title: Neural correlates of self-appraisals in the near and distant future: an event-related potential study.
abstract: To investigate perceptual and neural correlates of future self-appraisals as a function of temporal distance, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants (11 women, eight men) made judgments about the applicability of trait adjectives to their near future selves (i.e., one month from now) and their distant future selves (i.e., three years from now). Behavioral results indicated people used fewer positive adjectives, more negative adjectives, recalled more specific events coming to mind and felt more psychologically connected to the near future self than the distant future self. Electrophysiological results demonstrated that negative trait adjectives elicited more positive ERP deflections than did positive trait adjectives in the interval between 550 and 800 ms (late positive component) within the near future self condition. However, within the same interval, there were no significant differences between negative and positive traits adjectives in the distant future self condition. The results suggest that negative emotional processing in future self-appraisals is modulated by temporal distance, consistent with predictions of construal level theory.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), China Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China ; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yangmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), China Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China ; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), China Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China ; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaogang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), China Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China ; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Xiting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult