Exploring the use of virtual reality for episodic future thinking

Undervaluing future rewards is a significant problem that leads to issues like addiction and eating disorders. Episodic future thinking (EFT), which involves imagining future experiences, can help mitigate these problems by increasing the perceived value of future rewards. However, not everyone can perform EFT as it requires imagination and sustained mental effort. To address this, we propose using Virtual Reality (VR) to simulate future scenarios and help people perform EFT. In a study, we compared a VR experience designed to elicit EFT to a control experience and measured participants' preferences for future rewards using an inter-temporal choice task. We also estimated their present bias and time-sensitive devaluation. Although the results were inconclusive, our sample showed indications that the VR-based EFT protocol may effectively decrease present bias, time-sensitive devaluation, and preference reversals. Overall, our preliminary results suggest that VR could be a viable method for facilitating EFT.