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Development of Episodic Prospection: Factors Underlying Improvements in Middle and Late Childhood
Author(s) -
Coughlin Christine,
Robins Richard W.,
Ghetti Simona
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13001
Subject(s) - prospection , narrative , psychology , autobiographical memory , developmental psychology , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , episodic memory , early childhood , late childhood , event (particle physics) , chronesthesia , cognitive psychology , cognition , social psychology , recall , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
Episodic prospection is the mental simulation of a personal future event in rich contextual detail. This study examined age‐related differences in episodic prospection in 5‐ to 11‐year‐olds and adults ( N = 157), as well as factors that may contribute to developmental improvements. Participants’ narratives of past, future, and make‐believe events were coded for episodic content, and self‐concept coherence (i.e., how coherently an individual sees himself or herself) and narrative ability were tested as predictors of episodic prospection. Although all ages provided less episodic content for future event narratives, age‐related improvements were observed across childhood, suggesting future event generation is particularly difficult for children. Self‐concept coherence and narrative ability each independently predicted the episodic content of 5‐ and 7‐year‐olds’ future event narratives.