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The examination of children's ability to simulate their future has gained increased attention, and recent discoveries highlight limitations in this ability that extend into adolescence. We propose an account for this protracted developmental trajectory, which encompasses consideration of retrieval flexibility across timescales and self-knowledge. We also identify avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Examined relationship of prospection and episodic memory across middle childhood. [•] Found similarities and differences in their associated phenomenological experiences. [•] Individual differences in past event episodicity predicted prospection. [•] Yet prospection developed more slowly than episodic memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although positive effects of future thinking have been demonstrated, the effects of future thinking on children's academic achievement are less known. We examined the effects of three forms of thinking about the future or alternative outcomes on math performance in 9- to 12-year-olds (N = 127). After a math pre-assessment, participants were asked to think about math success according to a between-subjects condition: episodic prospection (episodically simulating a personal future event), semantic prospection (thinking about the future in a non-personal, general sense), or episodic counterfactual thinking (episodically simulating an alternative past event). Results show that semantic prospection promoted gains in mean math accuracy and a greater proportion of 3rd-person visual perspective. A 3rd-person visual perspective also related to gains in mean math accuracy across conditions. Semantic prospection may be a more beneficial form of future thinking in some contexts, perhaps because it supports greater psychological distancing. Academic achievement interventions may benefit from targeting specific forms of future thinking. • Semantic prospection related to math accuracy gains in older children. • Episodic prospection and counterfactual thinking did so to a lesser extent. • Semantic prospection was associated with more 3rd-person visual perspective taking. • A 3rd-person visual perspective predicted math accuracy gains. • Envisioned clarity and strategies differed by type of future thinking and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]