About this session

Saturday, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Mental Time Travel Across Development

Mental time travel (MTT) is the ability to self-project back in time to re-experience past events (i.e., episodic memory; EM) and into the future to pre-experience possible events (i.e., episodic future thinking; EFT). EMs supports EFT via simulation of possible future scenarios to support goal setting and planning (D’Argembeau et al., 2011). As EM and EFT have similar developmental trajectories (Atance & Jackson, 2009), we must study both at critical junctions of childhood. Thus, the primary aim of this symposium is to outline current investigations on the development of MTT. First, Paper 1 will discuss saving behavior, a skill adjacent to EFT, including how parental saving behavior influences 3-6-year-olds’ saving. Paper 2 will elaborate on how childhood experiences of first-generation college students (e.g., socioeconomic status) affect their EFT in college. Paper 3 will investigate how semantic memory (general knowledge) influences EM for actions and locations with age (7-9 years old) and delay (immediate vs. 1 week delay). Finally, Paper 4 will explore how personal versus observational EMs support EFT for oneself and another in 3-5-year-olds. Work presented in this symposium may have implications for childhood and higher education (i.e., improving EM and EFT in school and college) and adult responsibilities (i.e., saving and social planning). A dialogue on EM and EFT will contribute to our knowledge on how children learn to navigate across time, leading them to become capable, motivated, and socially-adept adults.

Paper #1
Title	Environmental Influences on Children’s Saving Behaviour
Presenting author	Mirella Rose Rocca, Brock University, Canada

Paper #2
Title	Imagining Success: Imagining College in First-Generation Versus Non-First-Generation Students
Presenting author	Kate Hill, University of Illinois Chicago, United States

Paper #3
Title	Examining the Influence of Semantic Memory on Episodic Memory Development
Presenting author	Tida Kian, York University, Canada

Paper #4
Title	Episodic Memory Supports Episodic Future Thinking for Oneself and Another
Presenting author	Que Anh Pham, University of Massachusetts Boston, United States

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Session chairs
Tashauna Blankenship, University of Massachusetts Boston, United States; Que Anh Pham, , United States

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