Our mental representation of the passage of time is structured by concepts of spatial motion, including an ego-moving perspective in which the self is perceived as approaching future events, and a time-moving perspective in which future events are perceived as approaching the self. Previous research has found that processing spatial information in one’s environment can preferentially activate either an ego-moving or time-moving temporal perspective, but potential downstream effects on decision-making have received less empirical attention. Based on the idea that people may feel closer to positively valenced events they conceptualise themselves as actively approaching rather than passively waiting for, in this pre-registered study we tested the hypothesis that spatial primes corresponding to an ego-moving (vs. time-moving) perspective would attenuate temporal discounting by making future rewards feel more proximal. 599 participants were randomly assigned to one of three spatial prime conditions (ego-moving, time-moving, control) resembling map-based tasks people may engage with on digital devices, and then completed measures of temporal perspective, perceived wait time, perceived control, and temporal discounting. Partly consistent with previous research, the results indicated that the time-moving condition successfully primed the intended temporal perspective though the ego-moving condition did not. Contrary to our primary hypotheses, the spatial primes had no effect on either perceived wait time or temporal discounting. Processing spatial information in a map-based task therefore appears to influence how people conceptualise the passage of time, but there was no evidence for downstream effects on intertemporal preferences. Exploratory analysis indicated that greater perceived control was associated with lower temporal discounting, mediated by a reduction in perceived wait time, suggesting a possible area for future research into individual differences and interventions in intertemporal decision-making.Data relating to MSc and PhD research conducted by Daniel Fletcher, funded by ESRC as part of a 1+3 programme at University of Nottingham within the Midlands Graduate School.

Participants recruited from Prolific (https://www.prolific.com/) to participate in a study hosted on Qualtrics. Random assignment to one of three experimental conditions Further details on study method available from the study pre-registration form: https://osf.io/cfbms