title: Effects of self-generated versus experimenter-provided cues on the representation of future events.
abstract: Most experimental studies of prospection focused on episodic forms of future events prompted by means of verbal cues. However, there is evidence suggesting that future events differ considerably according to whether they are produced in response to external, experimenter-provided verbal cues or they are self-generated. In the present study, we compared the quality, the phenomenal characteristics, the temporal distribution, and the content of imagined events prompted by experimenter-provided cues (i.e., cue-words and short verbal sentences) or elicited by means of verbal cues that were self-generated in an autobiographical fluency task. The results showed that future events prompted by means of self-generated cues contained fewer event-specific details than future events prompted by experimenter-provided cues. However, future events elicited by means of self-generated and by experimenter-provided cues did not differ with respect to their phenomenal characteristics. The temporal distribution and the thematic content of future representations were also affected by the type of cue used to elicit prospection. These results offer a holistic view of the properties of future thinking and suggest that the content and the characteristics of envisioned future events may be affected by the method used to elicit prospection.
authors.affiliation: a Laboratory of Experimental Psychology , Suor Orsola Benincasa University , Naples , Italy.|b Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology , University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh , UK.
authors.forename: Maria Adriana
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Neroni
authors.affiliation: a Laboratory of Experimental Psychology , Suor Orsola Benincasa University , Naples , Italy.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gamboz
authors.affiliation: c INSERM U 1127 , Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM) , Paris , France.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de Vito
authors.affiliation: a Laboratory of Experimental Psychology , Suor Orsola Benincasa University , Naples , Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Antonella
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brandimonte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D012649:Self Concept; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Autobiographical fluency task; Future thinking; Verbal cues