Comparing terror management and time management: The effects of mortality awareness on time perception, delay discounting, and monetary allocation

This study compared terror management theory (TMT) and adaptive time management in the context of present-future tradeoffs. Specifically, we investigated how episodic future thinking focused on life's endpoint influences present-future resource management, as measured by three indicators: time perception, delay discounting, and monetary allocation. We verified these effects using neural correlates obtained with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Using a within-subject design, young adults participated in two cognitive exercises: One focused on life's endpoint and the other on the present moment, serving as a control. Behavioral results showed that both endpoint-focused episodic thinking (mortality awareness) and present-focused episodic thinking led to shorter duration estimates, consistent with slower subjective time perception. Life's endpoint thinking induced a strategic present orientation, reflected in increased delay discounting and a stronger association between changes in delay discounting and resource allocation to short-term spending. In contrast, present-focused thinking induced an attentional preference for present rewards, characterized by increased delay discounting, but without correlations with monetary allocation. fNIRS results revealed greater activation and functional prefrontal-temporal connectivity during endpoint-focused thinking, particularly in the left-lateralized regions associated with cognitive control and episodic future thinking. These findings were inconsistent with the predictions from TMT (e.g., faster time perception, thus longer perceived time passage due to distal defense, and mixed predictions on delay discounting) and support an adaptive time management view on mortality awareness and mental time travel, evidenced by a delay discounting change consistent with the tradeoff of present-future resource allocation.