Age-related changes in future event simulation 1-- In press, Psychological Science-- AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE EPISODIC SIMULATION OF FUTURE EVENTS

Episodic memory enables individuals to recollect past events as well as imagine possible future scenarios. Although the episodic specificity of past events declines with age, it is unknown whether the same is true for future events. In an adapted version of the Autobiographical Interview, young and older participants generated past and future events. Transcriptions were segmented into distinct details that were classified as either internal (episodic) or external. Older adults generated fewer internal details than younger adults, and importantly, this effect was also evident for future events. Furthermore, internal or external detail scores were correlated across past and future events. Finally, the internal detail score correlated with the integrity of relational memory, consistent with the constructive episodic simulation hypothesis that simulation of future episodes requires a system that can flexibly recombine details from past events into novel scenarios