This paper explores the equivalence between episodic foresight measures and its relationship with future oriented processes and the theory of mind in preschoolers. Future oriented processes and episodic foresight have been indicated as a grounding basis of important developmental achievements such as planning, self-regulation and social adaptation. Also, it was postulated that the theory of mind and episodic foresight are related due to a shared common neural substrate. The objective of the first study, in which 15 children aged 3 and 4 participated, was to explore the developmental coherence between episodic foresight measures and the self-imposed delay of gratification controlled by the reasoning ability. In Study 2, 78 children were tested in episodic foresight, future oriented processes and theory of mind controlled by the language ability. Results show that the different measures of episodic foresight are highly equivalent. Also, in both studies a high behavioral coherence between all the measures analyzed was found. Nevertheless, data do not support the inclusion of episodic foresight in the broader constructs studied.
Episodic foresight; future oriented processes; Theory of Mind; episodic cognition; prospection