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Examining the effectiveness of future specificity training in Japan

Effect of future specificity training on involuntary future thinking: A randomized controlled trial - FeST

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Source
JPRN
Registry ID
JPRN-UMIN000061634
Enrollment
120
Registered
2026-05-31
Start date
2026-07-03
Completion date
Unknown
Last updated
2026-06-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Depression

Interventions

FeST is a group-based training program designed to enhance the specificity and detail of future thinking. The intervention includes psychoeducation about future thinking, exercises for generating deta
happy&quot
) and practicing the generation of positive or neutral future thoughts that could occur on the following day per day. Participants in the control group will be asked during the sessions to recall me

Sponsors

Shinshu University
Lead Sponsor

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Experiencing depressive mood symptoms 2. Native Japanese speaker 3. Aged between 18 and 50 years

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Diagnosis of schizophrenia (or having psychotic symptoms) 2. Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder 3. Presence of organic brain disorders

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
- Vigilance Task The Vigilance Task (Schlagman & Kvavilashvili, 2008) will be administered to assess the frequency, content, and characteristics of involuntary future thinking. In this task, participants perform a monotonous activity in which they judge whether lines presented sequentially on a screen are oriented vertically or horizontally. Participants are instructed to stop the task and report the content of any future thought that spontaneously comes to mind during the task. - Future Thinking Diary Participants will complete web-based diary entries during daily life whenever they experience involuntary future thoughts. - Depressive Symptoms Depressive symptoms will be assessed using the self-report questionnaire DASS (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995).

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
Future Thinking Task (FTT) The Future Thinking Task (FTT) will be used to assess the frequency, content, and characteristics of voluntary future thinking. Participants will be presented sequentially with cue words (e.g., "interesting", "park") and asked to report a specific future event associated with each cue. Contrast Avoidance Contrast avoidance will be assessed using the self-report questionnaire CAQ (Contrast Avoidance Questionnaire; Llera and Newman, 2017), which measures the tendency to maintain a negative emotional state in order to avoid sudden increases in negative emotion in response to future events. Dampening Dampening will be assessed using the self-report questionnaire LEDS (Leuven Exeter Dampening Scale; Bogaert et al., 2025), which measures a cognitive style characterized by the attenuation or undermining of positive emotions. Impulsivity Impulsivity will be assessed using the self-report questionnaire UPPS-P (Cyders et al., 2014), which measures five psychological dimensions of impulsivity: positive urgency, negative urgency, lack of perseverance, lack of premeditation, and sensation seeking. ADHD traits ADHD tendencies will be assessed using the self-report questionnaire ASRS. Delay Discounting Task The delay discounting task is a decision-making task in which participants choose between immediate and delayed rewards. Iowa Gambling Task The Iowa Gambling Task is a decision-making task in which participants repeatedly select cards from one of four decks and receive either reward points or loss points as outcomes. Procrastination The tendency to procrastinate will be assessed using the self-report questionnaire GPS (General Procrastination Scale).

Countries

Japan

Contacts

Public ContactNoboru Matsumoto

Shinshu University Faculty or Arts

noborum@shinshu-u.ac.jp0263372263

Outcome results

None listed

Source: JPRN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Jul 3, 2026