Mental simulations of positive future events increase their detail/vividness and plausibility, with effects on cognitive-affective processes such as anticipated and anticipatory pleasure. More recently, spatial details have been distinguished as important in increasing detail and elaborating mental scene construction. Building on this research, this study (N = 54; M age = 26.9) compared simulations of positive, self-relevant future events spatial details (i.e. people, objects, sequences of actions) with simulations focused on content details. Cross-sectionally at baseline, spatial details uniquely predicted phenomenological characteristics of future events, including anticipatory pleasure. The guided simulations increased detail and vividness, mental imagery, and pre-experiencing in both conditions. The content simulation condition did not increase content details relative to the spatial simulation condition, however, the inverse was true. Relatedly, overall detail and vividness were higher in the spatial condition, as was perceived control. The findings are discussed in relation to future thinking and mental health.

积极的未来事件的心理模拟增加了它们的细节/生动性和似真性，对认知情感过程（如预期和预期的快乐）有影响。最近，空间细节在增加细节和详尽的心理场景构建方面被认为是重要的。在此研究的基础上，本研究 ( N  = 54; Mage = 26.9) 将积极的、自我相关的未来事件空间细节（即人、物体、动作序列）的模拟与专注于内容细节的模拟进行了比较。在基线横截面上，空间细节独特地预测了未来事件的现象学特征，包括预期的快乐。引导式模拟增加了两种情况下的细节和生动性、心理意象和预体验。内容模拟条件相对于空间模拟条件没有增加内容细节，然而，反之亦然。相关地，整体细节和生动度在空间条件下更高，感知控制也是如此。这些发现与未来的思考和心理健康有关。