1-175 - Envisioning the Future in the Preschool Years: Supporting Factors and Developmental Constraints

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The ability to imagine oneself in the future and make decisions in the present in light of future needs is thought to emerge during preschool years (see Hudson, Mayhew, & Prabhakar, 2011 for a review). The goal of this international symposium is to integrate distinct perspectives that provide insights into the mechanisms supporting and constraining this early development. Paper 1 examines whether the capacity to shift perspectives contributes to the ability to envision the future and whether this capacity to shift is supported by theory of mind and executive functioning. Paper 2 highlights the role of memory, imagery, and inhibitory control in 3- and 5-year-old children’s choices for the future. Paper 3 investigates whether better memory access to past experiences can help facilitate children’s future choices. Finally, Paper 4 examines the extent to which differences in future-oriented behavior in 3- and 4-year-olds could be explained by difficulties in memory ability alone or additional limitations in the capacity to appreciate the relevance of past experiences for future actions. Altogether, these papers point to memory factors along with additional cognitive processes as the basis for the capacity to envision the future during preschool years. These findings provide a strong basis for an important discussion about contributions of each of these processes to a theory about early future-oriented thought.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chairs

• Janani Prabhakar, University of California, Davis

• Simona Ghetti, University of California-Davis

Individual Presentations

• The Cognitive Correlates of Future-Oriented Perspective-Taking in Young Children - Presenting Author: Cristina Atance, University of Ottawa; Michele J Belanger, University of Ottawa

• Remembering, imagining and/or inhibiting? Component processes in preschoolers’ future thinking development - Presenting Author: Jenny Richmond, UNSW; Candice R Michael, University of New South Wales; Karina D Lazarou, University of New South Wales

• Elaborate Events Enhance Episodic Prospection in Preschool Children - Presenting Author: Damian Scarf, University of Otago; Harlene Hayne, University of Otago

• Preschoolers’ ability to use the past to envision an uncertain future - Presenting Author: Janani Prabhakar, University of California, Davis; Simona Ghetti, University of California-Davis