Foresight beyond the very next event: four-year-olds can link past and deferred future episodes

Abstract

Previous experiments have demonstrated that by 4 years of age children can use information from a past episode to solve a problem for the very next future episode. However, it remained unclear whether 4-year-olds can similarly use such information to solve a problem for a more removed future episode that is not of immediate concern. In the current study we introduced 4-year-olds to problems in one room before taking them to another room and distracting them for 15 min. The children were then offered a choice of items to place into a bucket that was to be taken back to the first room when a 5-min sand-timer had completed a cycle. Across two conceptually distinct domains, the children placed the item that could solve the deferred future problem above chance level. This result demonstrates that by 48 months many children can recall a problem from the past and act in the present to solve that problem for a deferred future episode. We discuss implications for theories about the nature of episodic foresight.

The development of mental scenario building and episodic foresight

“…The future children prepare for in this paradigm is the very next event, albeit one in another room. In a recent follow‐up study, we found that 4‐year‐olds similarly perform above chance even when informed that they will not be returning to the first room until a 5‐minute sand‐timer had completed its cycle . By 48 months, children can act prudently to bring about an anticipated future scenario, consistent with the developments of the episodic foresight components reviewed earlier.…”

The Emergence of Episodic Foresight and Its Consequences

“…They used memory of a specific past episode from a spatially removed context and prepared for a return to these problems when presented with the opportunity. This finding has been replicated in studies in which selecting the object was separated by several minutes from returning to the room with the problem . By age 4, children can remember a novel problem well enough to recognize and secure its future solution when the chance presents itself.…”

A spoon full of studies helps the comparison go down: a comparative analysis of Tulving’s spoon test

“…Redshaw and Suddendorf, 2013) 1 . Specifically, rather than insert the delay between the original episode and the selection phase, comparative studies have inserted the delay after the selection phase (cf.…”