Mechanism of specifying level of detail in episodic future thinking

Individuals can simulate and pre-experience the future events. The ability to image the plausible future is termed episodic future thinking. Particularly, it is important for us to construct the detailed scenario about future event. If we couldn't simulate it in detail, we may fail to prepare what is necessary in future or deal with the unexpected event in an appropriate manner. In present study, we investigate how the level of detail specified in episodic future thinking. We supposed two possibilities specifying level of detail in future thinking: one is the retrieval process from past episodic memory and the other is the recombination process of retrieved details into coherent representation. To investigate which process is important for specifying the level of detail, we draw on the association between level of detail and temporal distance. Level of detail of imaged future event was reflected in activation pattern of concept of future temporal distances, and retrieval of detail from episodic memory was reflected in concept of past temporal distance. The results show that details were retrieved from episodic memory when participants construct the detailed image of future events. We suggest that levels of detail in future events are specified in recombination process.