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Boosting the impact of episodic simulations on decisions via semantic scaffolding?

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Alex Barone¹ (), Heidrun Schultz², Roland Benoit¹; ¹University Of Colorado Boulder, ²Max Planck Institute for Human Cognition and Brain Sciences

People can mentally project themselves into the future by imagining possible experiences. Notably, this capacity, episodic simulation, also influences their decisions. Specifically, episodic simulations have been shown to reduce delay discounting, i.e., the tendency to devalue a reward with the delay until its delivery. Episodic simulations are thought to convey this beneficial effect by rendering the future more vivid and tangible. Here, we test the hypothesis that this impact of episodic simulation can be fostered by providing a stronger semantic scaffold for the simulation. Prior research indicates that simulations that are situated in more familiar locations are more vivid. The more familiar locations are thought to provide a stronger semantic scaffold for the construction of the imagined scene. This study examines whether personally more familiar locations facilitate more vivid episodic simulations, and whether these vivid simulations yield greater reductions in delay discounting. In response to activity cues (e.g., going grocery shopping), participants first identified highly familiar and barely familiar locations. They then imagined such activities at these locations before they made monetary choices between smaller, immediate and larger, later rewards. Data collection is still ongoing, but preliminary analyses indicate that participants experience future simulations as more vivid that were situated at more familiar than at less familiar locations. The results further indicate that choices for larger, later rewards are also preceded by more vivid simulations. Understanding how prior knowledge shapes episodic simulations will help elucidate the cognitive mechanisms underlying adaptive planning and self-control.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic