET provides an alternative control in EFT studies and provides the advantage of standardizing the participant’s recent experience without changing the relationship between EFT and recent thinking controls.

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“…As a personality characteristic, for example, concern for future consequences of actions has been linked to better financial management (Joireman et al, 2005) and more frequent pro-environmental behaviors (Joireman et al, 2001(Joireman et al, , 2004. Strikingly, interventions that increase future-oriented thinking can reduce higher delay discounting rates (Daniel et al, 2013a(Daniel et al, , 2013bO'Donnell et al, 2019;Peters & Büchel, 2010) which we have shown are associated with poorer outcomes in the single-player game used here (Rauwolf & Rogers, under review). In a resource-management context, knowledge of the prospective resource availability might be increasing awareness of the need to work over a highlighted future, fostering better learning of resource dynamics and, in turn, better outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Known horizons, as future-oriented cues, help individuals to manage vulnerable resources

Rauwolf¹,

Rogers²

2022

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Research to address the improvement of resource management have tended to focus on social interventions that mitigate the dilemmas involving the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’. Less work has addressed the interventions that might help individuals better managing resources of their own without the added complexities of social interactions. Over three studies (N=1,597), we tested whether informational cues could improve outcomes of a single-player game in which individuals were tasked with harvesting from a replenishing but depletable resource for monetary rewards. To succeed, individuals needed to learn about the vulnerability of the resource while avoiding the long-term costs of mis-steps. We found little evidence that outcomes improved with either a prior encounter with the dynamics of the resource or knowledge of the monetary returns from the game. However, information about the prospective viability of the resource --operationalized as the maximum number of remaining harvesting opportunities -- dramatically improved individual resource outcomes (Studies 1 and 2). Further, these benefits were not transitory; the benefits incurred from these informational 'nudges' about the future viability of the resource continued to improve resource outcomes over multiple encounters with the game (Study 3). The research suggests that when individuals try to explore and manage a personal resource in uncertain environments where early mis-steps can have long-term adverse consequences, simple cues about the future longevity of a resource may help individuals improve their strategies.

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Do process simulations during episodic future thinking enhance the reduction of delay discounting for middle income participants and those living in poverty?

Cited by 16 publications

References 47 publications

Episodic future thinking and grocery shopping online

Episodic future thinking and grocery shopping online

Improvements in episodic future thinking methodology: Establishing a standardized episodic thinking control

Known horizons, as future-oriented cues, help individuals to manage vulnerable resources

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